Bonds Oddity Follow-Up

Dan Lewis has a story entitled Bonds Oddity #2 discussing how Bonds could potentially win two legs of the Triple Crown, home runs and batting average, but is not anywhere near the lead in the third, RBI (currently 14th). He had asked if any "player has ever lead the league in both HR and BA and not been top 10 in RBI." I thought I would investigate.

Of the 22 seasons in which the same man has lead his league in home runs and batting average, 16 have resulted in a Triple Crown. They are:

Player       League  Year
Medwick          NL  1937
Klein            NL  1933
Hornsby          NL  1922
   "             NL  1925
Hugh Duffy       NL  1894
Paul Hines       NL  1878
Tip O'Neill      AA  1887
Yaz              AL  1967
F. Robinson      AL  1966
Mantle           AL  1956
Williams         AL  1947
   "             AL  1942
Gehrig           AL  1934
Foxx             AL  1933
Cobb             AL  1909
Lajoie           AL  1901

There is one 2nd-place finish in RBI, Babe Ruth (AL) 1924.

Three 3rd-place finishers:

Player       League  Year
Mize             NL  1939
Heinie Zimmerman NL  1912
Levi Meyerle     NA  1871

And one player whose league did not record RBI: Fred Dunlap (UA) 1884.

Finally, the highest place anyone finished in the RBI lead who lead their league in batting average and home runs is 4th, one time: Ted Williams (AL) 1941. So Bonds not even being in the top ten is pretty unusual.