Unassisted Triple Play

In baseball, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three putouts by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in the MLB under modern rules, doing so on July 19, 1909. Certain conditions have to be met to make the execution of this rare play possible. There must be no outs in the inning and at least two runners on base in a force situation who run the instant a pitch is thrown. Furthermore, the batter must make excellent contact with the pitch, resulting in a line drive hit directly at an infielder, usually either the shortstop or second baseman.

In Major League Baseball (MLB), a total of fifteen players have fielded an unassisted triple play, making this feat rarer than a perfect game. Of these fifteen players, eight were shortstops, five were second basemen and two were first basemen. Two of these players (both active) have played for only one major league team. The Cleveland Indians are the only franchise to have three players achieve the feat while on their roster: Ball, Bill Wambsganss and Asdrúbal Cabrera. The shortest time between two unassisted triple plays occurred in May 1927, when Johnny Neun executed the feat less than 24 hours after Jimmy Cooney. Conversely, it took more than 41 seasons after Neun's play before Ron Hansen's performed the feat on July 30, 1968, marking the longest span between unassisted triple plays. The last player to make an unassisted triple play is Eric Bruntlett, accomplishing the feat on August 23, 2009. Only Neun and Bruntlett executed unassisted triple plays that ended the game. It is theoretically possible for a fielder to record an unassisted triple play without touching the ball, though this has not happened and is unlikely to.