friday afternoon trivia -- triples

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Posted By: pas

No peeking now.
Of the leaders in lifetime triples, NONE of the top ten, only ONE of the top twenty, and only TWO of the top thirty played post-WW II. Name them.

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Posted By: Alan U

brock-henderson

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Posted By: pas

Alan, exactly what I would have guessed.

But wrong on both counts.

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Posted By: Alan U

I just looked and Henderson only had 66 triples.

After looking at the answers I can only say... "nice trivia"

-Alan

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Posted By: Shawn Chambers

I think at one time Steve Finley was the active leader. Can't remember if he had enough to break into the top 100, though, but I think he was well ahead of the other guys at the time.

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Posted By: pas

Yeah Brock is ranked in the 60s somewhere and Henderson is not even in the top 100, amazingly enough.

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Posted By: Ron

Musial and Clemente?

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Musial sounds right. Slaughter?

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Posted By: pas

Musial is tied for 19th, Clemente is tied for 27th. Very good, thought this one would last a while.

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Posted By: DMcD

Here's the top 100 or so through 2007 season:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hitrip1.shtml
The next post-war guy on the list is Slaughter at #54.
Surprised not to see Mantle in there somewhere.
Lofton is up to 116 but getting old; Damon is at 91 so may crack the top 100. Finley is stuck at 124.
Any of you scholars know why the new-timers are hitting less triples? Cookie-cutter ballyards? Livelier ball? Less scrappy ballplaying?

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Posted By: Kenneth A. Cohen

The outfields were bigger in those days, I believe. Also, with less well-manicured outfields and smaller gloves, balls in the corners and alleys probably weren't generally played as cleanly.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Yeah, Kenny's point is on the button. I believe in the Polo Grounds center field was about 480 feet from home plate. As a comparison, Jacobs Field CF is 410 feet from home. That's a lot of extra room for ball to roll around.