Why Triples Are The Best ... And Why They're Dying Out

Ty CobbPhoto byNational Photo Company

By Mark Kolier

Texas Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford hit his first home run in the Major Leagues on April 28. To make it even more exciting, it was an inside-the-park homer – the fifth time a Rangers rookie went inside the park to record a first career home run, dating back to the franchise’s time as the Washington Senators.

Wait, wasn’t this article about an ode to the triple? The most exciting play in baseball? It must be acknowledged that an inside-the-park home run is pretty exciting too. When Ty Cobb won the American League home run crown in 1909, he hit nine homers, all inside the park. Dead-ball baseball was different from the game that’s played today. Inside-the-park home runs occur about once every 130 games. Chances are excellent that if you go to an MLB game, you won’t see one.

But triples, they are another story. While more common than inside-the-park home runs, triples have been slowly evaporating over the past 30 years.

What Has Become Of The Triple?

When you think about your favorite team’s best players, invariably there’s a player you’ll recall that had great speed, and probably hit at the top of the lineup. That player in the 1980s might have been Willie McGee for the Cardinals or Willie Wilson of the Royals, who led the American League in triples five times. The images of McGee and Wilson tearing around the bases, helmet flying off, and sliding into third amidst a big cloud of dust is indelible, and made baseball fans smile. It’s fun to watch a triple!

In 2007 and 2008, when Curtis Granderson was with the Tigers, he hit 23 and 13 triples in consecutive seasons to lead the American League both years. No player has reached 20 triples since.

The Mets’ Jose Reyes slashed 19 triples in 2008. Watching Reyes run out a triple was a joy that Met fans won’t ever forget.

The all-time record for most triples in a single season is held by Owen Wilson. Not the Owen Wilson who was your first thought. It was Pirates star Owen (sometimes known as “Chief”) Wilson who had 36 triples in 1912. The holders of the next four slots for the single-season record for triples all played before the modern era, which began in 1901. Hall of Famer and Pirate Kiki Cuyler had 26 triples in 1925, the year in which the Bucs won their second World Series.

Flash forward to 2022 when the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo and Dodger’s Gavin Lux tied for the National League lead in triples with only seven. That was two fewer than AL leader Amed Rosario who had nine. Last season, Diamondbacks rookie Corbin Carroll led the NL with 10 triples and the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. led the AL with 11. When it comes to triples, baseball’s youth will be serving them up. Outside of a fielding misplay, slower runners have little chance to hit a triple. Presently, it does not seem that 20 triples for one player in a season is within reach.

In 2023 the D-backs led MLB with 44 triples. That’s an average of a little more than one triple every four games. You need to go back to 1983 to find the last time both leagues combined for more than 1,000 triples in one season. From 1901 until 1932, there were only three seasons with 1,000 triples combined between the leagues. One of those seasons was 1918, which was shortened to 140 games due to American participation in World War I. In 2023, the two leagues combined for 712 triples, which was an increase of 69 triples from the year prior.

Baseball’s evolution into “three true outcomes” is part of the explanation. Better outfielders who carry better arms are another important factor. While the overall running speed of MLB players is faster than it was because the athletes are better trained and coached, that collective speed is not fast enough to make a huge difference when the outfield throws are stronger and more accurate. Baserunners know the players in the outfield very well – those they can run on, and those they better not run on.

Triples History

Sam Miller of ESPN did a nice job looking back at the history of triples in a 2019 article:

“The long-term trend -- since the 1920s -- for triples has been down, but the dips have been slow and irregular. … If this season holds at 0.14 triples per game, it would be the lowest rate in history. … This goes counter to another recent trend, of more playing time going to young position players. (Triples peak in a player's early 20s.)”

Risking Going For Third Base

Sabermetrics have shown that the risk of advancing from second to third on a contested play (or in exchange for an out) isn't worth it by run-expectancy models, and fear of injuries has made runners more cautious, more station-to-station.

Going for the extra base is not as attractive when the batters that follow can park one in the stands.

For more info on this topic, check out Rob Mains’ excellent article in Baseball Prospectus from 2018.

There Is A Time To Chance Getting Thrown Out At Third Base

There’s a baseball adage that you should never be thrown out at third base for the first or third out. The idea is to be almost certain when deciding to try for third base when there are zero or two outs. Fans know that a runner getting to third with one out allows for a sacrifice fly, which cannot occur when there are two outs.

Another aspect of why there are fewer triples is smaller ballparks. Stadiums such as the Polo Grounds, and the long-gone Braves field in Boston, which had a center-field wall 550 feet from home plate, are extinct. Colorado, which is more known for home runs than triples, has the largest playing field in MLB, Coors Field, which had an MLB league-leading 231 triples in 2023. This figure was matched in Arizona at Chase Field, which is not as well known for triples.

Since it’s unlikely that outfield fences will be moved back, which would increase the number of triples, there’s not much that can be done regarding ballpark configuration to increase the most exciting play in baseball. That’s a shame, since we all could use a smile, more than once in a while.

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.