Baseball BeatJuly 05, 2003
Introducing "The Quad" Award
By Rich Lederer

The Qualitative and Quantitative Statistical Achievement

Combines the Best of Rate Stats and Counting Stats

Everyone knows about the Triple Crown: the league leader in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in. Eleven different players have achieved this feat in modern baseball history with Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams having accomplished it two times each. However, most sabermetricians have a problem with the choice of categories. Two of the three legs are flawed in the sense that batting average is not as well correlated with runs scored as on base percentage and slugging average, and runs batted in is a team-dependent statistic.

Well, now there is a better, more comprehensive version of the Triple Crown. It's called "The Quad," short for quadruple. The Quad is comprised of on base percentage, slugging average, times on base, and total bases. It is both a qualitative and quantitative statistical achievement. In short, The Quad combines the best of rate stats and counting stats. Rate stats are qualitative, gauging performance on a per at bat or plate appearance basis. Counting stats, on the other hand, are quantitative, evaluating performance on an absolute basis.

The Quad measures the two most important components of run production--the ability to get on base and the ability to drive baserunners home. The former is covered via on base percentage (OBP) and times on base (TOB). The latter is covered via slugging average (SLG) and total bases (TB). None of these stats are team dependent. Therefore, The Quad is a pure statistical measure of an individual's offensive performance.

There have been 17 different players in modern history over the course of 31 seasons who have earned The Quad Award by leading their respective league in all four of The Quad categories.

The honorees are as follows:

National League

PLAYER	TEAM	YEAR	OBP	TOB	SLG	TB
Wagner	PIT	1908	.415	260	.542	308
Magee	PHI	1910	.445	278	.507	263
Cravath	PHI	1915	.393	241	.510	266
Hornsby	STL	1920	.431	281	.559	329
Hornsby	STL	1921	.458	302	.639	378
Hornsby	STL	1922	.459	316	.722	450
Hornsby	STL	1924	.507	318	.696	373
Klein	PHI	1933	.422	280	.602	365
Musial	STL	1943	.425	294	.562	347
Musial	STL	1948	.450	312	.702	429
Schmidt	PHI	1981	.435	189	.644	228
Helton	COL	2000	.463	323	.698	405

American League

PLAYER	TEAM	YEAR	OBP	TOB	SLG	TB
Lajoie	PHA	1901	.463	269	.643	350
Stone	SLB	1906	.417	267	.501	291
Cobb	DET	1909	.431	270	.517	296
Cobb	DET	1917	.444	290	.570	335
Ruth	BOS	1919	.456	246	.657	284
Ruth	NY	1921	.512	353	.846	457
Ruth	NY	1923	.545	379	.764	399
Ruth	NY	1924	.513	346	.739	391
Ruth	NY	1926	.516	331	.737	365
Gehrig	NY	1934	.465	321	.706	409
Foxx	BOS	1938	.462	316	.704	398
WilliamsBOS	1942	.499	335	.648	338
WilliamsBOS	1946	.497	334	.667	343
WilliamsBOS	1947	.499	345	.634	335
WilliamsBOS	1949	.490	358	.650	368
WilliamsBOS	1951	.464	313	.556	295
RobinsonBAL	1966	.410	279	.637	367
Yaz	BOS	1967	.418	284	.622	360
Yaz	BOS	1970	.452	315	.592	335

Interestingly, eight of the 17 players above have also earned The Quad Award for the entire major league by leading in all four Quad categories in both leagues. The creme de la creme are as follows:

Major League

PLAYER	TEAM	YEAR	OBP	TOB	SLG	TB
Wagner	PIT	1908	.415	260	.542	308
Cobb	DET	1909	.431	270	.517	296
Cobb	DET	1917	.444	290	.570	335
Ruth	BOS	1919	.456	246	.657	284
Ruth	NY	1921	.512	353	.846	457
Ruth	NY	1923	.545	379	.764	399
Ruth	NY	1924	.513	346	.739	391
Ruth	NY	1926	.516	331	.737	365
Gehrig	NY	1934	.465	321	.706	409
Foxx	BOS	1938	.462	316	.704	398
WilliamsBOS	1942	.499	335	.648	338
Musial	STL	1943	.425	294	.562	347
Yaz	BOS	1967	.418	284	.622	360

Additional Statistics:

PLAYER	TEAM	YEAR	OPS	OPS+
Wagner	PIT	1908	 .957	205
Cobb	DET	1909	 .947	194
Cobb	DET	1917	1.014	209
Ruth	BOS	1919	1.114	219
Ruth	NY	1921	1.359	239
Ruth	NY	1923	1.309	239
Ruth	NY	1924	1.252	220
Ruth	NY	1926	1.253	227
Gehrig	NY	1934	1.172	208
Foxx	BOS	1938	1.166	182
WilliamsBOS	1942	1.147	217
Musial	STL	1943	 .988	180
Yaz	BOS	1967	1.040	195

Saving Bonds

By definition, all of the National and American League Quad honorees also led their respective leagues in On Base Plus Slugging or OPS in the year they captured all four jewels of The Quad. Furthermore, with the exception of Todd Helton, all of The Quad honorees had the highest Adjusted OPS or OPS+ in their respective league that year, underscoring the fact that not only were their stats the best in terms of raw numbers but also the best adjusted for park factors. Although Helton had a higher OPS (1.162) than Barry Bonds (1.127), he had a vastly inferior OPS+ (158) than Bonds (191). Coors Field had a park factor of 131 (meaning it helped batters by 31% over a neutral park), whereas Pac Bell Park had a factor of 91 (meaning it hurt batters by 9%). For the record, Bonds has actually had four years with an even greater OPS+ (205 in 1992, 206 in 1993, 262 in 2001, and 275 in 2002 with the latter two ranking first and second all time).

