Sam Crawford
Crawford holds the all-time record for triples with 309, a mark that will likely never be broken in the modern game. Playing in the dead-ball era when gaps were vast and outfield walls were distant frontiers, "Wahoo Sam" turned gap shots into three-baggers with surprising frequency for someone who wasn't considered particularly fast.
His .309 career average across 19 seasons speaks to remarkable consistency at the plate. Crawford played his entire prime alongside Ty Cobb in Detroit's outfield, forming one of baseball's most productive offensive tandems. The pair helped the Tigers reach three consecutive World Series from 1907-1909.
What made Crawford special was his ability to drive in runs — 1,519 RBI in an era when offensive numbers were suppressed. He combined gap power with situational hitting, the perfect skill set for dead-ball baseball. Modern fans should know him as the template for the prototypical dead-ball slugger: line drives, doubles, and those record-setting triples.
Career · Batting
19 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1899 | CIN | 31 | 127 | 1 | 20 | .307 | — | — |
| 1900 | CIN | 101 | 389 | 7 | 59 | .260 | — | — |
| 1901 | CIN | 131 | 515 | 16 | 104 | .330 | — | — |
| 1902 | CIN | 140 | 555 | 3 | 78 | .333 | — | — |
| 1903 | DET | 137 | 550 | 4 | 89 | .335 | — | — |
| 1904 | DET | 150 | 562 | 2 | 73 | .254 | — | — |
| 1905 | DET | 154 | 575 | 6 | 75 | .297 | — | — |
| 1906 | DET | 145 | 563 | 2 | 66 | .295 | — | — |
| 1907 | DET | 144 | 582 | 4 | 81 | .323 | — | — |
| 1908 | DET | 152 | 591 | 7 | 80 | .311 | — | — |
| 1909 | DET | 156 | 589 | 6 | 97 | .314 | — | — |
| 1910 | DET | 154 | 588 | 5 | 120 | .289 | — | — |
| 1911 | DET | 146 | 574 | 7 | 115 | .378 | — | — |
| 1912 | DET | 149 | 581 | 4 | 109 | .325 | — | — |
| 1913 | DET | 153 | 609 | 9 | 83 | .317 | — | — |
| 1914 | DET | 157 | 582 | 8 | 104 | .314 | — | — |
| 1915 | DET | 156 | 612 | 4 | 112 | .299 | — | — |
| 1916 | DET | 100 | 322 | 0 | 42 | .286 | — | — |
| 1917 | DET | 61 | 104 | 2 | 12 | .173 | — | — |
| Career | 2517 | 9570 | 97 | 1519 | .309 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.