Unassisted triple play

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.

In baseball, 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 (MLB) under modern rules, doing so on July 19, 1909.[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). 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.[2]

In MLB, a total of fifteen players have fielded an unassisted triple play,[3] making this feat rarer than a perfect game.[4] Of these fifteen players, eight were shortstops, five were second basemen and two were first basemen. The Cleveland Naps / Cleveland Indians / Cleveland Guardians are the only franchise to have three players achieve the feat while on their roster: Neal Ball, Bill Wambsganss and Asdrúbal Cabrera. 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.[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.[5] The most recent player to make an unassisted triple play is Eric Bruntlett, accomplishing the feat on August 23, 2009.[6] Only Neun and Bruntlett executed unassisted triple plays that ended the game.[3]

  1. ^ "Sports Trivia 07–19". The Dearborn County Register. July 18, 2009. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013.
  2. ^ Adams, Cecil (September 21, 1984). "How is an unassisted triple play accomplished in baseball?". The Straight Dope. Chicago Reader. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Ginsburg, Steve (August 23, 2009). "Bruntlett turns game-ending unassisted triple play". Reuters. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  4. ^ DiComo, Anthony (December 30, 2009). "Mets bear the Brunt of unassisted triple play". MLB.com. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Hansen 8th In Unassisted Triple Plays". The Pittsburgh Press. United Press International. July 29, 1968. p. 60. Retrieved July 24, 2012. Ron Hansen looked surprise when informed it had been 41 years...since an unassisted triple play had been made in the majors.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bruntlett was invoked but never defined (see the help page).