Every hit is a triple
Posted by Andy on August 28, 2011
Here are players who had triples for all of their hits in a season:
| Rk | Player | 3B | H | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | RBI | BB | SO | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Johnson | 2 | 2 | 1998 | 22 | CHW | AL | 7 | 24 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | .087 | .125 | .261 | .386 | /*2 |
| 2 | Chico Walker | 2 | 2 | 1983 | 24 | BOS | AL | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .400 | .400 | 1.200 | 1.600 | /*7 |
| 3 | Bobby Estalella | 2 | 2 | 1936 | 25 | WSH | AL | 13 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | .222 | .462 | .667 | 1.128 | |
| 4 | Cecil Bolton | 2 | 2 | 1928 | 24 | CLE | AL | 4 | 15 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .154 | .267 | .462 | .728 | /*3 |
| 5 | Limb McKenry | 2 | 2 | 1916 | 27 | CIN | NL | 6 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .400 | .400 | 1.200 | 1.600 | /*1 |
| 6 | Ed Irwin | 2 | 2 | 1912 | 30 | DET | AL | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | 2.000 | 2.667 | /*5 |
| 7 | Mike O'Neill | 2 | 2 | 1907 | 29 | CIN | NL | 9 | 32 | 29 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | .069 | .129 | .207 | .336 | /*7 |
| 8 | Omar Quintanilla | 1 | 1 | 2011 | 29 | TEX | AL | 11 | 23 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 9 | .045 | .045 | .136 | .182 | /465 |
| 9 | C.J. Wilson | 1 | 1 | 2011 | 30 | TEX | AL | 27 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .750 | 1.000 | *1 |
| 10 | Cory Aldridge | 1 | 1 | 2010 | 31 | LAA | AL | 5 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .077 | .077 | .231 | .308 | /*97 |
| 11 | Andy Gonzalez | 1 | 1 | 2009 | 27 | FLA | NL | 14 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .083 | .083 | .250 | .333 | /65 |
| 12 | Brett Carroll | 1 | 1 | 2008 | 25 | FLA | NL | 26 | 18 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 6 | .059 | .111 | .176 | .288 | /97 |
| 13 | Dewayne Wise | 1 | 1 | 2007 | 29 | CIN | NL | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .200 | .333 | .600 | .933 | /*8 |
| 14 | Kenny Rogers | 1 | 1 | 2005 | 40 | TEX | AL | 30 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | 1.000 | 1.333 | *1 |
| 15 | Tripp Cromer | 1 | 1 | 2003 | 35 | HOU | NL | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .750 | 1.000 | /4 |
| 16 | Kazuhisa Ishii | 1 | 1 | 2003 | 29 | LAD | NL | 27 | 43 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | .029 | .029 | .088 | .118 | *1 |
| 17 | Jason Isringhausen | 1 | 1 | 2003 | 30 | STL | NL | 40 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | 1.500 | 2.000 | *1 |
| 18 | Jeff D'Amico | 1 | 1 | 2001 | 25 | MIL | NL | 10 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | .067 | .176 | .200 | .376 | *1 |
| 19 | Chris Michalak | 1 | 1 | 2001 | 30 | TOR | AL | 24 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | 1.000 | 1.333 | *1 |
| 20 | Scott Podsednik | 1 | 1 | 2001 | 25 | SEA | AL | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .500 | .667 | /*789 |
This list goes back to 1901, and I included players with 1 hit for a triple going back to 2001 (many more players did this before 2001).
C. J. Wilson is just about certain to join this group since it's very unlikely he'll get any more regular-season at-bats this year. His teammate Omar Quintanilla is more likely to get another type of hit before the end of the year.
August 28th, 2011 at 8:56 am
Kenny Rogers a triple at 40? That must be some sort of record for a pitcher...
August 28th, 2011 at 8:57 am
Ed Irwin's only career game as a one day strike replacement player.
August 28th, 2011 at 9:10 am
40 year old pitchers to triple in a game since 1919:
Generated 8/28/2011.
This doesn't include the possibility of a pitcher hitting a triple as a pinch-hitter.
