The unassisted triple play is considered to be one of the rarest plays in baseball. According to wiki, there have only been 15 in the modern era of MLB.
I was thinking about what could be rarer, with the caveat that it has happened at some point.
One that popped into mind was a walk-off triple (with no fielding errors). I then googled it and there was exactly one in history and it just happened last year.
Any other examples? Obviously one is hard to beat, but I wonder if there are other rarer than the 15 UTP’s.
Here’s that play, by the way. My nominee is going to be the Jean Segura… thing. He might be the only player to ever steal first, and I expect he’s the only guy to try to steal the same base twice in one inning: successfully the first time, unsuccessfully the second time. D’oh.
5 strikeouts in one inning has never happened at the major-league level. It has happened at least three times in the minors and once in spring training, according to Wikipedia.
There was a great play by Brendan Ryan a few years ago where it hit an infield triple (well, they gave him a single with two bases on fielders indifference - but to me its a triple).
Roberto Clemente hit the only walk-off inside the park grand slam in MLB history. He ran through the third base coaches stop sign and scored the winning run.
Nope not on either account. On Aug. 4, 1911, Germany Schaefer stole second with a teammate on third hoping to draw a throw, but did not. He then stole first and tried to steal second a second time and was thrown out. That was the incident that led to the rule 7.08(i) adopting prohibiting running the bases in reverse order to confuse the defense or to make a travesty of the game.
Quoting from Wikipedia: “A unique double play likely never to happen again in MLB; a 9-2-7-2 that effectively ended a career. On July 9, 1985 with Phil Bradley…on second Gorman Thomas singles to right. Jesse Barfield…charged the ball and fired slightly up the line to Buck Martinez who had just enough time to catch the ball before absorbing Bradley’s full charge. A broken leg and severely dislocated ankle but he held on. Attempting to catch Thomas rounding second Martinez, now seated and severely injured, threw the ball into left field. On the error Thomas rounds third attempting to score. George Bell (outfielder) now in shallow left field to the line quickly returns the ball to Martinez, on a hop, who applies a tag on a scrambling Thomas.”
In 2006, Kevin Kouzmanoff of the Cleveland Indians became the first player in history to hit a grand slam home run on the first pitch he saw in the Major Leagues.
His feat has since been duplicated once, by Daniel Nava of the Boston Red Sox in 2010.
Adam Greenberg was hit by a pitch in his first major league at-bat. The first pitch. It was a 92-MPH fast ball that hit him directly in the back of his head, and he never played major-league baseball again. Until…in 2012, due in part to an online petition (started by a Cub fan, Greenberg’s original major-league team), Greenberg signed a one-day contract with the Miami Marlins to get an official MLB AB. He struck out on 3 pitches.
Probably more rare than unique, even at the MLB level, but I’ll add it since I saw it in person: Tony Fernandez led off a Blue Jays-Tigers game with a bunt and scored after a throwing error by the 3B, a fielding error by the RF, and a throwing error by the RF (Tom Brookens and Chet Lemon, respectively, IIRC.)
Weird and hilarious baseball memories that surely will never be duplicated:
Randy Johnson’s fastball hitting (exploding) a bird that swooped down into its trajectory on its way to the plate (ruled a null pitch, not in play, unlike a batted ball)
speaking of which, that happened once (for I believe the only time ever so far in MLB history) at Shea Stadium in the late 1980s, a batted baseball hit a bird in flight and ironically, was deemed a “ground rule” double.
How about Jose Canseco’s fielder assisted HR, where in his attempt to catch a fly ball nearly on the warning track, he actually helped it over the wall? … When the ball struck him on the head and bounced about 5 feet higher and further?! This can’t ever really happen again, right?
That’s happened five times, though Johnson’s was the only complete game*, so he gets actual credit for a no-hitter and the others don’t.
*Which is a bullshit rule - because don’t pitchers get credit for a complete game even if they pitch 8 IP in a losing effort? Hell, you can pitch 5 IP in a rain-shortened game and get a shutout!
How about the recent balk-off win by the Indians over the Tigers? I’ve seen a lot of baseball, and I’ve never seen a game end on a balk. Had it ever happened before?
But if you’re asking specifically about balls that bounced off an outfielder’s head to become HRs, I expect that would be easily rare enough to meet the OP’s standards, and quite possibly unique.
Yeah, off the tip of the glove type plays happen from time to time - usually turning a near homer into a homer (would’ve been off the top of the wall). Fielder assisted HRs where contact is made short of the warning track, pretty rare. An epically named “Dome Run” play off the noggin? I crack up just thinking about the replay in my head
In theory it’s possible to have a quadruple play. Supposedly it actually happened in the Cuban World Series, or something like that.
Bases are loaded with no outs. Guy hits a fly ball which is cought and the runners on first and second are tripled up. But by the time the second runner is tripled up the remaining runner has already scored from third base. Then the fielders throw to third base and appeal that that runner left base too soon. The appeal is upheld, and that runner is also ruled out, making 4 outs on one play.
I can’t swear that this happened - the guy who told me about it said it happened in Cuba as above, but I’ve never seen it in any authoritative source. If it did happen, I would assume it was only that once.
A few rarities that HAVE happened, though not in a long time or not at the major league level.
In the dead ball era, it was not uncommon for a center fielder to make an unassisted double play. Back then, a center fielder could play very shalow, and might not be THAT much farther from second base than the shortstop.Today, outfielders almost never play that deep.
So, an unassisted double play by an outfielder is still possible but extremely rare.
Ellis Valentine was a right fielder with a phenomenal arm. He says he once threw out a runner at first base from right field, in the minor leagues.
