Slugging for Triples
 

The triple is all but dead in today’s game, but the homerun is king.

There is no ideal launch angle or exit velocity for a triple, but it still requires pretty good contact and speed is an asset.

This thread is to salute premier triples hitters who were not afraid to it hit it out of the parks as well.

Stan Musial (177,475) should be on the list, but there are others who excelled in this combination such as Al Simmons (149,307) and Willie Mays (140,660)

Post a card for a nominee along with career triples and homerun totals.

Initially I was thinking of Sam Crawford, the all time triple leader, but alas he hit less than 100 home runs. Of course most of those were dead ball dingers.

While I don't currently have a card of his, I'd like to nominate the Iron Horse, Lou Gehirg. 163 triples and 493 Career home runs. Had he not contracted ALS, I don't see why he couldn't have hit for over 180 triples and at least 530 Career Home Runs.

I don't have a card of his, but Tris Speaker (222, 117) had decent home run numbers considering the live ball era didn't start until he was 32.

Down that line Wagner and Cobb would be good nominees.

I'll throw in Mays

Babe Ruth had 136 triples and of course 714 home runshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...29a6b92849.jpg

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All threads need a card.

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5be522d021.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3b12806ea6.jpg

Let's give a shout out to Clemente. 166 3B and 240 HR.

In recent times, Carl Crawford comes to mind too.

I'd nominate Clemente too.

Regarding the dead ball guys Sam Crawfords numbers are off the charts with an average of 17 triples a season, the games two best hitters? Cobb averaged 12.2 and Joe Jackson 14 a season.

Crawford's power was legendary. Bill James simulated his career as if it occurred 20 years later than it actually happened, in the lively ball era instead of the deadball one, and estimated that he would have hit 494 career HR. He was a beast.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1d19aef4_z.jpg

Roberto Clemente hit more triples than any other player after WWII. He would he have hit more home runs if his home park wasn't the most difficult in NL. His triple in game 6 of the 1971 World Series was a testament to his combination of speed and power. He easily made it to third on a ball most would have had to stop at second.

Goose Goslin -- 173 Triples and 248 Home Runs
 

Goslin is 22nd All-Time in Triples

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1623582208

Can't believe I forgot about the Rajah

Here's a different take on triples:
How many everyday players had a season with more triples than strikeouts?
I could only find one and its the obvious choice.
Joe Sewell hit 7 triples and struck out 5 times in 1925. He did it again in 1930 with 6 3B and 3 K.

I found another one: Nellie Fox 12 and 11 in 1951.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1623609933

These guys were fairly good triples hitters... and as previously observed, it means players who hustled outa the batter's box who had their heads in the game as they hustled to take every base possible. Mr. Musial was the epitome of that.

Chief Wilson
 

Good thread idea, Dr. Frank, certainly better than mine anyway.

How about Chief Wilson? He played in MLB from 1908-1916.

career triples- 114
home runs- 59
stolen bases- 98

I wonder how many players with more than 100 career triples had less than 100 home runs and stolen bases?

The career totals for HOFer Edgar C. "Sam" Rice are: 184 triples, 275 strike outs, 34 homers and 351 stolen bases. Rice had more triples than strike outs 6 times, and 2 times he had the same number of each. Here are Rice's # games played, # triples and # strike outs for the relevant years:

1921: 143 - 13 - 10
1922: 154 - 13 - 13
1923: 148 - 18 - 12 (led the A.L. in triples)
1925: 152 - 13 - 10
1927: 142 - 14 - 11
1928: 148 - 15 - 15
1929: 150 - 10 - 9
1932: 106 - 7 - 6

Only 6 players with 150 triples and 200 home runs
Lou Gehrig
Stan Musial
Roberto Clemente
Rogers Hornsby
Goose Goslin
Jim Bottomley

It is very surprising to me that Rickey Henderson, a great speedster with pretty decent power (close to 300 HR), had only 66 triples.

He probably stopped at 2nd so he could steal 3rd.

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Rickey's surprising lack of career triples is discussed here. TLDR: righty pull hitters dont hit many triples, home park effects, slow out of the box with that crazy crouching stance.

https://tht.fangraphs.com/endangered...hree-base-hit/

He was also quoted saying that 3B was his favorite bag to steal, since he could get the biggest lead. So wanting to be at 2nd so that he could take 3rd was a real factor to some degree.

