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Big Crown

Big Brown is going for the Triple Crown on Saturday. So I looked up a few things related to that

* While no Met has ever won the Triple Crown, their have been six instances in which a Met won the "Team Triple Crown." This required leading the Mets in batting average, home runs, and RBI in the same season.

Led Mets in BA, HR, RBI
Same Season

2001 Mike Piazza
2000 Mike Piazza
1995 Rico Brogna
1989 Howard Johnson
1971 Cleon Jones<<
1967 Tommy Davis
>> Tied for team lead in HR

The most interesting of these is Mike Piazza's capture of the crown in 2000. He won in a photo finish with Edgardo Alfonzo. Piazza batted .32365, while Alfonzo hit .32352, meaning Piazza won the Mets batting race by one-tenthousandth of a point.

* Dwight Gooden won the NL's pitching Triple Crown in 1985, leading the NL in wins, ERA and strikeouts. Tom Seaver never did that as a Met. The three times he led the NL in both ERA and strikeouts (1971, 1973, 1975), he got beaten out for the wins lead. Among current Mets, Johan Santana won the AL pitching Triple Crown with the Twins in 2006, while Pedro Martinez copped it with the Red Sox in 1999.

* 3 Mets have led the NL in home runs for a season. 1 led the NL in RBI. No Met has ever led the NL in batting average.

Led NL in Home Runs
Mets history

1991 Howard Johnson<<
1988 Darryl Strawberry
1982 Dave Kingman
>> Also led NL in RBI (finished 40th in NL with a .259 BA)

* Leading the Mets in the what I call the "True Triple Crown" is a little more common. This requires leading the team in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage

Led Mets in BA< OBP, Slugging Pct

2007 David Wright
2005 David Wright
2001 Mike Piazza
1998 John Olerud
1995 Rico Brogna
1989 Howard Johnson
1979 Lee Mazzilli
1977 Lenny Randle
1972 Tommie Agee
1971 Cleon Jones
1969 Cleon Jones
1968 Cleon Jones
1967 Tommy Davis

* The Mets are 2-2 on days in which a horse wins the Triple Crown. They beat the Dodgers on June 9, 1973 (Secretariat), split a doubleheader with the Astros on June 11, 1977 (Seattle Slew) and lost to the Giants on June 10, 1978 (Affirmed). None of the games were decided in walk-off fashion.

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