Can Fernando Tatis Jr. Achieve the Rarest “Double-Double” in Baseball History?
San Diego shortstop has chance to join an extraordinarily exclusive club
Despite missing 32 games due to injury, Fernando Tatis Jr. leads the National League in home runs (33) and stolen bases (23 — tied for the lead with the Dodgers’ Trea Turner).
Pretty cool, right?
Wrong. It’s waaay better than cool. Because over the entire history of Major League Baseball, only three men have ever led their league in HR and SB in the same season: Ty Cobb (during his triple crown season of 1909, no less) Chuck Klein (1932), and the long-forgotten Jimmy Sheckard (1903).[i]
The incomparable Willie Mays nearly joined this exclusive club in 1955, leading the league in HR (51) and placing the closest-of-seconds in SB (24 — one behind Milwaukee’s Bill Bruton). No one has really come close since:
· Hank Aaron in 1963 paced the circuit in home runs (44) while finishing second in SB (31, nine behind leader Maury Wills).
· Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez made a spirited run at the achievement in 2018, leading his league in both categories as late as August. He wound up fourth in home runs (39)and third in stolen bases (34).
· Eric Davis finished second in SB (80) and fifth in HR (27) in 1986 — but nowhere near the league leader in each category (Davis was fourth in both categories in 1987, but again trailed the league leaders by significant margins).
· Barry Bonds in 1990 (his first MVP season) finished second in SB (52) and fourth in HR (33); his father Bobby placed in the top-5 of both categories in 1975 and 1977.
· Alfonso Soriano — perhaps a surprise name on this short list — finished in the top-5 of both categories in 2002–2003 (leading the league in SB in 2002).
· Matt Kemp in 2011 led his league in HR (39), finished second in SB with 40. But he was never in a position to challenge for the SB crown (Michael Bourne led the league with 61).
Impressive seasons all, but none approached the rarest of “double/doubles.”
The odds are against Tatis Jr., who, in addition to battling an assortment of injuries this year, must contend with pedigreed speedster Trea Turner for the stolen base crown. But the fact that the electrifying shortstop sits atop both categories at this point in the season is notable to say the least (and all the more impressive when one considers he also leads the league in SLG, OBP+, and, arguably, charisma). Should Tatis Jr. maintain his current pace in both categories, he’d finish the season with 45 HR and 31 SB, while venturing into uncharted territory by leading the league in SB while slugging .675 (a statistical benchmark never approached in the game’s history).
And if Tatis Jr. eventually falls short in one or both categories? Well, there’s certainly no shame in failing to pull-off this rarer-than-rare feat. After all, Willie Mays himself wasn’t able to turn the trick.
Jeremy Lehrman is the author of Baseball’s Most Baffling MVP Ballots. For more baseball writing, click here.
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NOTES
[i] Forgotten, perhaps, unfairly: Sheckard over various seasons led the National League in on-base and slugging percentages, walks (twice), runs, triples, home runs and stolen bases. His best season was probably 1903, when in addition to pacing the NL in HR and SB, he hit .332/.423/.476, good for a 158 OPS+ (and 7.0 WAR). Sheckard was overshadowed by contemporary giants like Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and, of course, Cobb — but he was a fine player (49.5 career WAR) who contributed to two World Series titles as a member of one of the history’s greatest teams: The 1906–1910 Chicago Cubs.
