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Ty Cobb, second all-time in career triples, slides safely into third base.

In baseball, a triple is the act of a batter safely reaching third base after hitting the ball, with neither the benefit of a fielder's misplay (see error) nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice. A triple is sometimes called a "three-bagger" or "three-base hit".^[1] For statistical and scorekeeping purposes it is denoted by 3B.^[2][3]

Triples have become somewhat rare in Major League Baseball. It often requires a ball hit to a distant part of the field, or the ball taking an unusual bounce in the outfield. It also usually requires that the batter hit the ball solidly, and be a speedy runner. It also often requires that the batter's team have a good strategic reason for wanting the batter on third base, as a double will already put the batter in scoring position and there will often be little strategic advantage to taking the risk of trying to stretch a double into a triple. (The inside-the-park home run is much rarer than a triple). The trend for modern ballparks is to have smaller outfields (often increasing the number of home runs); it has ensured that the career and season triples leaders mostly consist of those who played early in Major League Baseball history, generally in the dead-ball era.

A walk-off triple (one that ends a game) occurs very infrequently. For example, the 2016 MLB season saw only three walk-off triples, excluding one play that was actually a triple plus an error.^[4]

Triples leaders, Major League Baseball

Season

Chief Wilson's record of 36 triples in a season is unlikely to ever be broken.

See also

• 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