I woke up today and thought – what random baseball topic can I cover in this piece? Then it came to me — triples.
WHAT IS A TRIPLE?
Just kidding.
THE HISTORY OF TRIPLES
There are a lot of really old, i.e. in a coffin, guys on the all-time single season leader board.
| Player (age that year) | Triples | Year | PA | Bats |
| Owen Wilson (28) | 36 | 1912 | 643 | L |
| Dave Orr (26) | 31 | 1886 | 593 | R |
| Heinie Reitz (27) | 31 | 1894 | 502 | L |
| Perry Werden (31) | 29 | 1893 | 556 | R |
| Harry Davis (23) | 28 | 1897 | 475 | R |
| Sam Thompson+ (34) | 28 | 1894 | 502 | L |
| George Davis+ (22) | 27 | 1893 | 600 | B |
| Jimmy Williams (22) | 27 | 1899 | 693 | R |
| Sam Crawford+ (34) | 26 | 1914 | 674 | L |
| Kiki Cuyler+ (26) | 26 | 1925 | 701 | R |
| Shoeless Joe Jackson (24) | 26 | 1912 | 653 | L |
| John Reilly (31) | 26 | 1890 | 576 | R |
| George Treadway (27) | 26 | 1894 | 569 | L |
| Roger Connor+ (36) | 25 | 1894 | 534 | B |
| Sam Crawford+ (23) | 25 | 1903 | 602 | L |
| Larry Doyle (24) | 25 | 1911 | 623 | L |
| Buck Freeman (27) | 25 | 1899 | 634 | L |
| Tom Long (25) | 25 | 1915 | 556 | R |
The active single season leader is Dexter Fowler who hit 15 in 2011. There are 417 seasons in history of 16 or more.
All those old guys are on the career leaderboard as well.
| Player (yrs, age) | Triples | PA | Bats |
| Sam Crawford+ (19) | 309 | 10625 | L |
| Ty Cobb+ (24) | 295 | 13103 | L |
| Honus Wagner+ (21) | 252 | 11756 | R |
| Jake Beckley+ (20) | 244 | 10518 | L |
| Roger Connor+ (18) | 233 | 8847 | B |
| Tris Speaker+ (22) | 222 | 12020 | L |
| Fred Clarke+ (21) | 220 | 9860 | L |
| Dan Brouthers+ (19) | 206 | 7691 | L |
| Joe Kelley+ (17) | 194 | 8161 | R |
| Paul Waner+ (20) | 191 | 10767 | L |
| Bid McPhee+ (18) | 189 | 9429 | R |
| Eddie Collins+ (25) | 187 | 12087 | L |
| Ed Delahanty+ (16) | 186 | 8402 | R |
| Sam Rice+ (20) | 184 | 10260 | L |
| Jesse Burkett+ (16) | 182 | 9629 | L |
| Ed Konetchy (15) | 182 | 8675 | R |
| Edd Roush+ (18) | 182 | 8157 | L |
| Buck Ewing+ (18) | 178 | 5772 | R |
| Rabbit Maranville+ (23) | 177 | 11260 | R |
| Stan Musial+ (22) | 177 | 12721 | L |
| Harry Stovey (14) | 176 | 6848 | R |
| Goose Goslin+ (18) | 173 | 9830 | L |
| Tommy Leach (19) | 172 | 9068 | R |
| Zack Wheat+ (19) | 172 | 10007 | L |
The active career leader is Dexter Fowler with 82. There are 262 men with more in history.
2021 TRIPLES LEADERS
| Name | Team | AB | PA | 3B |
| Bryan Reynolds | PIT | 559 | 646 | 8 |
| David Peralta | ARI | 487 | 538 | 8 |
| Shohei Ohtani | LAA | 537 | 639 | 8 |
| Jake Cronenworth | SDP | 567 | 643 | 7 |
| Ozzie Albies | ATL | 629 | 686 | 7 |
| Akil Baddoo | DET | 413 | 461 | 7 |
| Kevin Kiermaier | TBR | 348 | 390 | 7 |
| Nicky Lopez | KCR | 497 | 565 | 6 |
| Luis Arraez | MIN | 428 | 479 | 6 |
| Amed Rosario | CLE | 550 | 588 | 6 |
| Garrett Hampson | COL | 453 | 494 | 6 |
| Willi Castro | DET | 413 | 450 | 6 |
| Hunter Dozier | KCR | 487 | 543 | 6 |
| Adam Frazier | – – – | 577 | 639 | 5 |
| Cedric Mullins II | BAL | 602 | 675 | 5 |
| Wander Franco | TBR | 281 | 308 | 5 |
| Corey Dickerson | – – – | 336 | 365 | 5 |
| Jose Ramirez | CLE | 552 | 636 | 5 |
| Steven Duggar | SFG | 268 | 297 | 5 |
| Eduardo Escobar | – – – | 549 | 599 | 5 |
| Trevor Story | COL | 526 | 595 | 5 |
| Bobby Dalbec | BOS | 417 | 453 | 5 |
The top four guys in 2021, added together, don’t equal the single season record.
2021 TRIPLES NOTES
Bryan Reynolds had eight triples in 159 games. He had six triples his previous 189 games.
David Peralta hit eight triples last year… the third best mark of his career. He’s never stolen 10 bases in a season, but he has three years of eight triples as he hit 19 (9/10) his first two seasons, including a rookie effort of just 88 games played.
Shohei Ohtani hit eight triples. He had seven triples the first 266 games of his career.
Jake Cronenworth had three homers and three steals in 54 rookie games in 2020. He went 7/4 in year two in 152 games.
Ozzie Albies has hit five triples in all four seasons that he’s played 50 games. He hit eight in 2019, the last full season, before hitting seven in 2021.
Akil Baddoo hit seven triples for the Tigers. He hit 11 triples in 2018 at Single-A ball.
Kevin Kiermaier had seven triples, the fifth time he’s reached that mark. He hit 12 back in 2015.
Kyle Tucker led baseball with six triples in just 58 games in 2020 (no one else had five). The other 190 games he’s played in the Majors he has four (three in 2021).
Adalberto Mondesi had 10 triples in a mere 102 games in 2019. He has four in 94 games since.