Surprisingly, Bonds has not won The Quad Award to date. However, he has captured three legs of The Quad on four separate occasions (1992, 1993, 2001, and 2002). Holding Bonds back has been the fact that the all-time great has only led the league in total bases one time, primarily due to an unusually high number of bases on balls (which limits his opportunities to accumulate TB); a relatively low batting average for most of his career compared to other similar players who had high walk totals, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams (both of whom led the A.L. in TB six times); and playing in an era with as many as 16 teams in a league vs. only eight in the days of Ruth and Williams (and the like), dictating the need to beat out twice the number of competitors as his counterparts from the pre-expansion days.

A Few Good Men

Moreover, except for Ruth in 1924, all of The Major League Quad honorees also had the highest OPS+ in the major leagues that year. Ruth came very close to leading the majors in OPS+ in 1924, but he fell just shy of Rogers Hornsby (220 for Ruth vs. 222 Hornsby). Although Ruth had a higher OPS (1.252) than Hornsby (1.203), the latter's park factor was .98 (meaning it slightly favored pitchers) as opposed to Ruth's park factor of 100. Hornsby not only captured Quad honors in the N.L. in 1924, he led the majors in batting average (.424) and hits (227). The "Rajah" also led his league in doubles (43), base on balls (89), and extra base hits (82), stringing together one of the best seasons ever by a middle infielder. Interestingly, Ruth and Hornsby are the only pair who have won The Quad in their respective leagues during the same year, and they did it twice (1924, as mentioned above, and 1921). If not for Ruth, Hornsby would have attained major league Quad honors in both of those years. Instead, Hornsby will have to be satisfied with having led his league four times, the third most in baseball history (behind only Ruth and Williams with five each) and the most in National League history. The only other repeat winners are Ty Cobb (1909 and 1917), Stan Musial (1943 and 1948), and Carl Yastrzemski (1967 and 1970).

Cobb and Ruth are in a class by themselves as the only multiple winners of The Major League Quad. Honus Wagner is unique being the only non-1B/OF to garner The Major League Quad. Wagner, Hornsby and Mike Schmidt are the only non-1B/OF to earn Quad honors in the National League, and Nap Lajoie is the only non-1B/OF to net Quad status in the American League.

QUAD Plus

One might say that those players who led their leagues in OBP, TOB, SLG, TB, and OPS+ achieved "The Quintuple"--a truly dominating individual performance qualititatively, quantitatively, and adjusted for park factors. These players were indisputably the greatest offensive performers in their league in the year that they achieved The Quad and finished on top in the additional stat of OPS+. For that, I award these truly special players with The Quad Plus or The QUAD+ Award.

The Quad seasons are not meant to be exhaustive in the search for the best offensive seasons ever. [As detailed above, Bonds' 2001 and 2002 campaigns are undoubtedly two of the best years ever. Ruth's 1920 (three legs plus a second place finish in the fourth) and 1927 (two legs) seasons fell short of Quad honors but probably rank among the most outstanding as well. Gehrig (1927) and Williams (1941) had seasons other than the years they won their Quads that would rank among the very best. Mickey Mantle had back-to-back seasons (1956 and 1957, in which he finished first or second in all four of the Quad components both years) that deserve mention as two of the finest offensive seasons of all time.] Instead, The Quad is designed to identify the players who led their respective leagues or the majors in the two most important stats leading to run production, both on the basis of per at bat (SLG) or plate appearance (OBP) as well as in absolute totals (TOB and TB). A hitter who may have led by a wide margin in three of the four categores and narrowly missed leading in the fourth may have had a better year than another batter who finished atop all four by razor-thin margins. Nonetheless, The Quad and QUAD+ achievements are worthy in their own right, shining light on some of the most significant and, in a few cases, underappreciated (i.e., George Stone, Sherry Magee, and Gavvy Cravath) seasons in baseball history.

The Quad and The QUAD+ also complement the OBP-SLG-OPS stats by adding TOB and TB to the mix. As a result, The Quad and The QUAD+ could be used to evaluate more comprehensively player performance, allowing General Managers as well as All-Star and Hall of Fame voters to differentiate between hitters with similar rate stats by also focusing on the corresponding counting stats because superior play is a result of both qualitative and quantitative measures.

I will continue to discuss The Quad and The QUAD+ in future articles. In the meantime, please feel free to email me with any questions or comments.

Photo credits: Baseball Library.com/Matthew Fulling.