Paulo’s 90-yard Dash

When I’m in the stands, as I was Friday evening at Kauffman Stadium, I find that the triple is one of the most exciting plays in baseball. Yes, it’s more exciting than buck night, fireworks Friday and Mustard winning the hot dog race. Even though it does fall short of the home run, it’s the rarity that makes every spectators blood pump with pure excitement.



When a player has speed and the power to hit a ball to the gap, instant questions arise in split seconds. Will he take the chance? How strong is the outfielder or cutoff man’s arm? Will the cotton candy man ever get out of my way? All of these thoughts happen almost instantly and when the player reaches third safely, elation is followed.



Paulo Orlando has elated the Royals fan base five times this year. An amazing anomaly given that he has a total of seven hits in 26 at bats. That’s the great thing about baseball, weird things happen, things that don’t make sense. Would it be a surprise if Orlando had five triples this year? No. But in the first 26 at bats? Yes. That’s what I love about this game. The unexplainable happens everyday in every game. So let’s take a look at the rarity of rarities, the crown of speedsters, the 270 feet sprint, the 90-yard dash…the elusive, the exclusive, tantalizing TRIPLE!



The Major League Baseball single-season record for triples is 36 by good ol’ Chief Wilson in 1912.



Thirty-Six! That’s it!

Thirty-six is also the Royals single-season record for home runs. But that’s a different story.



To give you a better idea of how rare the triple is in baseball consider this; In 2007 Curtis Granderson, then of the Detroit Tigers, hit 23 triples, before that year the last player to hit 23 triples was Pittsburg Pirates’ Adam Comorosky in 1930.



And the last player to hit more than 23 three-baggers was Kiki Cuyler in 1925 when he hit 26 also playing for the Pirates. The closest anyone has ever gotten to reaching Chief Wilson’s record of 36 was by Detroit Tigers’ Sam Crawford in 1914 with 26.



As you can see most of these records were set in the dead ball era, when ballparks were much bigger and the ball was, well, dead. Today’s baseball does have some spacious cathedrals. Kauffman, Citi Field and Comerica to name a few. But even the biggest modern day ballparks shrink in comparison to Huntington Avenue of the Boston Red Sox, which was 635 feet to dead center or the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which measured 560 feet to center. Unthinkable distances in today’s game. If Orlando hit a baseball that rolled 635 feet, he’d have 5 home runs and zero triples.



Even though the amount of triples is impressive, the odds of Orlando breaking the Royals single-season record are stacked against him. The record his held by a fellow named Willie Wilson and in 1985 Willie stood at third 21 times. It took him 642 plate appearances to do it. Orlando is not likely to get half the chances.



So enjoy the rarity of Paulo’s triple feat and continue to work on the triple-derived nicknames on twitter. Whether its, “See3PO”, “APAULO’S Speed” or “HCAT” (Holy Crap Another Triple), the exciting play of the three-bagger will never disappoint.

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