Winning Either Is a Crowning Achievement

Which is harder to win, the Triple Crown of baseball or the Triple Crown of horse racing?

In the past 117 years, there have been 17 Triple Crown winners in baseball. In the past 122 years, there have been 11 Triple Crown winners in horse racing.

The last Triple Crown winners in baseball were Frank Robinson in 1966 and Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. The last Triple Crown winner in horse racing was Affirmed in 1978.

Tom Durkin, who will call today’s Belmont Stakes for NBC, said on a conference call this week, “There’s no question that the Triple Crown of horse racing is more difficult. How many years did Willie Mays play? Twenty years? [Actually 22]. He had 20 chances to do it. Smarty Jones has one. That’s it.”

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Dissenting vote: Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News claims the Triple Crown debate is a walkover for baseball.

“Think about it,” he wrote. “To claim a spot in his sport’s pantheon, Smarty Jones has to be better than a dozen or so horses for just more than six minutes.

“To win baseball’s Triple Crown, a hitter must be at the top of his game for six grinding months ... competing against hundreds of the best.”

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Trivia time: Two players have won baseball’s Triple Crown twice. Who are they?

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Huge disparity: With Smarty Jones going for a Triple Crown in the Belmont today, NBC is guaranteed a ratings winner. With Funny Cide going for a Triple Crown last year, NBC got a 9.5 rating. In 2000, with no Triple Crown on the line, ABC got a 2.8.

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Where’s the body buried? Omaha, the 1935 Triple Crown winner, had no ties to the Nebraska city, but came there after he retired and was buried at a racetrack there in 1959.

The racetrack is now being torn down, but Omaha’s remains cannot be found. His grave was covered by a clubhouse expansion in 1974.

“I know they knew where to dig,” longtime track employee Leonard Larson said. “He was right where the clubhouse lobby was.”

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A real longshot: The Calgary Flames can wrap up the Stanley Cup tonight in Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Calgary.

Of the Flames even making it to the finals, Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Glove & Mail, wrote: “Roughly the equivalent of the Los Angeles Clippers somehow playing in next year’s NBA Finals.”

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Looking back: Two of the 11 Triple Crown-winning horses accomplished the feat on this day -- War Admiral in 1937 and Count Fleet in 1943. Count Fleet, ridden by Johnny Longden, won the Belmont by 25 lengths.

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Trivia answer: Rogers Hornsby, in 1922 and ‘25, and Ted Williams, in 1942 and ’47.

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And finally: One reason Philadelphia has gone so crazy over Smarty Jones is because the city hasn’t had a champion since 1983, when the 76ers won the NBA title.

That prompted Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post and aol.com to call Philadelphia “the City of Brotherly Losers.”

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Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.