Coaker Triplett

Coaker Triplett, a righty outfielder, was an outstanding hitter in the highest reaches of the minor leagues for many years. However, he was never able to fully transition that talent to the majors, even during the talent-depleted years of World War II. In six big-league seasons with the Cubs, Cardinals, and Phillies, his lifetime average was .256 in 470 games. In contrast, he hit a composite .327 in 13 minor league campaigns, winning a couple of batting titles along the way.

Herman Coaker Triplett was born on December 18, 1911, near Boone, North Carolina. He was one of the five children (three daughters and two sons) of Charlie Triplett and Addie Lester Triplett.1 His unusual middle name came from a friend of his father whom he knew in Texas.2 Charlie Triplett owned a general store3 where Coaker worked growing up. Coaker attended local schools and spent a lot of time outdoors, hunting and fishing as well as playing football and baseball.

Triplett then matriculated to Appalachian State Teachers College (now Appalachian State University), also in Boone, not because he wanted to be a teacher but because he wanted a college education and to play college football. It was also relatively inexpensive since he could continue to live at home.4

At Appalachian, the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder was a standout two-sport star: captain of the baseball team and excelling on the gridiron. In a 1932 game against Catawba College, he turned heads by taking the opening kickoff at his own five-yard line and returning it for a touchdown.5  Triplett scored 17 touchdowns one season for the Mountaineers6 and along with fellow running back Carl Trippiney, was known as one of the “Touchdown Twins.”7

In 1933 Triplett married Elizabeth King, also from Watauga County, North Carolina. Together they would have two sons, Coaker, Jr., and King. They remained married until Elizabeth’s death in 1989.8

Triplett dropped out of college after his fourth season of football and began playing baseball with a club in Marion, Virginia, in the semipro Blue Ridge League.9  In 1934 his hitting attracted the attention of Jimmy Hamilton, a scout for the Nashville Volunteers of the Southern Association, who signed him to his first professional contract for $60 a month plus room and board.10  The chance to play professional baseball was the fulfillment of his childhood dream.11 Nashville farmed him to the Tallahassee Capitals in the Class D Georgia-Florida League for the 1935 season. There in 102 games he batted .317 and hit the pennant-winning single in the last inning of the seventh game of the playoffs against Albany.12  That performance earned him a promotion in 1936 to Nashville, where he continued to impress, hitting .341 in 97 games and 397 plate appearances before he injured a knee diving for a line drive in the outfield, which sidelined him for the season.13 

The rival Memphis Chickasaws, looking to improve on their last-place finish in ’36, acquired Triplett in an offseason trade. It turned out to be a great move as Memphis rose to second place in 1937. Triplett had a banner year, leading the league in hitting with a .356 average in 158 games. He became known as “Triplin’ Trip” for his 23 triples, which led the league by a wide margin.14  He also led the league in total bases and finished second in hits (207) and runs batted in (102). For his efforts, he was named the Southern Association’s Most Valuable Player.15

In August of that year the Chicago Cubs outbid nine other teams to purchase Triplett’s contract from Memphis for an outlay of almost $50,000 cash and a player to be named later, with the understanding that he would complete the season for the Chickasaws.16  At the time some hailed him as “the DiMaggio of 1938.”17  Then, during the Cubs 1938 spring training on Catalina Island, Cubs manager Charlie Grimm commented that Triplett “has a chance to stick in the outfield if he can learn to pick up more fly balls.”18  Apparently, he did – because as a 26-year-old rookie, he opened the regular season on April 19, 1938, as the Cubs’ left fielder against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati.

Triplett broke in with a bang: two doubles and a single in five at-bats in an 8-7 Chicago victory. He was even hotter the next day, going 4-for-5 with a triple, three singles, and two runs batted as the Cubs won again 10-4. Although the Reds defeated the Cubs in the following game, he remained hot as a firecracker with a 2-for-4 day. After his first three big league games, Triplett sported a .643 batting average with nine hits in 14 at-bats to set a major league record by becoming the first player to have nine base hits in his first three games. 

When asked, shortly after his memorable big league debut, about his biggest thrill in baseball, Triplett responded that there wasn’t any because “all I ever think about is winning ball games. I get a big thrill every day when we win – even when it was only in high school. And I don’t remember much of past games, because I’m always thinking of winning another one tomorrow.”19

Unfortunately, his initial success was fleeting, and the season quickly went south for Triplett. He reinjured a chronic bad hip from a football injury while sliding and became mired in an 0-for-22 slump that landed him back in the minor leagues by mid-May, this time with Minneapolis in the American Association.20  In 105 games he hit .287 for the Millers. On December 15, 1938, he was purchased by the St. Louis Cardinals and assigned to their Columbus Red Birds farm club, also in the American Association.

