In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball without the benefit of a fielder's misplay (see error) or a fielder's choice. A triple is sometimes called a "three-bagger" or "three-base hit". For statistical and scorekeeping purposes it is denoted as 3B.
Triples have become somewhat rare in Major League Baseball, less common than both the double and the (outside-the-park) home run. This is because a triple requires a ball to be hit solidly to a distant part of the field (ordinarily a line drive or fly ball near the foul line closest to right field), or the ball to take an irregular bounce in the outfield, usually against the wall, away from a fielder. It also requires the batter's team to have a good strategic reason for wanting the batter on third base, as a stand-up double is sufficient to put the batter in scoring position and there will often be little strategic advantage to risk being tagged out whilst trying to stretch a double into a triple (although reaching third base with fewer than two outs could potentially allow the runner to reach home plate on a sacrifice fly). On the extreme, the triple may be stretched into the very rare inside-the-park home run. The trend for modern ballparks is to have smaller outfields (generally increasing the number of home runs which are hit out of the park), ensuring that the career and season triples leaders mostly consist of those who played early in Major League Baseball history, particularly in the dead-ball era. Another factor that may have contributed to the decrease of triples is the shift from speed to power as the most important factor in batting in the modern era.
A walk-off triple (one that ends a game) occurs very infrequently. In general, game-winning hits with a runner on first base are walk-off doubles, since it is quite common for runners starting on first base to score on a double (as it is to make it from first to third on a single). For example, in 2019, there was not a single walk-off triple.
Triples leaders, Major League Baseball Career
PlayCareer lengthNumber of triplesSam Crawford1899–1917309Ty Cobb1905–1928295Honus Wagner1897–1917252Jake Beckley1888–1907243Roger Connor1880–1897233Tris Speaker1907–1928222Fred Clarke1894–1915220Dan Brouthers1879–1904205Joe Kelley1891–1908194Paul Waner1926–1945191
Season
PlayerYearNumber of triplesChief Wilson191236Dave Orr188631Heinie Reitz1894Perry Werden189329Harry Davis189728Jimmy Williams1899George Davis189327Sam Thompson1894Sam Crawford191426Kiki Cuyler1925Joe Jackson1912John Reilly1890George Treadway1894
See also Single (baseball) Double (baseball) Home Run List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders List of Major League Baseball triples records List of Major League Baseball single-season triples leaders
References
External links List of career triples leaders, Baseball-Reference.com List of single-season triples leaders, Baseball-Reference.com