Neal Ball, Naps shortstop, July 19, 1909, second inningWhen Ball turned the first unassisted triple play in AL/NL history, the legendary Cy Young was on the mound, and he reportedly didn't know what had happened -- who could blame him, after all, since it was the first of its kind? "Playing professional baseball is a privilege. As of July 2021, there have been 727 triple plays, according to the SABR Triple Play database. The Cleveland Spiders / Cleveland Guardians are the only franchise to have three players achieve the feat while on their roster: Neal Ball, Bill Wambsganss and Asdrbal Cabrera. In his debut, Haywood had pitched one inning and was charged with a blown save on an unearned run. Both runners had been on the move and Valentin casually stepped on second to double off Mike Blowers and then he tagged Keith Mitchell to complete the unassisted triple play. A-Rods debut too 1990 The Oakland Athletics swept the Boston Red Sox for the American League pennant and their third straight trip to the World Series with a 3-1 victory. 1968 Mickey Lolich won the World Series for the Detroit Tigers by defeating Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 in Game 7. And if you have been able to witness it before your own eyes, consider yourself lucky and blessed. That's when the Astros' minor leaguers turned a triple play without any of them touching the ball. 6 Bruce Howard had been traded from Baltimore to the Senators on June 15. McDowell admitted after the game that he didnt know how to handle Frank Howard, whose three hits made him 7-for-9 in 1968 against his fellow All-Star. The guy that catches the ball makes one out, steps on the base to get a runner out, and tags the guy that's running to him to get the third. Double Plays: Seattle 1, Boston 1.Caught Stealing: Fletcher, Fermin.Double: Dawson.Errors: Valentin, Martinez.GIDP: Fletcher, Haselman.Home Runs: Blowers, Rowland, Brunansky, Valentin.Left on Base: Seattle 5, Boston 6.Triple Play: Valentin.Triples: Griffey. It has been accomplished only fifteen times in baseball history and as illustrated in the quote below, it is a legacy that will follow each and every player who has ever accomplished this unbelievable feat. 20 For example, Cabreras and Eric Bruntletts (August 23, 2009) were similar plays. It turned out to be a huge play in the game, which Colorado won in walk-off fashion, 9-7 in 11 innings. 1924 The Washington Senators won their only championship by defeating the Giants 4-3 in 12 innings. "It kind of just fell into my lap, but I'll take it.". Infrequently, the order of the last two putouts is reversed. update=copyright.getFullYear(); It has been accomplished only fifteen times in baseball history and as illustrated in the quote below, it is a legacy that will follow each and every player who has ever accomplished this unbelievable feat. The Senators, to the surprise of no one, finished 10th and last. With runners on second and third, the center fielder Hines caught a line from Jack Burdock, with which the men on bases thought it was impossible to catch and ran. Patrick Dubuque, Cold Takes: The Aesthetics of the Unassisted Triple Play, baseballprospectus.com, November 15, 2016, https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/30706/cold-takes-the-aesthetics-of-the-unassisted-triple-play/. In other words, it was perfect timing for the Reds. That would not be particularly remarkable except that he had been acquired from the White Sox before the season in a trade that included Cullen.16, It was the first time in baseball history that the same two players were traded for each other twice in the same season.17 Perhaps the White Sox were expecting Hansen backupon arrival he found his locker as he had left it, complete with his 1967 uniform.18. And, on August 23, 2009, Eric Bruntlett wrapped up 9-7 win by the Phillies over the Mets with an unassisted triple play in the bottom of the ninth inning. 1937 New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez drove in the winning run for a 4-2 win over the New York Giants and the World Series title in five games. A walk in his first plate appearance on August 1 ended Hansens strikeout streak, and then he hit a grand slam off Detroits Pat Dobson his next time up. A triple play is a relatively rare occurrence in baseball with only 720 being recorded since 1876. Philadelphia Phillies' second-baseman Eric Brunlett made an amazing and unassisted game-ending triple play against the New York Mets. The unassisted triple play is more rare than a pitcher's perfect game, having occurred only 15 times in MLB history. 2 Jim Schlemmer, Aw Nats, Again!, Akron Beacon Journal, July 30, 1968: B-2. Furcal made a full-extension, leaping catch of Cardinals pitcher Woody Williams' line drive with runners at first and second in the fifth inning at Busch Stadium. Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner was at the plate with runners at first and second in the first game of a doubleheader between the Cubs and the Pirates at Forbes Field. As rare as triple play is,. He made the only 14 appearances of his major-league career in 1968, going into the books with no won-lost record and a 4.63 ERA in 23 innings pitched. In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author consulted data from Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE196807300.shtml, https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1968/B07300CLE1968.htm. The Senators were not a box-office drawthe first games attendance was 5,807 and the July 30 game drew 5,937. Cleveland put its first two runners on against Howard, as Dave Nelson singled and Russ Snyder walked. Tagged the base for two and tagged the runner for three. An unassisted triple play usually consists of a hard line drive hit directly at an infielder for the first out, with that same fielder then able to double off one of the base runners and tag a second for the second and third outs. 1920 The Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-1 in the fifth game of the World Series. Glenn Wright, Pirates shortstop,, May 7, 1925, ninth inningThe thread connecting unassisted triple plays continues -- the man who turned the one after this one was also involved here. 16 The complete trade on February 13, 1968 was Hansen, Dennis Higgins, and Steve Jones to the Senators for Cullen, Buster Narum, and Bob Priddy from the White Sox. Breaking down all fifteen instances of unassisted triple plays by position, there have been two by first basemen, five by second basemen, and eight by shortstops in Major League Baseball history. 