With the Red Birds in 1939 Triplett batted a strong .322 in 116 games, although his season was interrupted with a broken nose.21 His chronic bad hip also caused him difficulty. It turned out that he had a pinched sciatic nerve which resulted in his right leg being an inch shorter than his left leg.22   After surgery in the spring of 1940, he responded by hitting .339 in 120 games for Columbus.

That performance earned Triplett an invitation to spring training camp with the big club where manager Billy Southworth, who had Triplett on his team in Memphis in 1937, was eager to take a look at him.  Triplett had a solid spring and, at the age of 29, returned to the majors for the 1941 season after an almost three-year hiatus following his initial trial with the Cubs. He ended up as the Cardinals’ fourth or fifth outfielder, stuck behind Terry Moore, Enos Slaughter, and Johnny Hopp. 

Triplett began the season ablaze despite limited playing time. As late as the Fourth of July, he was hitting .359. He was not as productive in the second half of the season but did have four straight hits on September 14 against the Giants. He then began his next start, which was six days later, with two hits to run his consecutive hit total to six, including a double and a triple. For the season he batted a healthy .286 in 76 games, many of which were as a pinch-hitter, as St. Louis finished second, 2½ games behind the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers.

Triplett was back with the Cardinals in 1942 – but the team had a new gun in town, 21-year-old Stan Musial, who had hit an eye-catching .426 in a 12-game late-season audition in 1941.  Early in the season, Triplett platooned with Musial in left field, hitting against left-handed pitchers.23  For example, on June 16, Triplett started against aging southpaw Carl Hubbell and had two doubles among his three hits in a 10-inning St. Louis victory.  He even occasionally pinch-hit for Musial. On September 17 in the top of the ninth against the Braves in Boston, manager Southworth brought Triplett in for an 0-for-4 Musial against lefty Bill Donovan in the middle of a five-run rally.  Triplett delivered with a single to extend the Cards’ lead to 6-4 (and then promptly got picked off first to end the inning).24

Opportunities for Triplett were relatively rare, however, because Musial was on his way to stardom. For the season, Coaker hit a solid .273 in 64 games and 171 plate appearances on a team that won 106 games to edge the Dodgers for the National League pennant by two games. St. Louis then defeated the New York Yankees, winners of 103 games, in five games to become world champions.25  Although Triplett was a World Series winner, it had to be a little bittersweet because he did not appear in the Series – the Yankees threw nothing but right-handers at the Cardinals. 

Triplett got off to a horrendously slow start in 1943, again in limited playing time. His one bright spot was a two-run home run off Max Macon of the Dodgers on May 19 to drive in the winning runs in a 3-2 Cards win.  But on June 1 he was batting only .080 and was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies along with fellow outfielders Buster Adams and Dain Clay for outfielders Danny Litwhiler and Earl Naylor.26  Triplett had mixed feelings about the trade, although a $1,500 raise from Phillies owner William Cox provided a real boost.27  He also welcomed the opportunity for more playing time but had some trepidation about replacing the popular Litwhiler in left field for Philadelphia.28 He helped calm those fears on June 15 in his first appearance in front of the home fans by smashing a homer and a triple to drive in three runs in a 6-4 Phillies victory.29

After the game Triplett said with a sigh, “Phew, that was a tough assignment . . . If I struck out that would be too bad, but I wasn’t going down with my bat on my shoulder and roll out easy grounders to the infield. It was over the wall or nothing for me. Fortunately, I got one over the wall.” 

He also lamented that “when I was with the Cardinal farm clubs I played every day. Then when I got to the parent club some brain truster said I could only hit lefthanded pitching. So I was benched most of the time. That didn’t make sense. If I could hit .300 the two years I was with Columbus why couldn’t I learn to hit major league pitching?

“That’s no way to get in shape and had I gummed up the works here I hate to think what those left-field fans of Litwhiler’s would have told me.”30

With the benefit of regular playing time, Triplett gradually raised his batting average, showing more power than ever before. On September 16 he had one of the best days of his career, with two home runs, a double, and five RBIs in a 9-2 Phillies win over the Braves in Boston. He finished the year with a .260 batting average and 15 home runs, tied for fourth most in the league, in 415 plate appearances.