August 28th, 2011 at 9:26 am
Scott Munninghoff should be on this list also.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:01 am
...as should Chuck Lindstrom.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:22 am
Tripp Cromer: No steroids there.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Kenny Rogers' other hit in 2005 was a cameraman.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:28 am
LOL Steven, nice.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Roy Bunyan Cromer III, yet another of my favorite forgotten players from the 90's...
And I was at the game in 2003 when he got that lone triple....
August 28th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Ron Fairly came close in 1960. He went 4-37...Three triples and a home run!!
August 28th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Andy, Mike Felber, BSK, John Autin and others,
Sorry for continuing a conversation from a previous thread, but I feel passionately about this speech and was afraid some of you might miss it if I posted back on the Konerko thread. I think inside you'll find it encapsulates everyone's feelings and posts on Mike Flanagan's death. If you read closely enough Mike, you may even find my apology in there, if you look close enough.
The speech is ironic on every level, ranging in subject from sensitivity, semantics, misunderstanding, objectivity and, sadly suicide.
It comes from the late David Foster Wallace.
I hope you guys can find five minutes to give it a read. Its moving.
http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/david-foster-wallace-in-his-own-words
August 28th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Duke, I read it, thanks. Took me a lot more than 5 minutes.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:54 am
I'm not sure how Dewayne Wise has been able to get so many contracts for the last 12 years in MLB. He doesn't seem to have any notable speed, power, or defense, and he plays right field. He's also not young anymore. But somehow, some way, he keeps finding contracts and playing time.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:57 am
I mean, come on now, a 63 OPS+ and a career .260 obp from a right fielder with 33 career steals and 20 career home runs, and yet, he's managed to play for 11 years and on 5 teams.
It's also hard to imagine how 40 year old Rogers got a triple. Must've been a charged liner that the outfielder missed.
August 28th, 2011 at 11:59 am
@13, Jimbo -- I don't know about Wise's defense in general, but he's best known for this play, preserving Mark Buehrle's perfect game:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=5699065
Maybe that has prolonged his career.
August 28th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@Charles, something odd about Ed Irwin is that on Baseball-Reference he is Ed Irwin but according to Wikipedia he is Ed Irvin.
August 28th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Limb McKenry had a thing for triples. Four of his seven career base hits were triples. It must have been a sight to see him legging them out, too. He stood six foot four (which in 1916 was Randy Johnson tall), and I'm guessing that his nickname, "Limb" (one of the all-time great nicknames, by the way), referred somehow to his height.
August 28th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
I think El Duque also stole bases in two consecutive starts the same year he hit that triple.
August 28th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
@11,
Thanks Duke, I hadn't read that one.
Sad that DFW found himself alone that day that he ended his life.
August 28th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
40-year-old pitchers to triple prior to 1919:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=fUVrA
August 28th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Here's something incredible (I think). By the time Cy Young retired, MLB was about 40 years old -- i.e., it had some history under its belt. Young had pitched more IP as a 40-year-old than every other pitcher combined. (This link doesn't show exactly how many IP were thrown after one's 40th birthday, but rather since their "age-40" season, but that wouldn't change the fact.)
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/JhZ6o
August 28th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Actually, I'm wrong. Young was a bit behind the combined total of the others. Still, the margin by which he leads any other individual is huge. We don't think of 40 as a death sentence in baseball. Obviously it's near the end of the line, but we all have seen many pitchers/players who lasted into their 40s. Once upon a time, though, it really was the end of the line, for almost everyone except Cy Young who just kept trucking. He still ranks 6th in post-age-40-season IP.
August 28th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
@16
Baseball Library has it as Ed Irvin.
August 28th, 2011 at 7:37 pm
When I saw the name Bobby Estalella on this list, my first thought was the Phillies' catching prospect of the mid-1990s whose way to a starting job with the team was blocked by the emergence of Mike Lieberthal. However, this turned out to be the earlier player with this name, who was the grandfather of the 1990s Bobby Estalella.
