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In the history of Major League Baseball only 11 players have won the triple crown- leading their league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in.
In my liftetime, there’s only been 3 Triple Crown winners; Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigersin 2012, Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox 1967 and a year earlier, Frank Robinson with Baltimore Orioles
And while those Triple Crown winners are rare, I’d say the odds of the Rusty Torres Triple Crown would be significantly longer.
Torres has the unique distinction of being in the game when 3 baseball riots unfolded. Not fights, but full blown fan uprisings, all of which resulted in forfeits.
After being called up by the New York Yankees in September of 1971, Torres was a startled rookie standing on second base in Washington with 2 out in the top of the 9th, when Senators fans stormed the field to protest the announced shift and departure of the Senators to Texas.
Traded from the Yankees to Cleveland, Torres delivered a pinch hit single in the 9th inning on June 4, 1974 and scored as the Indians rallied to tie the Texas Rangers at 5.
Unfortunately, that Cleveland comeback unfolded on Ten Cent Beer Night and interaction between Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs and some fans who had come on the field to try and steal his cap & glove prompted hundreds of other fans to pour onto the outfield and the game was forfeited.
Prominent newscaster Tim Russert, a college student at the time, was in the crowd.
Said Russert, “I went with $2 in my pocket, you do the math.”
Later in the 70’s, Rusty Torres found himself in Chicago with the White Sox
On July 12; 1979, he scored the only run for the Sox in a 4-1 loss to Detroit in the opening game of a doubleheader.
Torres was in the dugout between games when disc jockey Steve Dahl “blew up” a box of disco records, launching the ” Disco Demolition Night Riot “.
Cabrera, Yastrzemski & Robinson are prominent names in the history of baseball for their remarkable Triple Crown achievements.
And while Rusty Torres didn’t achieve legendary status on the field, his presence, proximity and perspective on 3 American League riots is remarkable.