Triple (baseball)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Ty Cobb, second all-time in career triples, slides safely into third base.

In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay (see error) nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice.

Triples have become somewhat rare in Major League Baseball. It often requires a ball hit to a distant part of the field, or the ball taking an unusual bounce in the outfield. It also usually means that the batter hit the ball solidly, and be a speedy runner. (The inside-the-park home run is much rarer than a triple). The trend for modern ballparks is to have smaller outfields (often increasing the number of home runs); it has ensured that the career and season triples leaders mostly consist of those who played early in Major League Baseball history, generally in the dead-ball era.

The triple is considered one of the most exciting plays in baseball. A triple is the hardest to achieve in terms of hitting for the cycle (a home run does not have to be "inside the park" to count towards the cycle).

Triples leaders, Major League Baseball

Player Career length Number of triples
Sam Crawford 1899-1917 309
Ty Cobb 1905-1928 295
Honus Wagner 1897-1917 252
Jake Beckley 1888-1907 243
Roger Connor 1880-1897 233
Tris Speaker 1907-1928 222
Fred Clarke 1894-1915 220
Dan Brouthers 1879-1904 205
Joe Kelley 1891-1908 194
Paul Waner 1926-1945 191

Season

Chief Wilson's record of 36 triples in a season is unlikely to ever be broken.
Player Year Number of triples
Chief Wilson 1912 36
Dave Orr 1886 31
Heinie Reitz 1894 31
Perry Werden 1893 29
Harry Davis 1897 28
Jimmy Williams 1899 28
George Davis 1893 27
Sam Thompson 1894 27
Sam Crawford 1914 26
Kiki Cuyler 1925 26
Joe Jackson 1912 26
John Reilly 1890 26
George Treadway 1894 26

See also

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Triple_(baseball)&oldid=195966"