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Podcast Recording
Many different sports have the concept of a triple crown or a grand slam.
It is defined as the difference from sport to sport, but what they have in common is that winning a triple crown or a grand slam is considered the pinnacle of the game.
In some sports, the Triple Crown or Grand Slam has reached legendary status, and in others, the definition often changes.
Learn more about the Triple Crown and Grand Slams and how it can be achieved in this episode that is everywhere every day.
This episode will be a bit like the Potpourri plot, as I will cover many different things in a series of different sports.
The only thing they have in common is that they use the phrases Triple Crown and Grand Slam.
As the name suggests, a triple crown means three.
In the 19th century, the first use of the term “triple crown” was in sports. It mentions any horse that won three famous matches:
- 2,000 Guinea bets
- Epsom Derby
- St. Legg’s bet
It was probably first used in 1853, when Western Australia became the first horse to win all three races.
The term adopted in the United States in the early 20th century, describing a horse that won the Kentucky Derby, Prekness Bet and Belmont Bet. Sir Patton won all three games in 1919 and he was retrospectively considered the first Division 3 champion in the United States.
Winning the British or American Triple Crown is very difficult. When all three competitions were played for the first time since 1809, the British Triple Champions won only 15 times, with the last Manikinsky winning in 1970.
The U.S. Triple Champions League won only 13 times, and recently won the championship in 2018 by Justife.
Baseball adopted the idea of a triple crown in the early 20th century.
The “triple crown” in baseball is a batsman who hits at an average blow, home run and plays in one season. It originates from the natural evolution of statistical recognition, not a formal reward or title.
In the early 20th century, the idea of ”Triple Crown” was informally understood, but it was not until later that it was widely named or officially tracked. Although the term was not used at the time, Paul Hines was the earliest retrospective triple-champion of 1878.
The phrase began to appear more frequently in newspapers and baseball reviews in the 1930s, especially after the achievements of players such as Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig. It gained more appeal after Ted Williams won two triple crowns in the 1940s.
Feats are extremely rare. It only completed 17 times in the modern era when it started recording this podcast, with Miguel Cabrera’s 2012 Triple Crown being the most recent.
It was probably the 1930s to the 1940s that the idea of tilting the triple crown seemed organic, and it was a mirror of the batsman’s achievement.
The treble to pitch reflects the league leader’s wins, strikeouts and average running won. There are more pitchers who have won the Triple Crown than batsmen.
Grover Cleveland Alexander, Walter Johnson and Sandy Koufax all won the Triple Crown.
The difficulties in achieving these two crowns are combined in one season. Many players have led all these categories of leagues in each season, but few have done so in one season.
Cycling is another sport that is very difficult to achieve in the Triple Crown.
In road cycling, the Triple Crown will win the UCI Road World Championship, Tour de France and Giro Dirlia.
The UCI Championship is a one-day race, while the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia are a few weeks to race. In one season, only three people won the triple crown: Eddy Merckx in 1974, Stephen Roche in 1987, and Tadej Poga in 2024? AR.
Three other men and one woman won the professional triple crown.
In motorsports, there are also the Triple Crown. It reflects three of the oldest and most prestigious races of the three different types of driving.
Monaco Grand Prix, Le Mans 24 Hours and Indianapolis 500. This doesn’t have to be done in one year.
The only one to achieve this was British racing legend Graham Hill, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1966, the 24-hour Le Mans in 1972 and the Monaco Grand Prix in 1963, and then won four more times.
The term “Grand Slam” originated from the Card Game Contract Bridge, which refers to a player who wins all 13 skills, a rare and complete victory.
The term “Grand Slam” was called Win Everything, and in the 1930s the term began to be used in golf, tennis and baseball.
In each of these movements, four things are involved, and the word “grand slam” is then associated with the number fourth.
In baseball, the Grand Slam is a home run, with four runs on its base. This is a rare one, but not very rare in baseball. So rare, batsmen have few chances to have bases on boards.
The professional leader of the Grand Slam is Alex Rodriguez, who hit 25 majors. The single-season record was retained by Don Mattingly, who hit six Grand Slams in 1987.
Fernando Tatís has one of the most incredible Grand Slam records. On April 23, 1999, the St. Louis Cardinals played the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the third inning of the game, he hit one inning, but two Grand Slams.
