Yeah, but how often does that happen? :dubious: 
I’m sure you’re a real pun guy.
Personal anecdote. . .
I was playing shortstop in an intramural league when someone lined one between me and second, with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs. I still had 2 good knees as this point and could run pretty fast.
Well, I snagged the liner for one out, came down almost right on top of the bag for the second one and was probably 2 steps behind the guy who had taken off from first and started running back when he saw me with the ball. I easily could have run him down, but instead I flipped the ball to the first baseman for the final out in the triple play and I’ve been kicking myself ever since.
So, if you ever find yourself in such a situation, don’t make the same mistake I made. Run that guy down all the way to the bag even if it means you don’t get that third one. You might never get another chance.
The UTP is the rarest achievement in baseball. There have been more perfect games and natural cycles. I have to agree that you gotta try for that third out, even if it’s the bottom of the ninth in game 7 of the world series and you’re holding on to a one run lead and Barry Bonds is the next batter.
That’s the team spirit.
That’s some pretty twisted logic. Don’t perform amazing feats, because you might wear yourself out! In order to avoid this situation, should he let the line drives go by so someone else can catch them, or should he instruct the batter to hit the ball directly to other fielders?
Actually, that can be a big problem with pitchers, especially power pitchers who try to strike out everyone. They have to learn to let the fielders do the work.
You just jogged a memory. I was playing second base in 6th grade recess. 1956. Runners on first and second. Liner which I jumped high(I can jump pretty high) and caught, came down a foot from second base, catching the runner off the bag, and only having to stand there while the runner on first came chugging into second, unaware that I had caught the ball. Tagged him out.
Thanks for the memories.
Every time I hear this, I have to share the fact that in the only game I’ve ever seen in Fenway, in July '94, there was an unassisted triple play by John Valentin. I was there, in my seat…looking the other way. All I saw was the players trotting back into the dugout. “What happened?” I asked the stranger standing next to me as the deafening roar subsided. :eek: “Don’t tell me you missed that!!!” :smack:
Still, despite missing that play, it was the best baseball game I’ve ever witnessed.
Best UTP ever: by center fielder Walter Carlisle of Vernon in the Pacific Coast League, in 1911. Carlisle was a circus acrobat in the off-season, professional experience which came in handy when Roy Akin hit what looked to be a ‘bloop’ single over second base. The hit & run was on, the runners at first & second were going with the pitch, and cranked it into high gear when they thought the drive would drop for a hit … But Carlisle was faster than they thought, playing shallower than they thought, and was able to make a spectacular diving catch.
Normally, that’s the end of the play. Runners scramble back to their bases, outfielder picks himself up from the turf, spitting out dirt & blades of grass. But the acrobatic outfielder turned his dive into a front flip or somersault (I’ve heard conflicting reports) and came up still running full speed toward second base, and ended up forcing out both runners.
God, I wish I’d seen that. 
Hitting a ball entirely out of the Kingdome, now, that’s rare.
Nope, the rarest achievement in baseball would have to be legitimately stealing first base – now outlawed, and AFAIK only done once as a true advance-the-team’s fortunes play.
Herman (“Germany”) Schaeffer was on second base for the Tigers, with Ty Cobb on third, and a relatively incompetent batsman (the pitcher?) up to bat. Schaeffer broke from second – for first!! – tagged up, and was awarded the base. But while the pitcher threw to first to try to get Schaeffer, Cobb broke for home and stole it successfully, scoring a run.
Shortly thereafter, the rules were amended to prohibit stealing a base “behind” where you already were entitled to, in effect prohibiting running the basepaths backwards.
Of plays that can legitimately be performed today, though, you’re probably right about rarity.
Nobody ever hit one out of Yankee Stadium (Mickey Mantle tried), or the old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland (Luke Easter came close).
Or the L. A. Coliseum, which the Dogers used 1958-1961.
Which would seem to make them not rare, but nonexisten - like a 200 mph knuckle ball. So they don’t count.
Perhaps. But I know balls have been hit entirely out of some parks, including the defunct Crosley Field, Griffith Stadium, Sportsman’s Park, Ebbetts Field…
And I’ll bet nobody ever hit one out of the Polo Grounds or the L. A. Coliseum, either.
Josh Gibson is rumored to have done it.
youngest unassisted triple play. summer after 1st grade. tee ball. i was playing center field. based loaded. no outs. the big slugger comes up. i scoot back. shallow fly to center field. i snag it before it hits the ground. my coach is estatic that one of his players ACTUALLY caugth the ball. my momentum carried me to step on second base: base runner failed to tag- out two. the guy on first did tag up up i tagged him as he neared second base.
man- it hurts to have peaked so early.
But, you have the satisfaction that whenever you walk into a roomful of people, you can be confident that you’re the only guy there who’s ever performed an Unassisted Triple Play.
That is over the moon cool cool!
Hate that I’ve been traveling so much I missed this one before.
Actually, it was Davy Jones on third, at least according to Jones’ own account of the incident in Lawrence Ritter’s The Glory of Their Times. The batter, again according to Jones, was Sam Crawford (a Hall of Famer, and nearly as far as you can get from “a relatively incompetent batsman”). The preamble to the story was that Schaefer had already stolen second, as part of an attempted double-steal with Jones. The catcher, Nig Clarke, didn’t bite and held onto the ball instead of throwing down to second. That’s when Schaefer decided to go back to first and try it again. When Schaefer stole first, Clarke was apparently too shocked to try to throw him out at first. The umpires conferred and concluded that there wasn’t any rule explicitly preventing what Schaefer had done, so the play was allowed to stand. When Schaefer broke for second again, however, Clarke had apparently had enough and threw down to second, allowing Jones to break for home. Both Jones and Schaefer were safe on the play.
Polycarp’s version was delightful. This one’s even better. Thank you so much, rackensack!
Everyone in the stands must have gone nuts laughing and cheering. Oh how I’d love to have been there and then to have read the account in the news papers on the following day!