Jimmy Rollins makes history

[Crazysilver03]

Jimmy Rollins tripled Sunday to become the fourth player in major league history to collect 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 homers and 20 steals.

Curtis Granderson did it earlier this year. Willie Mays and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte were the only other players to do it. Rollins isn't the greatest MVP candidate, but he certainly had a historic season. Besides the 20-20-20-20, he took over as the all-time single-season leader in at-bats (716) and plate appearances (778) while starting all 162 games for the Phillies.

Wow, just wow. A couple of years ago I knew he was going to be above average but never thought he was going to put together a season like this.

[Sports Guy]

2 guys in one season do this....2 had done in the history of the game before this year...Crazy.

Great year by Rollins.

[scOtt]

20 triples alone is a pretty amazing accomplishment. Almost one a week.

[RShack]

20 triples alone is a pretty amazing accomplishment. Almost one a week.

It's the triples that make it a such small club. I don't see how it's even possible to get almost one triple per week...

[DrungoHazewood]

If either Rollins or Granderson had played their home games in OPACY they'd have ended up somewhere south of 15 triples. The record for triples in Oriole Park in one season is seven by Mike Devereaux in 1992. As far as I can tell 2nd place is four, by at least Brady Anderson and Brian Roberts. When the place opened people talked about how the quirky angles down the RF line would make it a triple haven... yea, not so much. It's one of the toughest triples parks in major league history.

I have no idea how Devereaux hit seven triples at Oriole Park in one season. He was right-handed, and OPACY's triples park factor is typically on the order of 30 or 50. He did have triples on consecutive nights where Ruben Sierra and Juan Gonzalez were standing around in RF and CF, so that helped.

I still think it would be cool to open up the area directly in front of the CF batter's eye and make it in play. That would be a triple and inside-the-park HR paradise. Let's start a campaign! Bet we could convince the O's that it plays right into their pitching/speed/defense plans for '08!

[Moose Milligan]

I don't see how it's even possible to get almost one triple per week...

A little bit of luck, a lot of speed and the decision to go for 3 right out of the box. Some batters think double out of the box but Granderson and Rollins are so fast that they can think triple out of the box.

I wonder how many times they've each been thrown out trying to leg out a triple this year...can anyone find the stats on that? I'm trying to look but can't find them.

[backwardsk]

This isn't relevent to the thread at all, but I played against Jimmy Rollins when I was 12. It was in a tournament now known as the Cal Ripken World Series. Their team (Oakland) won the whole thing. I'm really happy for him.

[RShack]

I still think it would be cool to open up the area directly in front of the CF batter's eye and make it in play. That would be a triple and inside-the-park HR paradise. Let's start a campaign! Bet we could convince the O's that it plays right into their pitching/speed/defense plans for '08!

I think this is a wonderful idea. (Except for the fact that CPat simply cannot go backwards. But let's not worry about that.) How does one start a low-key and oh-so-mannerly campaign? Insisting on it would be dumb and engender resistance. So, who do you sweet-talk?