LINKED BY THEIR SPECIAL TRIPLE PLAYS, TWO OLDTIMERS FINALLY GET TO TALK

N. Brooks Clark

May 12, 1986

It is one of the odder facts of baseball that of the eight unassisted triple plays in major league history, two of them came on successive days. Diamond savants may recall that on May 30, 1927, with Pirates on first and second, shortstop Jimmy (Scoops) Cooney of the Cubs caught a line drive, touched second and tagged out the runner from first, who had been running with the pitch. The next morning, Tiger first baseman Johnny Neun read about Cooney's feat over breakfast and wondered aloud to his roommate, shortstop Jackie Tavener, how long it would be before someone made another unassisted triple. Tavener figured maybe 10 years, which shows how much he knew: Not only did the next triple play occur that very afternoon, it was made by Neun himself.