>>>>OTOH, we were once present for a triple play. Wow, does that change the game! There a team is with two on, nobody out, and then suddenly, the inning is over.
>>>>
>>>
>>>I have never seen a triple play in person. They are very rare, as you know. And I am not likely to see one as a Brewers fan, LOL. Someone wrote that their old logo of a fielding glove was ironic.
>>
>>Actually, I don't think triple plays correlate highly with good teams. It's a matter of the ball hit in the right place in the right situation and someone have the presence of mind to handle it right. It's gotta be just right, through--a line drive hit in a way that makes the runners think it'll go through, then the fielder catching the ball close enough to second to make the second out and then either having the other running come past or getting the ball to first to catch the other runner.
>>
>>Player-wise, all you need is one guy who can catch the ball somewhat unexpectedly.
>>
>>Also, more common than I thought. Looks like two to four a year average: http://tripleplays.sabr.org/
>>
>
>There are 162 x 15 games a season, so two to four times a year is not common.

To me, a perfect game is not common. Something that happens a few times a year is reasonably common.

>
>As you say, a lot of it is luck, the right player in the right place at the right time.
>
>An unassisted triple play, the odds of that verge on astronomical.

Baseball Almanac says 15 ever (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats8.shtml), so that's the same order of magnitude as perfect games. Surprisingly, the Phillies have two of them. I remember the second one--we were driving home from DC and listening on the radio. Fascinating that all of these are essentially the same play, with minor variations. Also worth noting that most of these are not guys whose names you'd recognize. Only Furcal and Tulowitzski are reasonably well-known.

Tamar