bonanova Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Bucky Showalter tells of a triple play where the ball never hit the ground or touched leather. Because of this, it was a special kind of triple play: no assists were recorded. How could this happen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest jdmensa Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Runners on 1st and 2nd. They try to steal, but the batter hits a soft liner at the 2nd baseman who catches the ball with his bare hand. He tags the runner that had been on 1st base, then touches 2nd base before that runner returns. Unassisted triple play. Rare, indeed, especially without a glove. On that note, you could also suppose that the second baseman had a glove made of synthetic material instead of leather. Then he would have been able to catch the ball with his glove, but still fit the OP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest jdmensa Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 I also have the "triple play" package from Comcast. No leather or assists involved there either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted May 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 How much do you pay? Satisfied with the phone service? In BS's triple play, the entire defensive team could have left the field after the pitch was made. The defensive team literally was not involved in the outs: no tags were made. So let's say the pitched ball did not touch ground, leather, or skin. It's possible/probable [don't know all the applicable rules] some put outs were ascribed to certain players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Runners on 2nd and 3rd. The batter hits a line drive toward shortstop. Ball hits runner going from 2nd to 3rd (2nd base runner is out) and bounces up. Shortstop catches it with his bare hand (batter is out). Shortstop touches 3rd base before runner headed to home can return to tag up (3rd base runner out). This is highly unlikely, but within the realm of possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 Bases were loaded... the batter hits (what appears to be) a home run. In their excitement, all three baserunners fail to touch one or more bases (or home plate) as they try to score. After all four offensive players have reached home (or tried to), the defense makes three separate appeals for the baserunners at the bases (or the plate) they missed. Each runner is called out for having failed to touch the bases (or home plate) in order. Three are out and the would-be home-run ball never hit the ground (in play, at least) and was never touched by a defensive player. The ball used for the appeal is a different ball. Does that work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 itachi-san Posted May 31, 2008 Report Share Posted May 31, 2008 a grandslam with no outs, where 3 of the runners who should have scored failed to touch a base before scoring will work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 a grandslam with no outs, where 3 of the runners who should have scored failed to touch a base before scoring will work If runners fail to touch a base, they can only be out on an appeal play, which requires the pitcher to throw the ball from the mound to someone standing on the base. This doesn't meet the requirement of no assist. Does the OP know the answer to this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted June 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 Interesting scenarios all, but none fits the conditions, yet.The three outs were recorded for three separate reasons.Of the three reasons, only one has been guessed so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 Here is a site that shows all unassisted triple-plays in Major League history. All involve touching leather. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats8.shtml Please explain how my earlier post missed the requirements. Runners are on 2nd and 3rd. Batter hits a line drive between 2nd and 3rd bases. Runners on 2nd and 3rd advance when the ball is hit. The outs: 1) The runner from 2nd to 3rd is hit by the line drive. Runner is called out for interference. 2) Ball pops up into the air after hitting the runner and the shortstop catches it with his bare hand. Batter is out. 3) Shortstop then runs and touches 3rd base. Runner from 3rd to home is out for failing to tag after the catch. No leather. No ground. No assists. Three outs for three different reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted June 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 Thanks gmarsha11, Three points: [1] Your scenario satisfies no assists, no ground, no leather. Nice job. But ... [2] I clarified in post #4 that the defensive team made no plays on the ball. In your scenario, the defensive team makes a play. [3] Showalter's triple play happened either in spring training [i think] or else in the minors, so it's not in any book; nevertheless it was scored according to normal baseball rules. The "riddle" is to find a triple-play scenario where the defensive team does not make a play and the ball doesn't hit the ground. It doesn't have to be the play he described: remember the OP asks: how could this have happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 1, 2008 Report Share Posted June 1, 2008 runners on first and second. Batter hits a line drive that hit's the runner between second and third. 1 out. Runner from first is dumb and stops in between 1st and second and the batter passes him on the base paths. 2 outs. Then the batter runs like mad since the defense can't seem to pick up the ball, and runs out of the base line and is called out. 3 outs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 runners on first and second. Batter hits a line drive that hit's the runner between second and third. 