Follow The Triple Brick Road

Posted by Steve Lombardi on November 29, 2009

Sometimes it's just nice to play with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index and see where it takes you. For example, let us look at which team, since 1954, had at least one triple in a game the most games in a row. Thanks to PI's Team Batting Streak Finder here's that answer:

Rk		Strk Start	End	Games	W	L	AB	R	H	3B	BA	OPS	Opp
1	PHI	1979-06-08	1979-06-17	9	5	4	298	44	80	11	.268	.770	ATL,HOU,CIN
2	MIL	2007-08-07	2007-08-15	7	2	5	240	31	60	7	.250	.828	COL,HOU,STL
3	STL	1991-06-24	1991-06-30	7	4	3	243	51	78	7	.321	.861	SDP,PHI,CHC
4	STL	1989-08-29	1989-09-05	7	4	3	242	30	63	10	.260	.733	CIN,HOU,MON
5	KCR	1983-09-14	1983-09-20	7	5	2	251	38	76	7	.303	.770	CAL,OAK
6	MON	1980-07-28	1980-08-03	7	6	1	217	28	61	7	.281	.806	CIN,ATL
7	KCR	1979-05-18	1979-05-26	7	4	3	261	45	81	13	.310	.862	MIN,SEA
8	KCR	1978-09-25	1979-04-05	7	5	2	229	32	56	7	.245	.672	SEA,MIN,TOR
9	HOU	1977-09-07	1977-09-13	7	5	2	238	41	71	8	.298	.894	SDP,SFG,CIN
10	CHC	1967-04-11	1967-04-20	7	4	3	248	37	69	7	.278	.794	PHI,PIT,NYM
11	KCA	1965-04-30	1965-05-06	7	2	5	235	29	66	8	.281	.785	CAL,WSA
12	NYY	1955-08-30	1955-09-05	7	4	3	243	41	68	8	.280	.841	KCA,WSH,BAL
13	STL	1954-06-17	1954-06-24	7	3	4	280	32	81	10	.289	.809	PHI,NYG,PIT
14	SFG	2004-06-12	2004-06-18	6	4	2	215	42	58	6	.270	.826	BAL,TOR,BOS
15	DET	2001-07-26	2001-07-31	6	3	3	205	32	58	7	.283	.793	NYY,CLE,SEA
16	COL	2000-04-23	2000-04-30	6	1	5	196	38	54	7	.276	.861	STL,MON,NYM
17	CHW	2000-04-23	2000-04-28	6	5	1	200	50	62	8	.310	.983	DET,BAL
18	CIN	1999-06-21	1999-06-26	6	6	0	226	45	72	8	.319	.931	ARI,HOU
19	MIL	1991-09-22	1991-09-27	6	4	2	211	41	63	8	.299	.844	DET,NYY,BOS
20	HOU	1991-07-27	1991-08-02	6	5	1	195	45	60	7	.308	.924	PIT,STL,LAD
21	PIT	1989-06-23	1989-06-28	6	5	1	196	22	49	7	.250	.685	STL,CHC
22	SFG	1989-06-19	1989-06-25	6	5	1	192	27	56	7	.292	.810	HOU,SDP
23	ATL	1986-08-23	1986-08-29	6	1	5	192	15	46	6	.240	.705	PIT,STL,CHC
24	TOR	1984-05-15	1984-05-20	6	5	1	198	21	58	6	.293	.777	MIN,CHW
25	CIN	1981-05-02	1981-05-08	6	2	4	200	22	50	8	.250	.687	STL,PIT,HOU
26	CHW	1977-09-18	1977-09-22	6	5	1	210	40	61	6	.290	.855	CAL,OAK,SEA
27	KCR	1977-08-20	1977-08-25	6	6	0	217	37	57	6	.263	.790	BOS,BAL,MIL
28	MIN	1977-06-11	1977-06-17	6	3	3	209	31	56	7	.268	.755	NYY,CAL,KCR
29	CIN	1975-08-10	1975-08-16	6	6	0	221	51	82	7	.371	1.001	MON,CHC,PIT
30	NYY	1972-08-25	1972-08-29	6	3	3	254	31	83	6	.327	.880	KCR,TEX
31	NYY	1961-09-07	1961-09-12	6	6	0	195	44	66	7	.338	.999	CLE,CHW
32	PIT	1958-05-10	1958-05-15	6	5	1	204	40	65	7	.319	.913	PHI,CIN
33	NYY	1957-07-25	1957-07-30	6	3	3	209	27	47	7	.225	.634	CHW,DET,KCA

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/29/2009.