I don't have a card but Vada Pinson is up there with 256,127

If this thread wasn't dedicated to triples, his name couldn't be uttered with the aforementioned all -time greats...............
and...........
not great lifetime stats,
but..........

I went to alot of Braves games in the early 90's and always walked into that stadium thinking "I hope Deion Sanders hits a triple today"

among the most exciting plays in baseball IMO.

p.s. I guess he didn't care about stealing 3rd; in '92 he lead the league with 14 triples, but had only 6 doubles. :)

The excellent article referenced by Chad explains about half of Rickey's poor triples total; this quip could well explain the other half. Although, Rickey would probably express it this way: "Why would Rickey risk getting thrown out at third when Rickey can steal third any time he wants".

I used the Bill James power/speed number calculation on most of the people listed in this thread and some others. As a reminder, the calculation is (2*SB*HR)/(SB+HR). Apparently (as I just learned today) this is called the harmonic mean.

The idea is to reward players who did both things well (rather than just use an average which disproportionally rewards someone who did just one thing well). For example, Harmon Killebrew's power/speed number is 36.8 (based on 19 SBs and 573 HRs), which better reflects his combination of power and speed than the average of his SBs and HRs (which is 296). If both numbers are the same, then the psn is the same as the average (if you hit 100 HRs and stole 100 bases your psn is 100).

Anyway, I used that formula but substituted 3B for SB. These are the top players I did....I may have missed a worthy candidate, I just picked players that were mentioned in the thread plus some others I could think of (basically I looked at the leaders list for 3Bs and HRs). Anyone already mentioned in the thread not listed below ranks lower than these players.

Some interesting players that were not yet mentioned are Foxx, DiMaggio, and Brett.

Please note that there may be manual errors introduced from typing numbers into a spreadsheet.

Player 3B HR PSN
Musial 177 475 257.9
Gehrig 163 493 245.0
Mays 140 660 231.0
Ruth 136 714 228.5
Hornsby 169 301 216.5
Goslin 173 248 203.8
Foxx 125 534 202.6
Simmons 149 307 200.6
Clemente 166 240 196.3
J. DiMaggio 131 361 192.2
Brett 137 317 191.3
Bottomley 151 219 178.8
Aaron 98 755 173.5
Connor 233 138 173.3
Pinson 127 256 169.8
Cobb 295 117 167.5
Heilmann 151 183 165.5
Gehringer 146 184 162.8
Slaughter 148 169 157.8
Rollins 115 231 153.6
Speaker 222 117 153.2
Wheat 172 132 149.4
Granderson 95 344 148.9
S. Crawford 309 97 147.7
Rose 135 160 146.4
Medwick 113 205 145.7
Brock 141 149 144.9
Wagner 252 101 144.2
Stovey 176 122 144.1

I was curious if the newly included Negro League stats affected my list and it looks like Turkey Stearnes (112 3B, 186 HR, 139.8 psn) was the best at combining 3Bs and HRs.

There is a statue of Stan Musial outside of Busch Stadium. At the dedication ceremony in 1968, Stan said his knee hurt that day. Then with that infectious smile and laugh he told the crowd it was from hitting so many triples!

I miss him.

Bob Costas at Stan's funeral...

https://youtu.be/NnYTfEG5bCk

if your a Cardinals fan, or a Mantle fan, you'll shed a tear.

Thanks for the reminder of what a great human being Stan Musial was, we should all aspire to act a little more like him everyday.

Members of the 20-20-20 club (doubles, triples, homers):

Frank Schulte (Cubs) - 1911
Jim Bottomley (Cardinals) - 1928
Jeff Heath (Indians) - 1941
Willie Mays (Giants) - 1957
George Brett (Royals) - 1979
Curtis Granderson (Tigers) - 2007
Jimmy Rollins (Phillies) - 2007

I always loved the triple-hitting machine, Willie Wilson of the Royals during the 1980s. I don't think he (or anyone from the early '80s) was worried about launch angle given his low career HR totals, of which I'm sure many were inside-the-parkers.

I would add Ryne Sandburg in 1984, a member of the 19-19-19 club. He at least deserves honorable mention

I knew I missed some people doing this manually...I just added Curtis Granderson to my original list.

I just watched the whole thing. Time well spent. Thanks for posting it.