Hit into one, pull one

By my count 41 fielders have pulled an unassisted triple play. Each one these plays have a unique story of their own to tell. One of the more unique stories involves player by the name of Roy Akin. On July 19, 1911 Akins of the Los Angles Angels contribution to history was he hit a ball into shallow centerfield that Walter Carlisle of Vernon turned into the only known unassisted triple play pulled by an outfielder.
The story of Akin and unassisted triple plays did not end there. On May 9, 1912 less then a year later, Akin was a member of the Waco Navigators of the Texas League. The club had a game at West End Park in Houston. In the bottom of the first inning Akin had a second brush with history. Akin was playing third base for the Navigators when he himself pulled his own unassisted triple play. Unfortunately for Akin and his teammates, the Buffaloes won the game by score of 5-4. The real strange thing is that the year before, in the game Akin hit into an unassisted triple play the Angels lost by a score of, you guessed it 5-4.
As with a perfect game, the unassisted triple play is one of plays that all baseball fans long to see, but rarely see. For tomorrow we look at some early movement of clubs in the league that became the National Basketball Association.
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