The triple steal.
There’s not a lot of information available about what is a rare feat in the history of baseball. According to most things, I’ve read no one really knows how many times it happened.
Stealing home can be an exciting play, but the triple steal? If a catcher is worried about trying to stop a run from scoring, it’s likely that the other two runners will be ignored.
The only thing that is certain is that it’s not going to happen very often.
I suppose that’s why whenever one reads a list of things under the heading “This Day in Baseball” on July 25, the Philadelphia Athletics are always mentioned. It’s an intriguing story.
Best guess is on that day in 1930, the A’s became the only team to execute a triple steal twice in a 14-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians in League Park.
In the first inning, Philadelphia’s Max Bishop set a tone for the game as he led off with a solo homer against Indians starter Pete Appleton, who is would legally change his name from Pete Jablonowski in 1934.
Bing Miller added a RBI single and it was 2-0. Miller swiped second and then things really started to go wrong for the Indians.
After Dib Williams walked to load the bases, Al Simmons was at third and Miller was on second.
Writer James C. Isaminger of the Philadelphia Inquirer offered this description the following day.
“With the bases full Simmons dusted home, while Jablonowski was winding up and slid across the plate before the ball hardly reached the catcher. All the other runners moved up, so it was a triple act of hi-jacking.”
In the fourth, Milt Shoffner replaced Jablonowski/Appleton.
How’s this for a Hall of Fame moment for the second triple steal of the contest?
Future Cooperstown inductee Mickey Cochrane was able to repeat what Simmons had done earlier as he stole home before Shoffner’s pitch reached the plate. On the play, the two other runners moved up to get credit for steals. Simmons and Jimmy Foxx, who both are immortalized in Cooperstown, were the “other” runners.
Philadelphia pounded out 12 hits with three homers by Bishop, Miller and Simmons, but the A’s also received 10 walks.
It’s likely that Philadelphia’s future Hall of Fame pitcher Lefty Grove added to the frustration for the Indians, by allowing just six hits and a run in the eighth inning after the A’s had scored all of their runs.
The Victim of Theft
Cleveland’s Joe Sprinz was behind the plate as the A’s ran wild against the Indians.
The poor guy is officially listed as allowing seven stolen bases in a game. It’s pretty easy not to completely blame him for the number, but stats are what they are and this guy was reminded of the A’s larceny whenever the “On This Date” lists were printed.
Sprinz played in 17 games in 1930 for the Indians and was in one more in 1931. His time in the majors ended with three appearances in 1933 with the St. Louis Cardinals. Overall, he played professionally for 23 years from 1924 to 1946 when he retired at the age of 43.
The triple steal game was not the most painful moment in Sprinz’s baseball career. That came in 1939 when he was with the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.
In an attempt to set a record of catching a baseball from a great height, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Aug. 4, 1939, Sprinz was injured trying to grab a ball dropped from a blimp that was 800 feet in the air.
Charley Graham, who was the president of the Seals, was quoted in the story. “That is the end of that kind of stunt for my ball players.”
There were five balls dropped during what was called the Golden Gate Exposition, which was on Aug. 3, 1939.
It’s explained in the story and photo caption that Sprinz was knocked out, while suffering a compound jaw fracture, the loss of eight teeth and ragged lacerations of both lips.
Adding insult to the injury, Sprinz was born in St. Louis. At the end the of the article, it was added that he was the son of Joseph Sprinz of 7603 Vermont Avenue … ugh.
The Last One
According to several sources, the last triple steal in the major leagues came on May 27, 2008.
The Indians “executed” the play in an 8-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland.
A pickoff and a rundown led to what happened as David Dellucci was credited with a steal of home. Jamey Carroll and Grady Sizemore ended up at second and third with stolen bases.
“Those are not plays we practice in spring training,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said in an Associated Press story that was in multiple newspapers.
In the same article, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen seemed impressed with his squad’s contribution to the play.
“It was crazy,” he said. “We really did a lot wrong. You can name it and name it. It was a good thing it was just one game.”
Anybody wish they were the proverbial fly on the wall in the White Sox clubhouse during the post-game meeting?