Triple Crowns and Grand Slams

Podcast Transcript

Many different sports have a concept of a triple crown or a grand slam.

What it is defined as differs from sport to sport, but what they all have in common is that achieving a triple crown or a grand slam is considered to be the pinnacle of the game.

In some sports, the triple crown or grand slam has achieved a legendary status, and in others, the definition changes rather frequently.

Learn more about Triple Crowns and Grand Slams and how they are achieved on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

This episode is going to be a bit of a potpourri episode in that I’m going to cover a bunch of different things in a bunch of different sports.

The only thing that they have in common is that they use the phrases Triple Crown and Grand Slam.

A triple crown, as the name would suggest, implies three of something.

The first use of the phrase “triple crown” with respect to sports took place in the 19th century in British horse racing. It referred to any horse that won three prestigious races:

The 2,000 Guineas Stakes
The Epsom Derby
The St. Leger Stakes

It was probably first used in 1853, when Western Australia became the first horse to win all three races.

The term was adopted in the United States in the early 20th century to describe a horse that won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. Sir Barton, who won all three races in 1919, was retroactively considered the first U.S. Triple Crown winner.

Winning either the British or American Triple Crown is extremely difficult. Since 1809, when all three races were first run, the British Triple Crown has only been won 15 times, with the last horse, Nijinsky, winning in 1970.

The American Triple Crown has only been won 13 times, most recently by Justify in 2018.

Baseball adopted the idea of a triple crown in the early 20th century.

The “Triple Crown” in baseball refers to a batter who leads the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in in a single season. It originated as a natural evolution of statistical recognition rather than as a formal award or title.

The idea of a “Triple Crown” was informally understood in the early 20th century, but it was not widely named or officially tracked until later. Although the term wasn’t used at the time, Paul Hines was the earliest retroactively recognized Triple Crown winner, in 1878.

The phrase began appearing more frequently in newspapers and baseball commentary in the 1930s, especially after the achievements of players like Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig. It gained even more traction after Ted Williams won two Triple Crowns in the 1940s.

The feat is extremely rare. As of the recording of this podcast, it has only been accomplished 17 times in the modern era, with Miguel Cabrera’s 2012 triple crown being the most recent.

The idea of a Pitching Triple Crown seems to have arisen organically, probably by the 1930s–1940s, as a mirror to the accomplishment of hitters.

The pitching triple crown reflects the league leader in wins, strikeouts, and earned run average. There have been many more pitchers who have won the Triple Crown compared to hitters.

Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson, and Sandy Koufax have all won the pitching triple crown three times.

The difficulty in achieving either of the Triple Crowns is combining everything in one season. Many players have led the league in all of these categories in separate seasons, but few have done it in one season.

Cycling is another sport that has a very difficult-to-achieve Triple Crown.

In road cycling, the triple crown is winning the UCI Road World Championship, the Tour de France, and the Giro d’Italia.

The UCI Championship is a one-day race, whereas the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia are multi-week races. Only three men have won the triple crown in a single season: Eddy Merckx in 1974, Stephen Roche in 1987, and Tadej Poga?ar in 2024.

Three additional men and one woman have won career triple crowns.

In motorsports, there is also a triple crown. It reflects winning three of the oldest and most prestigious races in three different types of driving.

The Monaco Grand Prix, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Indianapolis 500. This doesn’t have to be done in a single year.

The only person to have achieved this was British racing legend Graham Hill, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1966, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972, and the Monaco Grand Prix in 1963, which he later won four more times.

The phrase “grand slam” originated in the card game contract bridge, where it refers to a player who wins all thirteen tricks in a hand—a rare and total victory.

The term “grand slam” was referred to as winning everything, and in the 1930s, the term began to be used in golf, tennis, and baseball.

In each of these sports, it involves four things, and subsequently, the phrase “grand slam” has been associated with the number four.

In baseball, a grand slam is a home run with the bases loaded that scores four runs. It is an uncommon, but not totally rare occurrence in baseball. What makes it so rare is that there are few opportunities hitters have where they are at the plate with the bases loaded.

The career leader in grand slams is Alex Rodriguez, who hit 25 career grand slams. The single-season record is held by Don Mattingly, who hit six grand slams in 1987. Oddly enough, these are the only grand slams he hit in his entire career.

One of the most incredible grand slam records is held by Fernando Tatís. On April 23, 1999, the St. Louis Cardinals were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the third inning of the game, he hit not one, but two grand slams in a single inning.

The odds of a single player even seeing the bases loaded twice in a single inning are incredibly rare, let alone hitting two home runs when the opportunity arose.

