A pitcher throws to a catcher and the batter swings and strikes out, and the catcher sees that the runner on 1st is about to steal second, so the catcher … HarperCollins Publishers. That is baseball's ultimate rarity, so unusual that baseball nerds treasure the name of Bill Wambsganss, the author of the only unassisted triple play in the World Series in 1920. According to the Society for American Baseball Research, there have been 664 triple plays in Major League Baseball from 1876 to September 2, 2006. Third Baseman Frank Eustace of Pottsville against Lebanon. One of the rarest things in baseball is the Unassisted Triple Play. What is a “Wambsganss”? Triple plays happen infrequently – there have been 722 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of approximately five per season – because they depend on a combination of two elements, which are themselves uncommon: . 07-14 … Note that Cooney and Neun accomplished the feat on consecutive days. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. Tagged runner coming from 1, Unassisted Triple Play History | Bold = Occured in World Series | Research by Baseball Almanac. The Brooklyn Dodgers lost the final three games of the 1920 World Series, 100 years ago last week, including hitting into the only unassisted triple play in the history of the Fall Classic. See unassisted triple play for more details. One of the rarest occurrences in baseball is the unassisted triple play, where a single fielder turns a triple play without ever giving up the baseball. What is the relevance? The shortest time between two unassisted triple plays occurred in May 1927, when Johnny Neun executed the feat less than 24 hours after Jimmy Cooney. That First Unassisted Triple Play Thing. 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. For example, after collecting the first two outs, Tigers' first baseman Johnny Neun ignored his shortstop's shouts to throw the ball, and instead ran to second base to get the final out himself. Copyright 1999- There have been only … Triple Plays. 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. National League Unassisted Triple Plays | Triple Plays. What about softball? Doing such a play requires luck more than skill. The shortest time between two unassisted triple plays occurred in May 1927, when Johnny Neun executed the feat less than 24 hours after Jimmy Cooney. The unassisted triple play is one of the rarest fabulous feats in Major League baseball. The 15 Unassisted Triple Plays Of the fifteen players who accomplished unassisted triple plays, eight were shortstops, five were second basemen and two were first basemen. Caught line drive, tagged runner, touched 2nd. So, exactly what is an unassisted triple play in baseball? A Chronological List of Every Triple Play in Major League Baseball History. Page 215). Pages in category "Unassisted Triple Plays" The following 45 pages are in this category, out of 45 total. Since the American League was formed and baseball's modern era began, there have been around 160,000 games. 06-29-1876: 6: NL: Brown Stockings: vs: Mutuals: 1-3: 6-3-5: 3. Most unassisted triple plays in MLB have taken this form: an infielder catches a line drive (one out), steps on a base to double off a runner (two outs), and then tags another runner on the runner's way to the next base (three outs). It is not as impressive as some of the other feats on the list, because while athleticism is a factor, a lot of luck is also needed. ", "Bruntlett turns game-ending unassisted triple play", "Mets bear the Brunt of unassisted triple play", "Remembering Johnny Neun's Unassisted Triple Play", "Play-By-Play Descriptions of Baseball's Triple Plays (1876–1879)", "First and Only World Series Triple Play Recalled", "October 10, 1920 World Series Game 5, Brooklyn Robins at Cleveland Indians Play by Play and Box Score", "September 14, 1923 Cleveland Indians at Boston Red Sox Play by Play and Box Score", "October 6, 1923 Philadelphia Phillies at Boston Braves Play by Play and Box Score", "May 7, 1925 St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates Play by Play and Box Score", "May 30, 1927 Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates (First Game) Play by Play and Box Score", "May 31, 1927 Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers Play by Play and Box Score", "July 30, 1968 Washington Senators at Cleveland Indians Play by Play and Box Score", "Former Orioles shortstop Ron Hansen talks about his unassisted triple play", "September 20, 1992 Philadelphia Phillies at Pittsburgh Pirates Play by Play and Box Score", "July 8, 1994 Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox Play by Play and Box Score", "May 29, 2000 Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees Play by Play and Box Score", "August 10, 2003 Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals Play by Play and Box Score", "April 29, 2007 Atlanta Braves at Colorado Rockies Play by Play and Box Score", "Tulowitzki turns unassisted triple play", "May 12, 2008 Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Indians Play by Play and Box Score", "August 23, 2009 Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets Play by Play and Box Score", Video of unassisted triple plays (Morandini's through Bruntlett's), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Unassisted_triple_play&oldid=998622322, Articles with dead external links from July 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. MLB # Date: Inn: LG: Fielding Team: HA: Batting Team: Men On: Scored: 1. [6] Only Neun and Bruntlett executed unassisted triple plays that ended the game.[3]. [4] Of these fifteen players, eight were shortstops, five were second basemen and two were first basemen. … 09-13-1876: 9: NL: Athletics: vs: Red Stockings: 1-2: 5-4-3: 4. Presumably, the total of 46 was taken before 1996 and this number has not been updated since. copyright=new Date(); Here is an example. