The Ultimate Guide to What is a Triple Play in Baseball?
What does triple play mean in Baseball? During Baseball, triple play usually occurs when a player from the defensive team scores three outs of the offensive team. This is an occasional practice because scoring a triple play requires some specific conditions, like there must be two base runners on the base. Secondly, there must be zero outs from the offensive team during the inning.
How does Triple Play take place?
How do triple play generally happen in a game? It generally happens when there are no outs from the defensive team. The batter hits the ball, runs through the field, and reaches third base without a baserunner. There have to be two baserunners.
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Why are Triple Plays rare?
Why are Triple plays rare to happen? Triple plays are rare because they are challenging to achieve as far double plays are concerned; they are also tricky yet achievable. Nevertheless, getting three players out from the offensive team in the same play has a higher level of difficulty as there must be no out in the innings, as then there is no point in scoring a triple play.
Secondly, two base runners must be on base. After hitting the ball and running, the batter will become the third player. Hence this situation is scarce. One of the rare cases of History is that two triple plays happened in a single play. The match was between Red Sox and Minnesota on July 17, 1990. Minnesota scored triple plays against Red Sox. This was the first and last time for a triple run to happen two times in a single play.
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Unassisted Triple Play
Triple plays are very rare, and, in History, there are rare conditions when triple plays happen. There is a rare form of triple play,, the Unassisted triple play. What is an unassisted triple play? Unassisted Triple Play happens when the batter, upon hitting the ball, runs and reaches the third base without backing from his teammates. Unassisted triple plays are very rare than average triple plays. Only 15 unassisted triple plays are recorded in the History of world baseball.
How does a triple play compare to a double play?
Triple plays and double plays have slight differences between them, but their occurrence is very different from each other. How does a triple play compare to a double play? Triple play is compared to double play below:
Double Play:
- A double play happens when a defensive team player out two baserunners from the offensive team.
- There must be one baserunner during the process because the batter will become one of the baserunners after hitting the ball. Hence, by this, there will be two baserunners on the base.
- This is usually frequent during the play and happens often.
Triple Play:
- Triple play happens when a player from the defensive team outs three base runners or three offensive team players at once.
- There must be two baserunners because the batter, after hitting the ball, will turn into the third baserunner.
- This is rare to happen in normal conditions.
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First Ever Triple play happened in MLB History
When did the first triple play happen in Major League Baseball History? On July 14, 1901, Milwaukee Brewers recorded the first triple play against Chicago White Stockings. Bill Friel, Billy Gilbert, and Jiggs.
Donahue Baseball Scorekeeping for a Triple play
Scorekeeping for a triple play is essential. What is baseball scorekeeping for this? As mentioned earlier, there must be zero-outs before a triple play is recorded. Scorekeeping decides whether or not a triple play will be recorded.
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List of Triple Plays to happen in History
How many triple plays have there been in the world series? Hence, there is a list of triple plays in Baseball:
- The list starts from New York Mutuals, Brown Stockings, and Athletics
Who scored triple play in the year 1876.
- Red Caps, Dark blues, and Grays in 1877
- Grays, Red Caps, and Blues in 1878
- Worcester, White Stockings and Grays in 1880.
- Rangers, Nationals, and Minnesota Twins in 2022
List of Unassisted Triple Plays
There are few moments of unassisted triple plays; hence here is a list of Unassisted Triple plays in Baseball:
- Neal Ball scored the first ever unassisted triple play in 1909
- Bill Wambsganss in 1920
- George Burns in 1923
- Ernie Padgett in 1923
- Glenn Wright in 1925
- Jimmy Cooney in 1927
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Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Triple Plays are there in MLB History?
From 1876 until now, only 730 triple plays in the world of MLB history have happened since it is very scarce to happen.
Has there ever been a Quadruple Play?
Yes, Quadruple play had happened once in the History of Baseball on June 8, 1953, when Alvin Dark from the New York Giants did it by hitting a ball against the right centre. This usually happens when there are no outs in the game, and the ball is hit so that it seems it will fall inside but hits outside.
When was the last Triple Play in History?
The last triple ball recorded in the History of Baseball was in 1994 on July 8 by Boston Jhon Valentin.
The Bottom Line on What is a Triple Play in Baseball?
Triple Plays are very unusual in baseball, but there is still a chance for triple plays to happen five per season. There have been incredible incidents in the past years when players have scored triple plays twice in the same match. This is incredible as a triple play requires zero outs and at least two base runners. In addition, there is a rare form of triple play called unassisted triple play. It happens when a player scores a triple play without any aid from other players. There are 15 unassisted triple plays and 730 triple plays in world history.
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