One of baseball's most impressive achievements with half a season in the books is going largely unnoticed. Heading into the All-Star break, Curtis Granderson has 15 triples in 85 games. Let's put that into perspective:Chief Wilson set the single season record for triples with 36 in 1912. However, baseball was an entirely different game ninety-five years ago, so its pointless to even use Wilson's total when looking at what Granderson is doing. According to baseball-reference.com:
"Forbes Field was the top place for hitting triples, the 1912 Pittsburgh Pirates hit so many that they would have led the league even if Wilson hadn't hit any that year, and the National League as a whole hit 685 triples that year, still the record."Since baseball was integrated in 1947, Dale Mitchell's 23 triples in '49 are the most in a single season. The Tigers center fielder is on pace to hit a staggering 26 three-baggers if he plays in 155 games this season (he played in 159 in '06). In the last half century, only two players have hit more than 20- White Sox CF Lance Johnson hit 21 trips in 1996 and Willie Wilson also legged out 21, in 1985.
So, a 26 triple season by Granderson would represent a 25% increase over any amount hit in a single season over the last half-century. For a player to achieve such a leap in other statistical categories, one would have to reach the following plateaus:
- 91 home runs (Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001)
- 206 RBI (Manny Ramirez drove in 165 in '99)
- 163 stolen bases (Rickey Henderson stole 130 in '82)
- 328 hits (Ichiro rapped out 262 hits in '04)
- 74 doubles (Todd Helton hit 59 in '00)
You get the idea. Can it be said that hitting 26 triples would be as impressive as a player pounding out 263 hits? Of course not. However, Granderson's historic pace should be recognized as one for the ages.
Note: As he mentions on his ESPN blog, Granderson's myspace page (the official one) crashed when he tried to "send out multiple birthday greetings to friends". Just so you are aware.