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in Major League Baseball (MLB) under modern rules, doing so on July 19, 1909. Bruntlett turns rare unassisted triple play to finish Phillies' 9-7 win over Mets Updated Jun 21, 2019 NEW YORK - Eric Bruntlett pulled off a feat rarer than a perfect game Sunday afternoon. List of Major League Baseball pitchers who have hit home runs in the postseason (1,231 words) exact match in snippet view article find links to article Smith hit the first grand slam and Bill Wambsganss made the only unassisted triple play.Three pairs of teammate pitchers have hit home runs in the post-season: Hines started his professional baseball career in Washington, DC in 1872. Unassisted triple play Last updated December 01, 2019 Bill Wambsganss (top left, in white) completes his unassisted triple play in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series.This marks the only time any triple play has been executed in the postseason. That gives us one unassisted triple play every 11,000 games or so. 1902. Analyzing A Rare, Unassisted Triple Play At Citi Field on Sunday, the Phillies led the Mets by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Did you know that two of the unassisted triple plays occurred as the last play of a game? American League Unassisted Triple Plays | Triple Plays. He was an outfielder, mainly, and known both for his bat and his speediness. Eric Bruntlett completed just the second game-ending unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball on Sunday, which helped the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-7 victory over the New York Mets. 1:15. Facing racism, Aaron still had hope, optimism. As a boy I witnessed an unassisted triple play as a member of the Normandy Park Royals, the neighborhood’s favorite third-place Little League team. A triple play is a unique, game-changing play. 05-13-1876: 5: NL: Mutuals: at: Dark Blues: 1-2-3: 4-3-4: 2. Hello everyone and welcome back! Tagged man off 1, How It Happened: Caught liner. One of the classic unassisted triple plays (and the only one ever to occur during a World Series) happened in 1920, in the fifth game between the Cleveland Indians and the Brooklyn Robins (Brooklyn used this wimpy nickname during the time the team was coached by Wilbert Robinson). There have only been 15 unassisted triple plays in MLB history. Some of them involve triple plays… One of these triple plays is the strikeout - caught stealing out - another caught stealing out at another base. It is only topped by the unassisted triple play. In the 2000s, the chance of seeing a triple play in a given inning has been less than 1 in 10,000. In baseball, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three outs by … During that same game Wamby also turned the first & only unassisted triple play (Read the entire Cleveland Times article on our 1920 World Series page) in post season history. Bill Wambsganss Triple Play during 1920 World Series(Source: Hall of Fame Collection). . The complete list of unassisted triple plays follows: First Baseman Harry O’Hagan of Roche.ster against Jersey City. Every unassisted triple play in history (through the 2016 season) has followed a pattern, where the three outs are recorded by: 1. This list may not reflect recent changes ( learn more ). document.write(update); The 15 people who have done unassisted triple plays have hardly done them purely by talent. In fact, through the entire history of Major League baseball, it has only been done 15 times. The following 25 pages are in this category, out of 25 total. He led the league in doubles in 1876, ’81, and ’84. Did you know that George Burns and Johnny Neun are the only two first basemen in Major League history to turn an unassisted triple play? John Valentin turns a smooth unassisted triple play. The Cleveland Indians are the only franchise to have three players achieve the feat while on their roster: Neal Ball, Bill Wambsganss and Asdrúbal Cabrera. July 2, 2013. Caught line drive, tagged runner, beat returning runner to 2nd. List of players involved in an unassisted triple play. Burns, Valentin and Tulowitzki are the only players in Major League Baseball history to have both turned an unassisted triple play and hit for the cycle in their careers. They have only occurred a total of fifteen times in history. All players with unassisted triple plays Baseball legend Hank Aaron dies at 86. What I find interesting is the distribution. Pages in category "Baseball plays". As we go back further in time there are more triple plays because 1) there were fewer strikeouts and thus more balls in play, and 2) less home runs were hit which meant more balls were kept in the ballpark. update=copyright.getFullYear(); 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. The other two were completed by first basemen, who were able to reach second base before the returning baserunner. With runners on second and third, center fielder Hines caught a line drive from, This page was last edited on 6 January 2021, at 07:17. Welcome to the SABR Triple Plays Database, a comprehensive list of all triple plays turned in the major leagues since 1876.. Click the link below to find a list of all known triple plays in major-league history, sortable by date, team(s), runners on base, play sequence, fielders, pitchers, opposing batter, unassisted, end of game, and other categories. Players in other positions (pitcher, catcher, outfielders) completing an unassisted triple play would require unusual confusion or mistakes by the baserunners, or an atypical defensive alignment (for example, repositioning an outfielder as a fifth infielder). (Give or take--strikes wiped out parts of several seasons.) ↑ The Baseball Almanac states that this event has occurred 46 times, but it lists 48 occurrences. [2], In MLB, a total of fifteen players have fielded an unassisted triple play,[3] making this feat rarer than a perfect game. The conditions must be perfect. With runners on second and third, while I watched from shortstop, a faceless little batter lifted a fly to shallow left center. [5] Conversely, it took more than 41 seasons after Neun's play before Ron Hansen performed the feat on July 30, 1968, marking the longest span between unassisted triple plays. [1] For this rare play to be possible there must be no outs in the inning and at least two runners on base, normally with the runners going on the pitch (e.g., double steal or hit-and-run). Of those, 12 were unassisted. The most recent Phillies triple play was turned in a fashion that has been deemed one of the most rare plays in all of baseball – unassisted. Did you know that two of the unassisted triple plays occurred as the last play of a game? Description []. On May 8, 1878, Paul Hines was credited with a triple play which was correct for the "rules in play." For this reason, all but two of these plays have been accomplished by middle infielders (second basemen and shortstops). It is plausible that a third baseman could complete an unassisted triple play with runners at second and third or with bases loaded, but this has never happened in MLB. Here are a few. The rarest type of triple play, and one of the rarest events of any kind in baseball, is for a single fielder to complete all three outs. 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. 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