Before tonight only 13 unassisted triple plays had ever been recorded. The Indians' Asdrubal Cabrera turned in the 14th tonight during Game 2 of the Cleveland-Toronto day-night doubleheader.
Like most unassisted triple plays, they lack the dramatic effect - usually a diving catch near a base and a sequence of very quick tags and it's over. That said, it's only happened 14 times in the history of baseball. It's exciting enough.
Lyle Overbay hit a line drive just to the right of second base where Cabrera made the diving grab. He quickly stepped on second base and then tagged out another Blue Jays base runner to complete the feat.
Overbay was good-humored after the game:
Unfortunately, Cabrera's brilliant fielding ended when he crossed over the third-base line and threw the ball into the stands. Dude, you just pulled an unassisted triple play. You might want to keep the thing."I was trying to speed up the game. I get to go down in history. They can't take that away from me. It's not smart to hit a line drive on a hit-and-run. Only bad things can happen."
Here's a list of the 14 unassisted triple plays in history:
1. Neal Ball SS - July 19, 1909
2. Bill Wabmsganss, 2B Indians - October 10, 1920 (during World Series)
3. George Burns, 1B Red Sox - September 14, 1923
4. Ernie Padgett, SS Boston Braves - October 6, 1923
5. Glenn Wright, SS Pirates - May 7, 1925
6. Jimmy Cooney, SS - May 30, 1927
7. Johnny Neun, 1B Tigers - May 31, 1927 (back-to-back days ... impressive)
8. Ron Hansen, Senators SS - July 30, 1968
9. Mickey Morandini, 2B Phillies - September 20, 1992
10. John Valentin, SS Red Sox - July 8, 1994
11. Randy Velarde, 2B Yankees - May 29, 2000
12. Rafael Furcal, SS Braves - August 10, 2003
13. Troy Tulowitzki, SS Rockies - April 29, 2007
14. Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B Indiana - May 12, 2008
more
