baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three outs by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB) under modern rules, doing so on July 19, 1909. 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 In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there may be an ...

). An unassisted triple play usually consists of a hard

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

hit directly at an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

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. In MLB, a total of fifteen players have fielded an unassisted triple play, making this feat rarer than a perfect game. Of these fifteen players, eight were shortstops, five were second basemen and two were

first basemen A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. The

Cleveland Spiders The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followe ...

Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

are the only franchise to have three players achieve the feat while on their roster: Neal Ball,

Bill Wambsganss William Adolf Wambsganss (March 19, 1894 – December 8, 1985) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1914 through 1926, Wambsganss played for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Philadelphia Athletics. He is best remembered ...

and Asdrúbal Cabrera. The shortest time between two unassisted triple plays occurred in May 1927, when

Johnny Neun John Henry Neun (October 28, 1900 – March 28, 1990) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman from 1925 to 1931 for the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Braves. Neun is n ...

executed the feat less than 24 hours after Jimmy Cooney. 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. The most recent player to make an unassisted triple play is Eric Bruntlett, accomplishing the feat on August 23, 2009. Only Neun and Bruntlett executed unassisted triple plays that ended the game.

Background

Wambsganss, and his tripple (sic) play victims, Kilduff, Mitchell & Miller of the Brooklyn B

Most unassisted triple plays in MLB have taken this form: an infielder catches a

(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). 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. Infrequently, the order of the last two putouts is reversed. It is nearly impossible for an unassisted triple play to occur unless the fielder is positioned between the two runners. For this reason, all but two of these plays have been accomplished by middle infielders ( second basemen and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

s). The other two were completed by

, who were able to reach second base before the returning baserunner. 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. The only unassisted triple play that did not take one of these forms occurred in the 19th century, under rules that are no longer in effect (see below). It is plausible that a third baseman could complete an unassisted triple play with runners at second and third or with

bases loaded B backdoor breaking ball :A breaking pitch, usually a slider, curveball, or cut fastball that, due to its lateral motion, passes through a small part of the strike zone on the outside edge of the plate after seeming as if it would miss the p ...

, but this has never happened in MLB. 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). The unassisted triple play, the perfect game, hitting four home runs in one game and five

extra-base hits In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire ano ...

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. By contrast, the unassisted triple play is essentially always a matter of luck: a combination of the right circumstances with the relatively simple effort of catching the ball and running in the right direction with it.

Troy Tulowitzki Troy Trevor Tulowitzki (born October 10, 1984), nicknamed "Tulo", is an American retired professional baseball shortstop, who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Colorado Rockies. He also played for the Toronto B ...

said of his feat, "It fell right in my lap", and as WGN-TV sports anchor Dan Roan commented, "That's the way these plays always happen."

Instances

19th century

Paul Hines 1878 triple play newspaper account

Paul Hines Paul Aloysius Hines (March 1, 1855 – July 10, 1935) was an American center fielder in professional baseball who played in the National Association and Major League Baseball from 1872 to 1891. Born in Virginia, he is credited with winning baseb ...

, May 8, 1878,

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...

(vs.

Boston Red Caps The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

) (disputed) **With runners on second and third, center fielder Hines caught a line drive from

Jack Burdock John Joseph Burdock (April 1852 – November 27, 1931), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for several teams over a 20-year playing career. Burdock was known as a skilled fielder, and he ...

that the runners thought was uncatchable. When he caught it, both runners had already passed third (according to ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' account of the game, printed on May 9). Hines stepped on third, which by the rules of the day meant both runners were out. To make sure, he threw the ball to

Charlie Sweasy Charles James Sweasy (November 2, 1847 – March 30, 1908), born ''Swasey'', played second base for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. He returned to Cincinnati in 1876, hired by the new club th ...

at second base. It is still debated whether this was truly an unassisted triple play. Modern rules would have required either the ball to be conveyed to second base to put out the runner who had been on that base and had not tagged up, or that runner to be tagged. According to the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

, the runner coming from second,

Ezra Sutton Ezra Ballou Sutton (September 17, 1849 – June 20, 1907) was an American third baseman in the National Association and Major League Baseball from 1871 to 1888. Sutton collected 1,574 hits during this time period; he had a lifetime batting averag ...

, had not yet touched third base, which would mean that even by 19th-century rules the play was not complete until Hines threw to second, and thus the play was not unassisted. Ernest J. Lanigan's ''Baseball Cyclopedia'', 1922, which covers professional baseball back to 1876, states on p. 157 that Neal Ball in 1909 was "the first major leaguer to make an unassisted triple play." ''The Sporting News Baseball Record Book'', which covers records back to 1876, likewise does not list Hines' play in the section on unassisted triple plays.

Modern era (in MLB)

Player is active.

Notes

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

SABR list of unassisted triple playsCBS Seattle: Rarest Sports FeatsVideo of unassisted triple plays (Morandini's through Bruntlett's)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unassisted Triple Play Baseball terminology Baseball plays Sports accomplishments