Bryan Petersen and two triples in a game
Posted by Andy on August 17, 2011
Bryan Petersen of the Marlins had two triples in last night's Marlins game, his 60th in the majors.
Here are the last 25 guys (before Petersen, whose game is not in the database yet this morning) to have 2 triples in a game among their first 60 career games:
So here's something a bit odd. Last night, Petersen batted 2nd and played LF, meaning that he and the most recent guy to do it before him (Logan Morrison) both did it for the Marlins, batting 2nd, and playing LF.
The full list)since 1919) of guys to triple twice within their first 60 games is here. The last #4 hitter to do it was Elston Howard in 1955. The last catcher was Carlton Fisk in 1972. The last first baseman is a bit less well-known: Bud Zipfel in 1961.
August 17th, 2011 at 7:50 am
Interestingly, the feature on Greatest 21 Days today happens to be on Butch Davis, who made the list above:
http://greatest21days.blogspot.com/2011/08/butch-davis-played-hard-424.html
August 17th, 2011 at 9:19 am
Alejandro de Aza also had two of the White Sox' five triples last night, but he doesn't quite qualify for this list since it was his 102nd game.
August 17th, 2011 at 10:00 am
@2 - and what were the odds that, in a game where his teammates hit five doubles and five triples AND stole three bases, that Juan Pierre would have the only home run?
The Sox had more XBH than Cleveland had base hits, and struck out 19 out of sixty Indians hitters, and still barely won in extras. I love baseball.
August 17th, 2011 at 11:43 am
Nick Hundley of the Padres also had two triples last night. He's the 75th catcher in the PI Era to hit two triples in a game, and only the second for the Padres. (Fred Kendall hit two triples in an 8-3 victory over the Phillies on August 22, 1973.)
August 17th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
When was the last time 3+ players had 2 triples in a game on the same day?
August 17th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
I'm going to answer that in another thread.
August 17th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
@5.
Last night, there were 3 games with a player having 2+ triples.
- Alejandro de Aza, 2011-08-16, CHW CLE
- Bryan Petersen, 2011-08-16, FLA COL
- Nick Hundley, 2011-08-16, SDP NYM
I can't find another date in the past 50 years with 3 different games. These are the times since 1962 this has happened in two games on the same date.
- Aaron Miles, 2006-09-16, STL SFG
- Bernie Castro, 2006-09-16, WSN MIL
- Ichiro Suzuki, 2002-04-21, SEA TEX
- Rafael Furcal, 2002-04-21, ATL FLA
- Jeff Branson, 1996-04-17, CIN CHC
- Lenny Dykstra, 1996-04-17, PHI MON
- Lenny Dykstra 1991-08-14, PHI PIT
- Will Clark, 1991-08-14, SFG ATL
- Alex Cole, 1990-09-12, CLE CHW
- George Brett, 1990-09-12, KCR TOR
- Tony Fernandez, 1990-06-05, TOR MIN
- Junior Noboa, 1990-06-05, MON NYM
- Claudell Washington, 1988-06-17, NYY CLE
- Ron Gant, 1988-06-17 (1), ATL HOU
- Chico Salmon, 1964-08-30 (1), CLE KCA
- Joe Gaines, 1964-08-30 (1), HOU CIN
- Zoilo Versalles, 1963-07-17, MIN NYY
- Tony Gonzalez, 1963-07-17, PHI HOU
- Jim Fregosi, 1962-09-23, LAA CLE
- Eddie Mathews, 1962-09-23, MLN PIT
- Gus Bell, 1962-06-01, MLN STL
- Larry Burright, 1962-06-01 (1), LAD PHI
- Al Smith, 1962-05-25, CHW MIN
- Bob Skinner, 1962-05-25, PIT HOU
August 17th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
The last first baseman [to triple twice within his first 60 games] is a bit less well-known: Bud Zipfel in 1961.
I wondered whether the Tom Cheney game should have made today's list of complete-game losses with 14+ strikeouts, but it turns out that Cheney won that game on a 16th-inning homer by none other than Bud Zipfel.
August 17th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Looking at single games, these are the times more than one player has had 2+ triples.
3 players
- PIT CHC 1925-04-22
2 players
- SDP PIT 1970-06-02
- PIT ATL 1966-06-12
- STL CIN 1962-04-29 (1)
- KCA BAL 1958-07-27
- WSH PHA 1949-05-01 (1)
- PIT STL 1925-05-30 (2)
- CIN PIT 1924-07-04 (1)
- NYG BSN 1924-06-28
- STL CIN 1923-04-19
- DET NYY 1922-06-17
- PIT STL 1922-04-22
- PIT CIN 1921-04-16
- CHW NYY 1920-09-17
- STL CHC 1920-06-04
- CHW WSH 1920-05-20
- CHW BOS 1919-07-13
August 17th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
I'll supplement your excellent list, Doug.
- Tim Wallach, 1983-05-01 (first game), MON CIN
- Ken Oberkfell, 1983-05-01, STL SFG
- Felipe Alou, 1971-07-09, NYY BOS
- Julián Javier, 1971-07-09 (second game), STL HOU
- Al Oliver, 1970-06-02, PIT SDP
- José Arcía, 1970-06-02, SDP PIT (not two different games)
- José Pagán, 1966-06-12, PIT ATL
- Roberto Clemente, 1966-06-12, PIT ATL (not two different games)
- Joe Christopher, 1964-08-18, NYM PIT
- Phil Linz, 1964-08-18, NYY CHW
- Curt Flood, 1962-04-29, STL CIN
- Ken Boyer, 1962-04-29, STL CIN (not two different games)
August 17th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Jeff Stone is sort of the Art Shamsky of triples.
Except Stone's team won. In 9 innings. And there were only 1.5 HOFers in Stone's game as opposed to 4.5 in 1966 (Pete Rose and Tony Perez participated in both games).
Aside from that though, Jeff Stone is definately the Art Shamsky of triples.
August 17th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
@10.
Thanks Kahuna,
Always dangerous to eyeball lists and expect not to miss any (I should have been suspicious of a 24-year gap between the games I found).
August 17th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Jeff Stone is sort of the Art Shamsky of triples.
I think I would nominate Bill Robinson, for his role in helping his team tie and then win this game in extra innings.
August 17th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Then there's the case of John Sipin who, on May 24,1969, hit 2 triples in his FIRST major league game for the first year Padres.
Sipin, who also played his LAST major league game in 1969, never hit another major league triple.
(the Padres lost to the Cubs that day 7-5).
August 18th, 2011 at 1:53 am
That is a great find on John Sipin, Nick.
The two other players who hit two triples in their big-league debuts were Willie McCovey (7/30/59, 4th and 7th innings off Robin Roberts; Giants defeat Phillies 7-2) and Roy Weatherly (6/27/36; Indians defeat Red Sox 14-5; pitchers off whom Weatherly could have tripled were Wes Ferrell, Rube Walberg, and Emerson Dickman, who also was making his major-league debut that day).
August 18th, 2011 at 2:01 am
One other note on John Sipin's 1969 Padres: They hold the post-1900 record for most games (7) being shut out and losing by 10 or more runs. No other team has lost more than five such games in a single season.
The '69 Padres had a worse Pythagorean W-L record than the '62 Mets.