Major League Baseball Player. Played Major League Baseball for seven seasons (1907 to 1913) as a Shortstop and 2nd Baseman for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. Broke in with the Yankees at the tail end of the 1907 season, and became their regular shortstop a year later. A marginal hitter, the Yankees shipped him to the Indians right after the start of the 1909 campaign. That year, however, Neal Ball would accomplish an achievement that has forever enshrined him in Baseball immortality. In the second inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox on July 19,1909, while playing shortstop, he caught a line drive hit by the Sox’s Amby McConnell. He then stepped on second base to double up Heinie Wagner, and tagged out the Sox runner, Jake Stahl, who was going from 1st to 2nd, thus completing Major League baseball’s very first Unassisted Triple Play. He also recorded 9 putouts in the game at his position, which set a record for shortstops. To date, there has only been 15 unassisted triples plays in the Major Leagues. He would go on to play two and a half more seasons with the Indians before being sent to the Red Sox in 1912. That year the Sox went to the World Series and defeated the New York Giants 4 Games to 1. His only appearance in the Series was a single pinch-hitting at-bat (and he struck out). Played 23 games for the Red Sox in 1913 before retiring. His career totals were 502 Games Played, 404 Hits, 163 Runs, 4 Home Runs, 151 RBIs, and a .250 career Batting Average. His glove he used to record the triple play is now on permanent display in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Major League Baseball Player. Played Major League Baseball for seven seasons (1907 to 1913) as a Shortstop and 2nd Baseman for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. Broke in with the Yankees at the tail end of the 1907 season, and became their regular shortstop a year later. A marginal hitter, the Yankees shipped him to the Indians right after the start of the 1909 campaign. That year, however, Neal Ball would accomplish an achievement that has forever enshrined him in Baseball immortality. In the second inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox on July 19,1909, while playing shortstop, he caught a line drive hit by the Sox’s Amby McConnell. He then stepped on second base to double up Heinie Wagner, and tagged out the Sox runner, Jake Stahl, who was going from 1st to 2nd, thus completing Major League baseball’s very first Unassisted Triple Play. He also recorded 9 putouts in the game at his position, which set a record for shortstops. To date, there has only been 15 unassisted triples plays in the Major Leagues. He would go on to play two and a half more seasons with the Indians before being sent to the Red Sox in 1912. That year the Sox went to the World Series and defeated the New York Giants 4 Games to 1. His only appearance in the Series was a single pinch-hitting at-bat (and he struck out). Played 23 games for the Red Sox in 1913 before retiring. His career totals were 502 Games Played, 404 Hits, 163 Runs, 4 Home Runs, 151 RBIs, and a .250 career Batting Average. His glove he used to record the triple play is now on permanent display in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Bio by: RPD2
Family Members
Advertisement
