Glenn Wright Turns an Unassisted Triple Play

On May 7, 1925, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Glenn Wright executed an unassisted triple play in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Forbes Field. It was just the sixth unassisted triple play in major league history, and Wright pulled it off against two future Hall of Famers.

The Cardinals had runners on first and second with nobody out. Jimmy Cooney stood on second base. Rogers Hornsby, the reigning NL batting champion who had hit .424 the previous season, was on first. Jim Bottomley, another future Hall of Famer, stepped to the plate and lined a drive over second base. Wright snagged the ball out of the air for the first out. He stepped on second to retire Cooney, who had broken toward third on contact. Then he tagged Hornsby, who was charging from first. Three outs, one motion, one player.

Unassisted triple plays are the rarest individual defensive play in baseball. They require a specific situation (runners on first and second, both running) and a specific result (line drive caught by an infielder in position to reach both a base and a runner). Through more than a century of professional play, fewer than 15 have been recorded.

Wright was 24 years old and in his second full season. He was a strong-armed, rangy shortstop who had hit .287 with 18 triples in 1924. The triple play didn't save the game. The Cardinals had already built a lead and won 10-9 after overcoming a six-run deficit. But the play itself was the kind of defensive sequence that lives in the memory long after the final score fades.

Wright went on to have a productive career cut short by a shoulder injury in 1929. He played parts of 11 major league seasons. The triple play remains the signature moment, three Hall of Fame-caliber players retired on a single swing.