Three Ass Dribble Outs

Asdrúbal Cabrera, the second baseman for the Cleveland Indians, accomplished one of the rarest feats in baseball last night; the unassisted triple play. With runners at first and second and nobody out, Cliff Lee got Lyle Overbay to hit a low line drive back up the middle. The runners were in motion for a hit and run, but Cabrera made the diving stop, stepped on the bag at second and then tagged out Marco Scutaro to end the 5th inning.

The other comparable rarities in baseball are the four home run game by a single player (13 times) and the perfect game (17 times.) However, these other two rare plays require a great deal of skill along with a little luck. The unassisted triple play is virtually all luck. Only twice has the trick not been turned by a middle infielder, and both of those instances were by first basemen. Every time the play has happened, it was virtually the same play. The ball was caught on a line drive and either the second or third out was forced by tagging second base. The other out was always recorded by tagging the runner.

It was just the fourteenth unassisted triple play in the history of the game. However, it was the third time a member of our Tribe has pulled it off making the Indians the only team with three such feats. Neal Ball made the first unassisted triple play in the modern era way back in 1909 when the Indians were still called the Cleveland Naps after star player, Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie. Bill Wambsganss then turned the only one in the history of the World Series back in 1920 against the Brooklyn Dodgers, who at the time was still called the Brooklyn Robins. Amazingly, the Indians have also hit into three unassisted triple plays, making them involved in 43% of all such plays in the history of the game. Quite a feat. There was also an unassisted triple play that happened back in the 19th century that is debated because the rules would not allow the play to have happened by the time Ball turned his in 1909. That would have made fifteen.

Last night’s triple play happened in the second game of a double-header, which the Indians lost 3-0. However, Cliff Lee threw nine innings of shut out baseball before Rafael Betancourt gave up three in the 10th. In the first game of the double dip, the Tribe won 3-0 behind nine shut out innings from Fausto Carmona. In that game, Cabrera hit a home run and turned two dazzling double plays while playing shortstop. Quite a day for “Ass-dribble,” huh?

Interesting piece of trivia that I heard on SportsCenter last night that I will have to confirm, Asdrúbal Cabrera is the fourth person in history to hit a home run and turn an unassisted triple play on the same day. If you ask me, that’s pretty remarkable considering the circumstances. Second base and shortstop have not always been a traditional power hitting position. For four of the fourteen players to have also homered the same day would seem extremely coincidental to me.

Here are all of the unassisted triple plays in the modern era:
1909 SS Neal Ball – Cleveland Naps
1920 2B Bill Wambsganss – Cleveland Indians
1923 1B George Burns – Boston Red Sox
1923 SS Ernie Padgett – Boston Braves
1925 SS Glenn Wright – Pittsburgh Pirates
1927 SS Jimmy Cooney – Chicago Cubs
1927 1B Johnny Neun – Detroit Tigers
1968 SS Ron Hansen – Washington Senators
1992 2B Mickey Morandini – Philadelphia Phillies
1994 SS John Valentine – Boston Red Sox
2000 2B Randy Velarde – Oakland Athletics
2003 SS Rafael Furcal – Atlanta Braves
2007 SS Troy Tulowitzki – Colorado Rockies
2008 2B Asdrúbal Cabrera – Cleveland Indians

Because MLB is a bunch of d-bags, you can't get the video on youtube.com. But you can find it here. Enjoy.