Triplett was capable of mental lapses from time to time in the outfield or on the bases.31  In the fourth inning of a July 11 game the Phillies were losing to Cincinnati 7-1, Triplett found himself on second base with the bases full. He proceeded to try to steal third base, forcing Ron Northey, the runner on third, to head for home, where he was tagged out.  Triplett stood off third, kicking the dirt and hanging his head at his blunder, when third baseman Steve Mesner called for the ball and tagged him out for a most unorthodox double play.32 

He was back with the Phillies for the war-depleted 1944 season but in part-time duty slumped to .234 and hit only a single home run in 84 games as the team finished in the cellar.33  In 1945, with few major leaguers back from the service, Triplett was the Phillies’ regular left fielder for most of the campaign, although he missed time with a broken finger.34  He finished with a .240 average in 120 games and 403 plate appearances for the dreadful Phillies, who finished in the cellar with a 46-108 record, 52 games out of first place.

With the war veterans returning to the majors in droves in 1946, in April the Phillies sold Triplett to the Buffalo Bisons of the International League.35  He later lamented that his trade to the Phillies from the Cardinals “was the worst thing that ever happened to me” and that “those years [with the Phillies]. . . were the most miserable in baseball for me” because “we finished in the cellar each year.”36

Back in Triple A with Buffalo, Triplett found his stroke under manager Gabby Hartnett and hit .303 for the Bisons in 1946, followed by a .315 mark in 1947.  As a 36-year-old, he was even better in 1948, batting .353 to lead the International League in hitting.37  That performance convinced the Philadelphia Athletics to invite him to their 1949 spring training. As a result, he decided to play in the Cuban winter league to get ready for his big league trial. After starting the winter season like a house afire for Cienfuegos, he soon slumped and decided to return home to Boone before the season was over.38 

While in Cuba, Triplett had trouble hitting against side-arming Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who was also playing winter ball.  Newcombe was struggling, however, and had lost several games in a row, when Triplett ran into him in a grocery store. Triplett told Newk that he was trying to throw too hard and that he should ease up a bit. As it happened, Triplett faced Newcombe the next day and on the first pitch slammed a half-speed fastball over the fence for a home run. Newcombe just stared at Triplett as he rounded the bases, and when he got to third, yelled, “Don’t tell me how to pitch again.”39

Triplett did join the Athletics for spring training in West Palm Beach, Florida, but was later released.40 According to Triplett, he had never signed a contract with the A’s and left when he learned they wanted to cut his salary.41 He re-signed with Buffalo before the beginning of the season, joining the team at its spring training site, Waxahachie, Texas, on April 5.42  At 37 years of age, Triplett continued to produce at the Triple A level for Buffalo, batting .322 in 1949 with 22 homers and 102 RBIs to help lead the Bisons to the pennant.43 He was named a player-coach for the Bisons in 195044 and continued to pummel International League pitching, batting  .337 in 206 plate appearances.  Buffalo teammate Pete Appleton, who had a long major league career, once called Triplett “the greatest line drive hitter I’ve ever seen.”45

Triplett also displayed a quick wit from time to time. Once with Buffalo he went 0-for-9 in a doubleheader and afterwards was hanging his head at his locker when his player-manager, Paul Richards, told him, “Don’t take it so badly, Coaker.  I went 0-for-5 in the first game.”  Triplett looked up and responded, “But Skipper, that’s nothing unusual for you.”46

Triplett continued as a player-coach for the Bisons in 1951 but took over as manager in midseason when Specs Toporcer had to step down from the helm because of failing eyesight.47  He guided Buffalo to a 79-75 fourth-place finish and showed that he could still hit, batting .347, mostly as a pinch-hitter.

