triple crown
- noun
- /ˈtrɪpəl kraʊn/
- Jargon
- The last player to secure the triple crown before Cabrera was Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
- win the triple crown
- triple crown in the league
Examples
-
Miguel Cabrera won the triple crown in 2012 by leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.
-
Nothing less will do; that's why we haven't had a triple crown winner in over three decades.
Blog text (23) -
In fact, he won the triple crown this year, leading the AL in batting average, home runs, and RBIs.
Blog text (5) -
Despite Trout having a WAR that was 30% better, the voters overwhelmingly supported Cabrera, who won the first triple crown since 1967.
Blog text (20) -
Cabrera should be MVP because he won the triple crown and led the league in BA, RBIs, and HR!
Blog text (6) -
She is the only World Champion in history (male or female) to win the triple crown (Blitz, Rapid, and Classical World Championships).
Blog text (1) -
Winning the triple crown is a rare achievement that showcases a batter's all-around offensive skill.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'triple' (threefold) and 'crown' (title/victory) transparently signal a title or honor connected to three achievements, so a learner would likely infer it denotes a special award for accomplishing three things. However, the specific baseball categories (batting average, RBIs, home runs) are domain-specific and not deducible from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially predictable.
Etymology
The name triple crown comes from horse racing, where a horse that wins three big races is thought to wear three crowns, so triple means three and crown means the top prize. In baseball, the idea moved to batting: a player who leads the league in 'batting average', 'runs batted in', and 'home runs' wins the triple crown, meaning they were the best in all three main areas.