Expert: Tom Schott - 9/14/2007

Question
QUESTION: When was the first Triple Crown Award recognized? Also, is there an actual award?  I know Mickey Mantle's 1956 trophy was auctioned off in 1999 for $200,000 +.  Have all triple crown winners received an award or is it simply an honor?

ANSWER: David,

  According to information I've been able to discover, there is no physical award. A triple crown is an honor. I don't know anything about the Mantle trophy. Perhaps it was given by the team or privately. (If you know the origin, I would appreciate your letting me know.) Triple crown has been recognized throughout baseball history.

See: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/aw_triph.shtml

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I'll see if I can find out more re: Mantle's trophy.  Re: baseball's recognition of triple crowns throughout history, are you saying that Hugh Duffy received triple crown recognition in 1894?

Answer
I guess that would depend on how you define "recognition." Today guys get curtain calls for almost anything. Anything and everything some player does is "recognized" today: special announcements at the park, newspaper, ESPN. I doubt if Hugh Duffy received that kind of recognition, as indeed, some of the people who followed him in this rare honor. But you can be sure of this: the players knew it and respected it, and so did close followers of the game like you and I.