1 out. Runner from first is dumb and stops in between 1st and second and the batter passes him on the base paths. 2 outs. Then the batter runs like mad since the defense can't seem to pick up the ball, and runs out of the base line and is called out. 3 outs. You found a 2nd out created by the offense. Good job! But running outside the baseline is fine unless the runner does it to avoid a tag. We need another third out that doesn't require any defensive involvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 How about a scenario similar to ChuckJerry's where the batted ball hits the lead runner between second and third, the batter passes the runner between first and second, and then decides the kick the ball into right field as he rounds second and is thus called for interference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 The story you are referring to is Runners at first (Runner A) and second (Runner B) with no outs. The batter hits a infield fly ball - Infield fly rule, batter is out (1). Runner A (from first base) passes Runner B (from second base) on the base path - Runner A is out (2). Ball strikes Runner B before hitting the ground - Runner B is out (3). I was amazed by this story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 I can think of three scenarios that require no defense and no leather/ground to get an out: Infield Fly Ball Hits the Runner A runner illegally passes another One possible way is with the bases loaded, the runner on third doesn't run and the guy on 2nd, 1st, and the hitter all pass him... but since you said three different ways, it would be like this: Runner on first and second: the batter hits an infield fly and is out. The runner on second is stationary on 2nd as to not get tagged up, but the runner on 1st isn't paying attention and thinks the ball was looped into the outfield, running hard past the runner on 2nd (he's out for #2). Then, paying attention to the bonehead play that just happened and not the ball, the runner on 2nd is hit with the ball before it touches the ground, which is ruled as interference for out 3! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 The story you are referring to is Runners at first (Runner A) and second (Runner B) with no outs. The batter hits a infield fly ball - Infield fly rule, batter is out (1). Runner A (from first base) passes Runner B (from second base) on the base path - Runner A is out (2). Ball strikes Runner B before hitting the ground - Runner B is out (3). I was amazed by this story. Im gunna have to go with WMattWilliams... becuase i've ran this play thorugh my head a couple time now and that play seems like the only one possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 The story you are referring to is Runners at first (Runner A) and second (Runner B) with no outs. The batter hits a infield fly ball - Infield fly rule, batter is out (1). Runner A (from first base) passes Runner B (from second base) on the base path - Runner A is out (2). Ball strikes Runner B before hitting the ground - Runner B is out (3). I was amazed by this story. Nice! Thank you! This has been driving me crazy and I cannot believe the infield fly didn't occur to me! It's WAY more common than the other two. BTW, I think that if Runner A passes Runner B, then Runner B would be out. Need to check my rule book to be sure though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted June 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 The story you are referring to is Runners at first (Runner A) and second (Runner B) with no outs. The batter hits a infield fly ball - Infield fly rule, batter is out (1). Runner A (from first base) passes Runner B (from second base) on the base path - Runner A is out (2). Ball strikes Runner B before hitting the ground - Runner B is out (3). I was amazed by this story. You have it. As I understand the story, the 3rd base coach held up the runner from 2nd base, who apparently didn't hear in Infield Fly called and thought he had to advance. But the runner from 1st base didn't see the coach's signal and continued running, thereby passing the first runner. In the ensuing confusion, the ball, still in the air, was forgotten. Until it came down and hit the surviving runner. Only in baseball can things like this happen. I've heard only one baseball story that tops this one, and I'll post it separately in a non-puzzle forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Guest Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 You have it. As I understand the story, the 3rd base coach held up the runner from 2nd base, who apparently didn't hear in Infield Fly called and thought he had to advance. But the runner from 1st base didn't see the coach's signal and continued running, thereby passing the first runner. In the ensuing confusion, the ball, still in the air, was forgotten. Until it came down and hit the surviving runner. Only in baseball can things like this happen. I've heard only one baseball story that tops this one, and I'll post it separately in a non-puzzle forum. But the ball hit the ground after it hit the runner.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 bonanova Posted June 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2008 But the ball hit the ground after it hit the runner.. Everything hits the ground eventually. Point is, the triple play was complete first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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bonanova
Bucky Showalter tells of a triple play where the ball never hit the ground or touched leather.
Because of this, it was a special kind of triple play: no assists were recorded.
How could this happen?
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