1926 Grover Alexander, 39, saved Game 7 and the World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals, fanning Tony Lazzeri with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and pitching 2 1-3 hitless innings. In the second period, Luverne broke the shutout with a power play goal by Kamryn Van Batavia at the 12:15 mark of the period. A opportunistic unassisted double play by Easton Good ended the jam and the inning for the Hounds. 2011 Nelson Cruz hit the first game-ending grand slam in postseason history, lifting the Texas Rangers over the Detroit Tigers 7-3 in 11 innings for a 2-0 lead in the AL championship series. 7 Jim Schlemmer, Hansen Travels Alone into History, Akron Beacon Journal, July 31, 1968: F2. Every pitcher's dream, the conditions and execution have to be perfectly right for this unicorn event to even have a chance at happening. In general, the "next base" is usually the same base that the infielder stepped on to record the second out, and the last runner is tagged before he can return to the previous base. ;j6\^}*(7t BQ=NE4qjPGapUKRZ{rGNXwznH.9beJ+q.wvBTTZ,Yf^,djV4TB:.$\H lI `pJo)9 ^q>7 y:"F;X:YHkJd`g5zfB!o`_@}}zGxB m]t- The unassisted triple play, the perfect game, hitting four home runs in one game and five extra-base hits in a game are thus comparable in terms of rarity, but the perfect game and the home run and extra-base hit records require an extraordinary effort along with a fair amount of luck. Yes, these were Monday and Tuesday nights, but games the next two nights against Baltimore pulled almost twice the crowds to cavernous Cleveland Stadium. On May 8, 1878, Paul Hines was credited with a triple play which was correct for the "rules in play." Furcal then ran to tag second base, as well as the retreating runner who had come from first, Orlando Palmeiro. The play was a bunt attempt with runners on first and second, by another major leaguer from Venezuela: Luis Sojo. In which we solve the mystery of how a team hit into a triple play without any fielder touching the ball. American League Unassisted Triple Plays | Triple Plays. 1 Sponsored by Grammarly If the runner made it all the way home, without the benefit of an error, that my friends would be called an Inside The Park Home Run. Also A-Rods first major league game! This one was also the first in AL/NL history to end a game -- following a walk and a bunt single to open the top of the ninth inning, Homer Summa lined a pitch to Neun at first, where he tagged the runner who was off the bag there and sprinted to second to beat the lead runner, who had been running on the pitch, back to the bag. 4: 0: Page 215.). However, by modern rules it was an unassisted double play with a throw to second base for the third out. This usually happens in one of two ways: An infielder will catch a batted ball in the air (1) and then tag out a runner attempting to return to a base he left, or tag the base he left (2). For a triple play to occur, there must be at least two runners on base with nobody out, and the defensive team must record three outs on one continuous play. John Valentin of the Boston Red Sox turned the tenth unassisted triple play in the history of Major League baseball. With the Mets hitter, Jeff Francoeur on the plate, the two runners that were on bases decided to double steal and in a 2-2 count, Francoeur, connected a line to the shortstop Eric Bruntlett. Triple threat A single fielder completing all three outs is the rarest sort of triple play and one of the rarest happenings in baseball. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in Major League Baseball (MLB) under modern rules, doing so on July 19, 1909. We look forward to sharing. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies shortstop, April 29, 2007, seventh inningFirst and second, nobody out -- see a pattern here? 1945 The Detroit Tigers scored five runs in the first inning of Game 7 of the World Series en route to a 9-3 win over the Chicago Cubs and the World Championship. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. The most frequent triple plays occur from groundballs. As of 2022, there have been only 16 unassisted triple plays in major-league historyand six have involved Clevelands AL franchise. "Funny thing, I played in the big leagues for thirteen years and the only thing anybody seems to remember is that once I made an unassisted triple play in a World Series." His sixth inning was much less eventful, as he pitched around a leadoff walk to McDowell and recorded a scoreless frame. 2 July 2013. A veteran reliever who had pitched over 100 innings for the Senators in the previous two years, he was making his 32nd appearance of the year. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It, How It Happened: Caught liner. K%iJ,O;lXv9 K%Mjmblt;1[I'hLM: )E\gxEE7>#+7yu:o[ahy*Lw >}e}O3{4@. The winning run scored when a ball hit by Earl McNeely bounced over third baseman Fred Lindstroms head. Watch >. As Tulowitzki noted, there is typically a little bit of luck involved, as runners are usually in motion, and the ball must be hit at the defender. McDowell struck out Hansen for the third time. 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