At age 40, Triplett signed with the Ottawa Athletics,48 also in the International League, for his 18th season in professional baseball. However, he hit only .172 in 24 games, again mainly as a pinch-hitter, before deciding to hang up his spikes. An acquired fear of flying contributed to his not pursuing other coaching or managing opportunities.49 Triplett did return to St. Louis in 1962 to take part in a 20-year reunion of the 1942 World Champion Cardinals. In the two-inning old-timers’ game against the ’42 Yankees, Triplett singled, drove in a run, and stole a base as the Cardinals again prevailed, 6-0.50

While active as a player Triplett owned a gas station-auto parts store in Boone.51 After retiring from baseball, he returned to North Carolina, where he organized and then managed in the semipro Tri-County League.52 He sometimes worked as instructor in the Carolina Baseball and Umpire School in Newton, North Carolina with Jimmie Foxx and other former big-leaguers.53 He became involved in the furniture business for a couple of years.  Triplett also worked in the heating and tile business54 but by the age of 59 was completely retired.55  Subsequently, he was inducted into the Appalachian State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 197656 and the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

As Triplett reflected on his baseball career when he was in his mid-60s, he said, “I really believe I may have been a better player and maybe even a star if I had not played football in college. I know I could have been a better fielder because I had a sciatic nerve pinch and it was hard for me to bend over and I hurt my shoulder earlier playing football. . . But it was worth it to play in the majors. Anyone who has the ability ought to jump at the chance. . . .”57

Coaker Triplett died on January 30, 1992, in his native Boone. He was 80 years old.58 Posthumously in 2010, he became a member of the International League Hall of Fame, a most appropriate recognition of his accomplishments in that league.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Jeff Findley. The author thanks Winston Tubb for his research assistance.

Photo credit: Coaker Triplett, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 “Mr. Herman Coaker Triplett, Former Major League Baseball Player,” Watauga (Boone, North Carolina) Democrat. January 31, 1992: 11A.  Earlier publications, including The Baseball Register, lists Triplett’s birth date as 1914 or 1915.  One can surmise that Triplett may have represented that he was younger than he was because he was already 23 when he signed his first professional baseball contract. Triplett’s younger brother Hooper, born in 1919, played minor league baseball for seven seasons, but missed three seasons serving in the Army during World War II.  Hooper batted a cumulative .324 but was fined $500 and suspended indefinitely by the Sally League in August 1946 for allegedly betting $20 on an opposing team to defeat his Columbus (Georgia) Cardinals. He never played another game of professional baseball. Shelly Rolfe, “Hooper Triplett Set Down on Sally Betting Charge,” The Sporting News, August 12, 1946: 13.

2 “Huddle with David Bloom,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 28, 1938: 14.

3 Fred Russell, “Sideline Sidelights,” Nashville Banner, May 2, 1938: 15.

4 Bloom.

5 National League Service Press Release, April 1938, from the Coaker Triplett file, National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, New York.

6 Bob McGaw, “Triplett Fits Spring Specifications,” Nashville Banner, May 15, 1936: 10.

7 Dick Pierce, “Four Times Tar Heels Have Gone Nuts Over Baseball –Once In ’42,” Charlotte Observer, August 12, 1953: 32.

8 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52505798/herman_coaker-triplett.

9 George Stone, “Coaker Triplett: Boone native veteran of Cardinals,” Johnson (Tennessee) City Press-Chronicle, May 15, 1977: 30; Fred Russell, “Remember a Guy Named Triplett?” Nashville Banner, May 2, 1938: 14.

10 Stone, “Coaker Triplett: Boone native veteran of Cardinals,” Unidentified clipping titled “Herman Coaker Triplett” from the Coaker Triplett file, National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, New York; Russell, 14.

11 Bloom.

12 McGaw.

13 Stone, “Coaker Triplett: Boone native veteran of Cardinals.”

14 Unidentified clipping dated June 1943, from the Coaker Triplett file, National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, New York.

15 “Triplett of Memphis is Triple Batting Champion in Southern.” The Sporting News, November 25, 1937: 10.

16 Opie Shelton, “New Cub Find Once Called a ‘Busher,’” Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal, February 27, 1938: 19.

17 Richard McCann, “Cleveland May Have Pitching Find in Humphries; Cubs’ Triplett Called a DiMaggio,” Knoxville News-Sentinel, August 11, 1937: 10. Another writer lamented that he had once considered Triplett “a busher.” Shelton.

18 Jim Vitti, The Cubs on Catalina (Darien, Connecticut: Settefrati Press, 2003), 143. Throughout his career, Triplett was always considered only a fair outfielder.  Mel R. Freese, The St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s (Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007), 50; Ed Pollock, “Playing the Game,” unidentified clipping from the Coaker Triplett file, National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, New York; Russell, 14.

