Unassisted Triple Play

My wife and I were watching the Red Sox game last night and got onto the topic of unassisted triple plays.  I said that while it isn't the hardest thing to do in baseball -- I would reserve that honor for pitching a perfect game -- that it might be the most rare.

There have been fifteen unassisted triple plays thus far in major league history.  To put that in perspective, in the major leagues there have been:

• Twenty-three perfect games
• 305 batters hitting for the cycle
• 287 no hitters

However, in putting this post together, I discovered at least one thing more rare in baseball... hitting for the natural cycle.  That has been done only thirteen times in the major leagues!

Compilation Video


And yes, one of those featured is a Red Sox player, John Valentin (SS) on 8 July 1994 against the Seattle Mariners.  The other Red Sox player to do so was George Burns (1B) on 14 September 1923 against the Cleveland Indians.  The first that I ever saw was during a Colorado Rockies game in their great, but ultimately doomed, 2007 season.  There, Troy Tulowitzki (SS) tripled-up the Atlanta Braves on 29 April.

I'd really like to know how Mr. Burns completed his triple play as most are recorded by either SS or 2B.  First baseman Johnny Neun of the Detroit Tigers also pulled this off on 31 May 1927 against the Cleveland Indians.

Although not taking place in the majors, there has been one recorded instance of an unassisted triple play by an outfielder!  I'll put the description about Walter Carlisle from Baseball-Reference.com below:

Walter Carlisle, although more famous for something he did in the minors, played 3 games in the major leagues with theBoston Red Sox in 1908. Also trying for a job in the outfield of the Red Sox that year was a 20-year-old named Tris Speaker. 

On July 19, 1911, while playing for Vernon of the Pacific Coast League in a game against Los Angeles, Carlisle completed the only known example of an unassisted triple play by a centerfielder. Carlisle made a diving catch off the bat of Roy Akin just behind second base with runners on first and second, but the runners had taken off with the hit, so he touched second, and then ran by himself all the way back to first to complete the triple play. In the following year, Akin pulled off his own unassisted triple play, albeit as an infielder.

And just to make sure that none of these amazing players get too big for their britches, I give you a six-year-old.

11 May 2015