There is also what has been called an ultimate grand slam. In this scenario, your team is down by exactly three runs, and you hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game.

As of this recording, there have been 32 ultimate grand slams in major league baseball history.

If there are two outs, it is considered to be an ultimate-ultimate grand slam. This has happened 13 times.

However, there has only been one occurrence in all of baseball history of an ultimate-ultimate-ultimate grand slam, where the teams were down by three runs, with the bases loaded, two outs, and a full count.

Chris Hoiles of the Baltimore Orioles did this on May 17, 1996, against the Seattle Mariners.

The phrase “Grand Slam” in tennis was first used in 1933 by New York Times columnist John Kieran, who likened Australian player Jack Crawford’s pursuit of all four major titles in one year to a “grand slam” in bridge—winning all tricks.

The four majors were the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.

The term caught on after Don Budge became the first to win all four majors in a calendar year in 1938, solidifying its place in tennis vocabulary.

While the phrase was originally used to describe a player winning all four championships in a single year, the extreme difficulty of this accomplishment has led to its more frequent use in the context of a career grand slam.

The single-year grand slam has been accomplished six times by five players.

In men’s tennis, there is the previously mentioned Don Budge as well as Australian Rod Laver, who achieved a grand slam in 1962 and 1969, the only player to do it twice.

Three different women have achieved it: American Maureen Connolly in 1953, Australian Margaret Court in 1970, and German Steffi Graf in 1988.

What is interesting about Seffi Graf’s grand slam is that she also won an Olympic Gold medal in 1988, achieving what some have called a golden slam.

Margaret Court also won a single-season grand slam twice in mixed doubles.

While the single-season grand slam is quite an accomplishment, it really isn’t that much more difficult than winning four consecutive majors outside a calendar year.

In 1982, the International Tennis Federation began to define the Grand Slam as holding all four major titles at the same time.

This was achieved by Martina Navratilova when she won the French Open in 1984.

Two other players, other than the ones previously mentioned, have achieved a non-calendar year grand slam.

Serena Williams achieved it in 2003 with her victory in the Australian Open, and Novak Djokovic achieved it in 2016 with his win at the French Open.

The career grand slam has been achieved by more people, but it is still extremely rare.

Eight men and ten women have won career grand slams.

Of special note are Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, who have won three career grand slams, winning each major at least three times, and Steffi Graf, who has won four career grand slams.

In golf, the Grand Slam is similar to tennis in that it refers to winning four major championships.

The term initially was applied to Bobby Jones, who in 1930, won the four major tournaments at the time: the US Open, the US Amateur, the British Open, and the British Amateur.

He achieved it in a single season, and it was the first use of the term grand slam outside of the game of bridge.

As golf became more professional, the US and British Amateurs were replaced by the PGA Championship and the Masters.

Since the advent of the professional men’s grand slam, no player has won all four tournaments in a single calendar year.

The closest anyone has come was Tiger Woods, who won all four tournaments consecutively in two calendar years when he won the 2001 Masters.

There have only been six male golfers who have won a career grand slam: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy.

Both Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won a total of three career grand slams.

On the Senior Tour, there are five tournaments that make up the grand slam: The Senior PGA Championship, The Tradition, The Senior Players Championship, The U.S. Senior Open, and The Senior British Open.

The only person to have won all five championships is German Bernhard Langer.

In women’s golf, the tournaments that have been considered majors have changed over time. As of the recording of this episode, there are five major tournaments: the Chevron Championship, the Women’s PGA Championship, the U.S. Women’s Open, the Evian Championship, and the Women’s British Open.

The fifth major was added in 2013. Prior to that, there were only four.

Former major tournaments include the du Maurier Classic, the Women’s Western Open, and the Titleholders Championship.

No one has ever won four, let alone five, majors in a single year or held them all at the same time.

Six women have achieved the career grand slam during the four majors era: Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Annika Sörenstam, Louise Suggs, Karrie Webb, and Mickey Wright.

South Korean champion Inbee Park achieved the only career grand slam in the five major era.

These are not the only sports that have a grand slam. Curling, equestrian show jumping, darts, and professional wrestling all have their own grand slams.

If you think of a grand slam as someone who achieves everything in a particular field, then you could sort of think of members of the completist club as winners of the Everything Everywhere Daily grand slam.

Over the years, I’ve personally always enjoyed following great athletes as they try to achieve grand slam or triple crown accomplishments. Following the likes of Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and whoever wins the Kentucky Derby every year is an opportunity to have a front row seat to history.