In 1993, these three men finished 1-2-3 in the American League batting average race. John Olerud (.363), Paul Molitor (.332) and Roberto Alomar (.326) helped the Jays to the pennant and their second consecutive World Championship. (Notice how I don't call it the "batting title" but rather the "batting average race?" Isn't that just the sort of obnoxious thing a pro-sabermetric bastard like me would do?)
While I haven't paid much attention to batting averages since a young go-getter named Ronald Reagan was in the White House, the rarity of this achievement is pretty interesting. It's only happened once before, actually. Exactly 100 years prior to the Blue Jays feat, the Philadelphia Phillies trio of Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson and Ed Delahanty pulled it off as well. (Then, in the next two seasons, they had players finish 2-3-4. In all, they landed nine players in the top four over the course of three seasons.)
What follows below is a list of all the incidences wherein:
*Teams had the 1-2 finishers. I included teams that also had another player in the top 10 as well as those that didn't. Thirteen times in baseball history have teams placed in the top two spots without having a third player in the top 10.
*Teams that had the batting average leader along with two other high-placing players.
*Teams that had the runner-up along with two other very high-placing players. For instance, 2-3-4 or 2-3-5.
*For expediency, I didn't take the time to type all the players involved.
Some close calls:
1876 Chicago White Stockings: They had six of the top 10 batting average leaders including the top man, Ross Barnes and 3rd (Cap Anson), 4th (John Peters), 5th (Cal McVey), 6th (Deacon White) and 8th (Paul Hines). What they didn't have was second place, which belonged to George Hall of the Philadelphia Athletics.
1880 Chicago White Stockings: Third place was missing this time as Roger Connor of the Troy Haymakers snuck in ahead of Abner Dalyrmple .332 to .330 for the show position. George Gore and Cap Anson were 1-2.
1884 St. Louis Maroons (Union Association): Putting aside arguments about the UA's claim to major league status for a moment, Fred Dunlap destroyed its pitching with a Barry Bondsian OPS+ of 256 which included the batting average title. Runner-up was teammate Orator Shafer. Finishing fourth was Jack (The Great One) Gleason. Spoiling the party was Henry Moore of the Washington Nationals who hit .324. Now, he never spent a minute in the National League or American Association and it is because of such things that many dismiss the UA out of hand.
1891 Boston Reds (American Association): Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers won the final AA batting average title, besting teammate Hugh Duffy .350 to .336. Behind them was Tip O'Neill of the St. Louis Browns, who claimed third place from another Red, Tom Brown, .323 to .321.
1893 to 1895 Philadelphia Phillies: If batting averages are your thing, then this is the team for you. After winning, placing and showing in 1893, they had no less than four .400 hitters in the hyper-offensive atmosphere of 1894. Hugh Duffy of the Boston Beaneaters bested them all (Tuck Turner, Thompson, Delhanty and Thompson) with his .440 average, however, the highest single-season figure of all-time. The next year only Delahanty hit .400, but lost the batting average title to Jesse Burkett of the Spiders, .405 to .404. Jack Clements of the Phils finished third at .394, Thompson was fourth at .392 and Hamilton was sixth by a slim margin at .389.
1907 to 1926 Detroit Tigers: They appear on the list below seven times. With Ty Cobb providing the base support and all sorts of talented outfielders coming and going over two decades, they often had multiple representatives in the top five. Their closest call came in 1926 when Cobb did not qualify for the batting title (his .339 average would have been good for ninth). The top spot went instead to Heinie Manush, who hit .378. Fats Fothergill was third at .3669 and Harry Heilmann fourth at .3665. Spoiling the Tiger fun at .372? Fella name of Babe Ruth.
1933 Philadelphia Phillies: The decaying Baker Bowl produced lots of fun, extreme numbers. In 1933, it helped Chuck Klein to one-third of his Triple Crown. (He hit .467 at home and just .280 on the road!!!) His teammate Spud Davis was his runner-up and third place went t Tony Piet of the Pirates. In fifth place was a player named Wes Schulmerich who the Phillies acquired from the Braves on June 17 when he was hitting .247. He then hit .334 for Philadelphia the rest of the way (including .361 at the Baker Bowl), which would have been good for third place. It's probably not too much of a leap to suggest the Phils would have repeated their 1893 trifecta had Schulmerich been there the whole season.
1964 Milwaukee Braves: Rico Carty hit .330, Hank Aaron .328 and Joe Torre .321. That would have been good enough except for Roberto Clemente's .339.
And that's really about it for close calls. As you would suspect, having more teams puts more players into the mix and makes it less likely that the leaders would all come from the same place. That makes the Blue Jays' accomplishment that much more interesting since it came in a 14-team environment. As you can see from the chart below, only three teams since are even worth mentioning. And one of them, the 2001 Rockies, were the product of an extreme hitting environment.
Year |
Team |
Best |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
1876 |
CHC |
1 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
1879 |
PRO |
1 |
2 |
7 |
10 |
1880 |
CHC |
1 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
1884 |
SLM UA |
1 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
1886 |
CHC |
1 |
2 |
10 |
|
1886 |
LOU AA |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1887 |
DTN |
1 |
3 |
6 |
|
1888 |
CHC |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1890 |
PHI N |
2 |
3 |
5 |
|
1891 |
BOS AA |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
1893 |
PHI N |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
1894 |
PHI N |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
1895 |
PHI N |
2 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
1897 |
BKN |
1 |
6 |
|
|
1903 |
PIT |
1 |
2 |
6 |
|
1907 |
DET |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1908 |
DET |
1 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
1911 |
DET |
1 |
3 |
6 |
|
1914 |
BKN |
1 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
1919 |
DET |
1 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
1921 |
STL N |
1 |
3 |
5 |
|
1921 |
DET |
1 |
2 |
9 |
|
1923 |
STL N |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1925 |
STL N |
1 |
2 |
8 |
|
1925 |
DET |
1 |
4 |
5 |
|
1926 |
CIN |
1 |
2 |
10 |
|
1926 |
DET |
1 |
3 |
4 |
|
1927 |
PIT |
1 |
3 |
5 |
|
1933 |
PHI N |
1 |
2 |
5* |
|
1937 |
STL N |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1939 |
NYY |
1 |
5 |
6 |
|
1941 |
BKN |
1 |
3 |
8 |
|
1942 |
BOS A |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1943 |
CWS |
1 |
3 |
6 |
|
1944 |
BOS A |
2 |
3 |
6 |
|
1945 |
CWS |
2 |
3 |
6 |
8 |
1946 |
BOS A |
2 |
3 |
5 |
|
1950 |
BOS A |
1 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
1954 |
NYG |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1958 |
BOS A |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1959 |
DET |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1960 |
CWS |
2 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
1961 |
DET |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1964 |
MIL |
2 |
3 |
4 |
|
1966 |
PIT |
1 |
5 |
6 |
|
1971 |
MN |
1 |
4 |
5 |
|
1976 |
CIN |
2 |
4 |
5 |
|
1976 |
KCR |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1977 |
PIT |
1 |
2 |
10 |
|
1977 |
MIN |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1984 |
NYY |
1 |
2 |
|
|
1988 |
CHC |
2 |
3 |
6 |
|
1993 |
TOR |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
2001 |
COL |
1 |
2 |
9 |
|
2003 |
BOS A |
1 |
2 |
|
|
2011 |
BOS A |
2 |
5 |
6 |
7 |