Ah, so, the 1979 Phillies are the leaders here. Let's look at their Team Batting Page at B-R.com and see who had more than one triple for them that season:

Rk	Pos		Age	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B 6	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+
1	RF	Bake McBride*	30	151	637	82	163	16	12	12	60	25	41	77	.280	.328	.411	99
2	SS	Larry Bowa#	33	147	619	74	130	17	11	0	31	20	61	32	.241	.316	.314	71
3	CF	Garry Maddox	29	148	577	70	154	28	6	13	61	26	17	71	.281	.304	.425	95
4	1B	Pete Rose#	38	163	730	90	208	40	5	4	59	20	95	32	.331	.418	.430	130
5	3B	Mike Schmidt	29	160	675	109	137	25	4	45	114	9	120	115	.253	.386	.564	154
6	OF	Greg Gross*	26	111	206	21	58	6	3	0	15	5	29	5	.333	.422	.402	124
7	C	Bob Boone	31	119	454	38	114	21	3	9	58	1	49	33	.286	.367	.422	113
8	C	Keith Moreland	25	14	51	3	18	3	2	0	8	0	3	5	.375	.412	.521	151

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/29/2009.

Bowa and McBride leading the pack here, huh? Yeah, I can just see those two slashing balls into the gap on the turf at the old Vet; and, then, taking off, scooting around the bases. Seeing this, I next wondered how many teams in the "D.H. Era," had at least two players on their team with 10+ triples in a season. Thanks to PI's Batting Season Finder, here's that answer:

Rk	Year	Tm	Lg	#Matching
1	1984	Houston Astros	NL	3	Jose Cruz / Bill Doran / Craig Reynolds
2	1979	Kansas City Royals	AL	3	George Brett / Darrell Porter / Willie Wilson
3	1979	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	3	Keith Hernandez / Tony Scott / Garry Templeton
4	1977	Kansas City Royals	AL	3	George Brett / Al Cowens / Hal McRae
5	2006	San Francisco Giants	NL	2	Steve Finley / Omar Vizquel
6	2001	Colorado Rockies	NL	2	Juan Pierre / Juan Uribe
7	1999	Arizona Diamondbacks	NL	2	Steve Finley / Tony Womack
8	1998	Kansas City Royals	AL	2	Johnny Damon / Jose Offerman
9	1993	Chicago White Sox	AL	2	Joey Cora / Lance Johnson
10	1992	Baltimore Orioles	AL	2	Brady Anderson / Mike Devereaux
11	1991	Toronto Blue Jays	AL	2	Roberto Alomar / Devon White
12	1987	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	2	Vince Coleman / Willie McGee
13	1986	Montreal Expos	NL	2	Tim Raines / Mitch Webster
14	1985	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	2	Vince Coleman / Willie McGee
15	1984	Toronto Blue Jays	AL	2	Dave Collins / Lloyd Moseby
16	1980	Kansas City Royals	AL	2	U L Washington / Willie Wilson
17	1980	Montreal Expos	NL	2	Ron LeFlore / Rodney Scott
18	1979	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	2	Larry Bowa / Bake McBride
19	1978	Minnesota Twins	AL	2	Rod Carew / Dan Ford
20	1977	Detroit Tigers	AL	2	Tito Fuentes / Ron LeFlore
21	1977	Minnesota Twins	AL	2	Lyman Bostock / Rod Carew
22	1977	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	2	Garry Maddox / Mike Schmidt
23	1977	Pittsburgh Pirates	NL	2	Phil Garner / Frank Taveras
24	1977	San Diego Padres	NL	2	Bill Almon / Gene Richards
25	1977	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	2	Jerry Mumphrey / Garry Templeton
26	1976	Kansas City Royals	AL	2	George Brett / Tom Poquette
27	1974	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	2	Larry Bowa / Dave Cash
28	1973	San Francisco Giants	NL	2	Garry Maddox / Gary Matthews

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/29/2009.

No shockers here - alotta fast guys playing on turf teams, for the most part. Seeing how triples are no longer hit with the frequency that came in baseball prior to the 1930's, and the fact that more teams play on natural grass (as it should be!) these days. I doubt that we'll see a team with 4+ players with 10+ triples in a season again...

But, it was still fun to use Play Index to travel down this road and check this all out.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 10:37 am and is filed under Season Finders, Streak Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “Follow The Triple Brick Road”

Steve Lombardi Says:
November 29th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Yup, I'm giving Keith Hernandez and Darrell Porter a little benefit of the doubt when I say "no shcokers." 😉
gerry Says:
November 29th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I may have missed someone, but I think the last time a team had 4 players with 10 or more triples each was in 1937, when the Senators and Pirates both achieved the feat.
Raphy Says:
November 29th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Gerry - You missed the 1940 Red Sox:
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/7Gd66
gerry Says:
November 30th, 2009 at 12:17 am
Indeed I did. I was eye-balling Neft and Cohen, and missed Lou Finney because he was listed with the subs instead of the regulars. Thanks.
Andy Says:
November 30th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I misread Steve's original post and thought this was referring to games with consecutive triple PLAYS and was UTTERLY SHOCKED that a team had a 9-game streak. I was totally floored and thought I'd better re-read it...
leatherman Says:
December 1st, 2009 at 9:18 am
On that 1979 Royals team, George Brett had 20 triples and Willie Wilson had 13. However, 5 of Wilson's 6 Home Runs that year were of the Inside-The-Park variety. Had he just stayed put at third, they would have had two players with 18 triples on the same team. It would have been the only time a team had two players with 18 triples since the 1930 Pirates.

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