Happy birthday Paul Hines...March 1 WAR leader

[michael3322]

"Paul Hines was a 19th-century all-around star who played in the big leagues from 1872 through 1891. He was a fine hitter, compiling a .302 lifetime mark with an impressive 2,133 hits in just 1,658 games. The latter two totals were third all-time at that point in big-league history, behind only Cap Anson and Jim O’Rourke. His overall OPS+ of 132 demonstrates that he was a high-caliber player.

The speedy Hines was also “known as the most colorful and sensational outfielder in the league, with an astounding ability to capture low line drives.”1 That skill was evident on May 8, 1878, when he took part in what may have been the first unassisted triple play in the majors. If it was, it numbered – along with his Triple Crown the same year – among many firsts he could claim in his long and successful career."

Paul Hines
SABR article by Maurice Bouchard
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/paul-hines/

Fun fact from his Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hines):

"Hines was a favorite player of William McKinley while the latter was a United States Representative from Ohio."

For those who want to review his stats, see:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...inespa01.shtml

And finally a card...
1887 Buchner Gold Coin

[GaryPassamonte]

1876. Not mine.

[ValKehl]

More cards of Hines:

[GeoPoto]

Hines

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[michael3322]

Great cards. Thanks all for sharing.

BTW, Hines is perhaps most remembered for the triple play.

For more see the SABR article that starts off like this...

"On May 8, 1878, the National League club of Providence hosted their counterparts from Boston. In the eighth inning Providence turned a triple play, initiated by center fielder Paul Hines. Was it the first unassisted triple play, or was the play completed by Providence second baseman Charlie Sweasy? This has long been a subject of debate, to the present day. This article will reexamine the question, considering contemporaneous game accounts and the rules of 1878.

The undisputed facts are as follows: Boston had two men on base, Ezra Sutton on second and Jack Manning on third. The batter, Jack Burdock, hit a soft line drive—probably what would later be called a Texas Leaguer—over the shortstop’s head. It was obvious that the shortstop wouldn’t catch the ball, so Sutton and Manning took off running. Hines charged in from center field, making a spectacular shoestring catch. His momentum carried him forward and he kept running to third base and stepped on the bag. Charlie Sweasy, the second baseman, then called for the ball. Hines threw the ball to Sweasy, who stepped on second base.

The running catch was the first out. There is agreement that Manning was at or near home plate when Hines tagged third base, making another out. The dispute is whether Hines’s tag of third also put out Sutton. There are two questions. In legal terms, there is a question of fact and a question of law.

The question of fact is on which side of third Sutton was when Hines tagged the base. Was he with Manning near home plate, or was he between second and third? If the latter, then the third out unquestionably was made by Sweasy tagging second, with Hines getting an assist.

The question of law arises if Sutton was past third base. Under the 1878 rules, did Hines’s tag of third base put him out, or was it Sweasy’s tag of second?"


Revisiting the Hines Triple Play
by Richard Hershberger
Spring 2016 Baseball Research Journal
https://sabr.org/journal/article/rev...s-triple-play/

[z28jd]

From personal research and reading everyone else's research, I don't see why the Hines triple play is controversial. It seems like some people say it didn't happen based off of what one person said many years later. Recaps from the day, plus other eyewitness accounts recalled later call it unassisted, with some describing where the runner was at the time.

I also don't understand how people think the one dissenting view could be right. Hines caught the ball in shallow left-center and ran to third base for the second and third outs. For the runner to be going back towards second base and not get tagged, they would have passed each other well before third base. You're telling me Hines got to the bag, then turned and fired the ball to second base in time to get a runner he couldn't tag? No one ever says there was an attempted tag, or Sutton ran around him. Just we are supposed to believe that Sutton was halfway to second base and the last half took so long that Hines was able to run to third and throw to second base? There's not even a report of a close play at second to make that scenario seem likely.

I've never seen a plausible explanation that made sense to at least question it. There was an extensive 1911 article that made the rounds that had eyewitness accounts from two players, the umpire that day and Hines himself, all gathered separately. All confirming the play, while describing it in a similar fashion.