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Twins Historic 8-5 Triple Play Recalls Brooks Robinson’s Dubious Record!

In case you missed it, the Twins pulled off a historic 8-5 triple play in Monday’s game against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Park in Chicago. There’s never been an 8-5 triple play before in all of baseball history.

Here’s What Happened

In the bottom of the seventh, the Sox had Adam Engel on second and Yoan Moncada on first with nobody out, in a game tied at two-apiece. A.J. Pollack then launched a towering fly ball off Twins’ hurler Griffin Jax to deep center field that appeared to be headed for the stands. The Twins’ outstanding centerfielder, Byron Buxton, then made a highlight-reel catch at the wall. He immediately turned and made a strong throw back to the infield caught by third baseman Gio Urshela.

Forgetting “Baseball 101” that they had learned in Little League, both Sox runners failed to tag up. Ushela then nailed Moncada, caught between second and third, after he had stepped on second to get Engel, completing the historic 8-5 triple play.

(The look of disbelief on Tony LaRussa’s face as he watches the play develop in the photo below tells the entire story.)

Whenever I hear the words “baseball” and “historic” in the same sentence, my baseball historian alarm bells immediately go off. I’d be remiss in my duties if they didn’t! I started thinking about other historical events involving triple plays. Of course, I thought about Bill Wambgass’ unassisted triple play in the 1920 World Series.  And then I also recalled Brooks Robinson’s “dubious record.”

Brooks Robinson’s Dubious Record

We all remember Brooks Robinson as a great defensive third baseman, possibly the best ever. But there’s one record he’s saddled with I bet he’d like to see broken. Believe it or not, it has to do with triple plays!

Anytime you hear the name “Brooks Robinson” in the same sentence with “triple play,” you’d probably be thinking about how many the “Human Vacuum Cleaner” started from his position at third. Well, you’d be wrong. Yes, the sixteen-time Gold Glove winner was involved in three defensive triple plays. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Over his 23-year career (1955-’77), Brooks set a record for hitting into – are you ready for this? – not one…not two…not three…but FOUR triple plays, more than any other major leaguer! They all occurred in a ten-year period between 1958 and 1967.

The first one occurred 64 years ago on June 2, 1958. In the bottom of the sixth inning with teammates on first and second base, Brooks lined into a triple play when Senators’ shortstop Rocky Bridges snared his hard-hit line drive, stepped on second, and then relayed the ball to first. That’s your typical triple play.

Just why did Brooks Robinson hit into so many? Well, for starters, if you could design a player likely to set this record, Brooks would fit the bill. He played for a long time without any significant injuries. And in spite of his quickness at third, he possessed very mediocre foot speed.

To be fair, in Brooks’s case, it’s probably just a statistical anomaly more than anything else. For various reasons, it’s unlikely this dubious record will ever be broken…or so says the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR):

“There have been less than 700 triple plays recorded since the 1870s.  The frequency of TPs has gone down from about 3 per 10,000 innings at the turn of the century to about 1 per 10,000 innings for the last several decades.  Let’s put that into perspective.  If a ball player played 20 seasons, they would be involved in approximately 3,000 games or about 25,000 innings.  That means, on average, a 20-year player would witness about three Triple Plays during their career. Not necessarily participate in the fielding or batting on the specific triple play; merely witness. But Brooks hit into four Triple Plays by himself.”

Another way to compare this feat is to look at the other players who have hit into multiple triple plays. Historically, there have been only three players who hit into three, and none of them played after 1930. As a matter of fact, all three are from the Dead Ball Era: George Sisler, Joe Start, and Deacon McGuire. And with no current player having hit into more than one, it doesn’t appear this record is going anywhere soon.

Are We Being Too Hard On Brooks?

Further research reveals that only the first and the last, a 5-4-3 ground out that killed a rally on August 6, 1967, are what could be described as “typical.” At least two of the others involved what might be called “flukes,” with one occurring when Brooks slipped rounding third; and another when Luis Aparicio made an ill-advised attempt to score from third.

To set the record straight, the Orioles actually won three of these four games. And Brooks produced exceptionally well in his other at-bats. Eliminate the four triple plays, and he had 10 hits in 13 at-bats (.769), scored four times, and drove in four runs. Under normal conditions, those would be considered very good days.

Regardless, this is a record that he’ll likely be stuck with for quite some time…and one he’d likely be glad to be rid of!

Gary Livacari 

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Information: Excerpts edited from the Triple Play Wikipedia page; SABR article on triple plays; and from article on MLB.com