The odds of a single player are even rare to see a base twice in one inning, not to mention the chance to play two home runs when the chance appears.
And the so-called Ultimate Grand Slam. In this case, your team fell exactly three games and you beat the Grand Slam at 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 situations, it is considered the final Grand Slam. This happened 13 times.
But in all baseball history of the ultimate giant Grand Slam, only once happened, where the team’s three-pointers fell, base loaded, two outs and all.
Chris Hoiles of the Baltimore Orioles did this on May 17, 1996 against the Seattle Mariners.
New York Times columnist John Kieran first used the term “Grand Slam” in 1933, comparing Australian player Jack Crawford’s pursuit of all four major champions to the “Grand Slam” of the Bridge.
These four majors are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
After Don Budge became the first person to win all four majors in the calendar year in 1938, the word was caught, cementing its place in tennis vocabulary.
While the phrase was originally used to describe players who won all four championships in a year, the extreme difficulties of this achievement led to its use more frequently in the context of a professional grand slam.
The Grand Slam in a single year has been completed by five players six times.
In men’s tennis, there are the aforementioned Don Budge and Australian Rod Laver who won the Grand Slam in 1962 and 1969, the only player to have two times.
Three different women achieved this goal: American Maureen Connolly in 1953, Australian Margaret Court in 1970, and German Steffi Graf in 1988.
Interestingly, Seffi Graf’s Grand Slam event, she also won the Olympic gold medal in 1988, reaching what some call the Golden Grand Slam.
Margaret Court also won two doubles in a single season of Grand Slam.
While a single-season Grand Slam is a huge achievement, it is actually no more difficult than a four-professional Grand Slam out of one calendar year.
In 1982, the International Tennis Federation began defining the Grand Slam as having all four major titles at the same time.
This was achieved by Martina Navratilova when she won the French Open in 1984.
In addition to the other two players mentioned above, he also won the Grand Slam in the non-school bus year.
Serena Williams won the Australian Open in 2003, while Novak Djokovic won the French Open in 2016.
Professional Grand Slams have been achieved by more people, but they are still extremely rare.
Eight men and ten women won the professional grand slam.
Of particular note are Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, who won three professional grand slams, at least three, and Steffi Graf won four professional grand slams.
In golf, a grand slam is similar to tennis because it refers to winning four major championships.
The term originally applied to Bobby Jones, who won four major matches of the time in 1930: the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, the U.K. Open and the U.K. Amateur.
He achieved this in one season, the first use of the term Grand Slam outside of the Bridge game.
As golf becomes more professional, American and British amateurs are replaced by PGA Championships and masters.
Since the arrival of the Professional Men’s Grand Slam, no player has won all four games in a calendar year.
The closest thing to anyone is Tiger Woods, who won all four straight games in two calendar years that won the 2001 Masters.
Only six male golfers won professional grand slams: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods won three professional grand slams in total.
On the Senior Tour, there are five games that make up the Grand Slam: Senior PGA Champion, Traditional, Senior Player Champion, US Senior Open and UK Senior Open.
The only person who won all five titles was Bernhard Langer, Germany.
On the women’s golf course, what is considered professional has changed over time. As of the time of recording this episode, there were five major tournaments: Chevron Champion, Women’s PGA Champion, US Women’s Open, Evian Champion and Women’s UK Open.
The fifth Grand Slam was in 2013. Before that, there were only four.
Previous major tournaments include Du Maurier Classic, Women’s Western Open and Championship Champions.
No one wins four games in a year, let alone five majors, or win them all at the same time.
During the four major eras, six women reached the professional grand slam: Pat Bradley, Juli Inkster, Annika Sörenstam, Louise Suggs, Karrie Webb and Mickey Wright.
South Korean champion Inbee Park won the only professional grand slam in five major eras.
These are not the only sports that have a Grand Slam. Curling, equestrian 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 specific field, you can see members of the Finisher Club as winners of everything in the Daily Grand Slam.
I personally have loved following great athletes for years as they try to achieve a Grand Slam or Triple Crown. Following Tiger Woods, Serena Williams and the people who win the Kentucky Derby every year are all opportunities to have the front row of history.
