[Wolverine]

I was looking at the history of Triple Crown winners and noticed a couple players that accomplished this feat as early as the 19th century, as well as Nap Lajoie in 1901 and Ty Cobb in 1909.

Does anyone know when the term "Triple Crown" was first applied to baseball? I've heard from a few people that the term originated in horse racing and was later used in baseball, but I've been trying to figure out exactly when.

I found one article stating that the term originated in baseball when Joe Medwick won the crown in 1937 for the Cardinals. However, they only mention that this was the first time the New York Times used the phrase to describe the baseball accomplishment. They don't mention anything about the possibility of other publications using the term earlier than that.

One of my fellow collecting buddies claims that Ty Cobb was the first player to be called a "Triple Crown winner" by the Detroit Free Press back in 1909, but when I searched the Detroit Free Press online archives I was unable to find any evidence that the term was used to describe Cobb's accomplishment around that time.

If anyone has any info they could share I would be interested in hearing it.