With a catcher (Mark Johnson) at the top of the list, I wasn't too surprised to see what I thought was another catcher 3rd on the list. In fact, since there were two position players named Mark Johnson active in major league baseball in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I thought at first that it was the other one, who was a lefthanded throwing first baseman/outfielder, rather than the catcher. There was actually a third Mark Johnson in this time period, but he was an AL pitcher who only appeared in nine big league games, all in 2000. I also knew that one of the Mark Johnsons attended Dartmouth. That was the 1B/OF Mark Johnson.
August 28th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
The newspapers describing the game says Irwin. A newspaper article about his death says William Irwin.
August 29th, 2011 at 1:19 am
In Andy's list of 40+-year-old pitchers who hit triples (post #3), every decade is represented except the 1970s. The oldest pitcher to triple in the 1970s was Bob Gibson, at 38 years 302 days, on 9/7/74 in a 2-1 Cardinals win over the Mets. Gibson pitched a complete game and got the win over Jon Matlack.
August 29th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Tripp Cromer also had just one hit in 1998, and it was a home run.
August 29th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
@21/ @22 - Johnny Twisto: with the tremendous pitcher workloads of the 19th century, pitchers just didn't last that long, especially after overhand pitching was legalized. Few pitchers were successful past their early thirties, let alone at age 40. Most all the great HOF pitchers before Young were done by age 36 (last decent year listed):
HOF PITCHERS WHO STARTED THEIR CAREER BEFORE 1900:
Clarkson - 32
Cummings - 28 (more of a "pioneer")
Galvin - 35
Griffith - 36 (59 innings - token appearances till age 44 after this)
Tim Keefe - 36
McGinnity - 37 (started eight years after Young, last MLB game three years _before_ Young retired)
Radbourn - 36 (is ERA+ of 80 in 218 innings "decent"?)
Rusie - 27
Spalding - 25 (also more of a "pioneer")
Waddell - 32
Ward - 23 (became a fulltime position player at age 24)
Welch - 30 or 31
Willis - 34
Here is something also amazing about Cy Young - he said he would have kept pitching (at age 45), but retired because he thought that he was too fat to field bunts.
August 29th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
HOF Rusie's last good year at 27. 246 wins in 9 seasons. 3 games in 1901 at the age of 30 made him HOF eligible. He was shelled in 2 games, but pitched an 8 inning complete game 1-1 tie in his second game back. Pitched as late as 1904 with Vincennes in Class D, but not successfully. One of the fastest pitchers in the 1890's, but arm troubles ended his career.
August 30th, 2011 at 1:11 am
Lawrence, I immediately noticed your list is missing Kid Nichols, who debuted the same season as Young (1890), and with 329 wins was 10 ahead of Young when he temporarily retired after 1901. He tried coming back after a couple years but "only" got to 361 wins, and is now unknown to the average fan.
You are of course correct about how the heavy use of those 1880s pitchers led to them burning out early (by age). I know this, but when I made my post I was thinking more about how athletes just didn't keep in shape as well (and people in general weren't as healthy) at the time. When it comes to pitchers, the heavy workloads probably are at least as responsible for the lack of quadragenerian pitchers. And maybe that makes Young even more impressive. He was worked hard. He played through the lengthened pitching distance (and subsequent offensive explosion). His career really is amazing, the more you look at it. Not the best pitcher ever, but in some ways the most impressive.
August 30th, 2011 at 1:17 am
Actually, Jack Chesbro (a marginal HOFer, yes) started in 1899. His last "decent" season was at age 34.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:17 am
@31, @32/ Johnny Twisto -
You are correct (Sir!), I did leave out Kid Nichols, his last decent year was 35, he retired at 36. I left out Chesbro because I assumed he retired after Young, that was careless of me.
I guess the equivalent to Cy Young in longevity amongst position players would be Cap Anson, playing regularly at age 46 (yes, I know it helps a lot that he managed the team...), although the time period does not really match up.
For contemporaries of Young, I'd mention Larry Lajoie and Honus Wagner, both playing till age 42/43.
August 30th, 2011 at 10:20 am
@32/ OOPS, Anson was _45_ when he retired. The point is still valid.