One of the rarest plays in all of baseball happened a bit ago. Rafael Furcal, shortstop of my Atlanta Braves, made an unassisted triple play. I was downstairs blogging and heard the reaction on ESPN and raced upstairs in time to catch the replay. David Pinto was out walking the dog.
This has only happened twelve times in Major League Baseball history! More people (14) have hit four home runs in a single game. As rare as the feat is, it’s almost always unspectacular–a middle infielder makes a routine catch, steps on the bag, and tags the runner. It’s mainly serendipity. Tonight’s was different: Furcal made a rather amazing leaping catch well behind the bag, had to hustle to get the tag, and then chased down the runner.
Update (1100 8-11):