19 Bloom.

20 “Coaker Triplett Overcame Injury to Reach Majors,” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger, March 20, 1941: 19. Triplett’s teammate with Minneapolis was the 19-year-old Ted Williams, whom Triplett remembered as “the best hitter there ever was.”  Triplett also recalled that Williams would come down to his room and stand in the mirror swinging a bat. Stone, “Coaker Triplett: Boone native veteran of Cardinals.”

21 Unidentified clipping titled “Thinks in Distance,” dated March 28, 1940, from the Coaker Triplett file, National Baseball Library, Cooperstown, New York.

22 “Coaker Triplett On Trial Again,” Edmonton (Alberta) Journal, April 22, 1941: 6.  Stone, “Coaker Triplett: Boone native veteran of Cardinals.”.

23 One writer likened Triplett to Wally Pipp, the Yankee first baseman who was replaced by Lou Gehrig and never got back in the lineup. Ira Berkow, “For Coaker Triplett, The Wally Pipp Award,” Ashville (North Carolina) Times, January 22, 1969: 21: “Musial Was Platooned in ’42 – Triplett Hit Lefties Better,” The Sporting News, May 14, 1958: 2.: Bob Broeg, “Cauliflower Knights Salute Musial, Honor Him as Man.” The Sporting News, February 12, 1958: 18.

24 Joe King, “Clouting ’Em,” The Sporting News, November 23, 1955: 10.

25 Of course, the 1942 season was before the World War II draft fully kicked in to deprive the Major Leagues of most of the star players. Thus, the 1942 Yankees still had in effect their full team, including Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Phil Rizzuto, Charlie Keller, Red Rolfe, Spud Chandler, and Red Ruffing while the Cardinals were had their full team, including Musial, Marty Marion, Enos Slaughter, Terry Moore, Mort and Walker Cooper, and Johnny Beazley to name a few. 

26 “Phils Trade Litwhiler, Naylor to Cards for Triplett, 2 Others,” Montreal Gazette,” June 2, 1943: 15. Adams was also off to a very slow start for the Cardinals, batting .091 at the time of the trade.

27 Pollock.

28 Litwhiler had been a National League All-Star in 1942 and played errorless ball in left field for the entire season, while Triplett’s defense was always a little suspect.

29 “Coaker Triplett Rings Bell by Making Grade with Revived Phillies,” Greensboro (North Carolina) News and Record, June 17, 1943: 12.

30 “Coaker Triplett Satisfies Excited Philadelphia Fans,” Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, June 17, 1943: 9; “Coaker Triplett Rings Bell by Making Grade with Revived Phillies.”

31 Pollock.

32 William B. Mead, Even the Browns: The Zany, True Story of Baseball in the Early Forties (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1978), 102; Nash and Zullo, “Sports Hall of Shame,” Elmira (New York) Star-Gazette: 14.

33 It is probable that Triplett was 4-F because of his sciatic nerve issue from playing college football and the fact that one leg was an inch shorter than the other.  He also was married with two children, which would have qualified him for a deferment early in the war. 

34 James D. Szalontai, Teenager on First, Geezer at Bat, 4-F on Deck: Major League Baseball in 1945 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2009), 103.

35 “Triplett to Join Fourth Major League Club Next Spring,” The Sporting News, December 8, 1948: 23.

36 Stone, 30.  Actually, the Phillies finished in seventh place in 1943, ahead of the New York Giants.

37 Although the Bisons finished sixth that year, Triplett, along with teammates Johnny Goryl, Anse Moore, and Chet Laabs were sometimes referred to as Buffalo’s Murderers’ Row.  Cy Kritzer, “Royals Hear Roar of Onrushing Herd,” The Sporting News. July 7, 1948: 23.

38 Pedro Galiana, “Cuba Classic Assured With Venezuel In – Caracas Says Flag Winner Will Play: Triplett, Tired, Is Released,” The Sporting News, February 2, 1949: 24.

39 Stone, 32,

40 But Triplett had the years wrong, claiming that his tryout with the Athletics occurred in 1947, rather than 1949. Stone, 30.

41 Stone.

42 “Coaker Triplett and DeMars Join Bisons,” Buffalo Courier Express, April 5, 1949: 18.  Buffalo trained in Waxahachie because its manager, Paul Richards, was from there.

43 In the league playoffs, Buffalo defeated Jersey City in the first round four games to one before losing the finals to Montreal also four games to one.

44 Cy Kritzer, “Triplett Named Player-Coach Of Baseball Bisons for 1950,” Buffalo News, March 14, 1950: 8.

45 Pierce, 32.

46 Oscar Ruhl, “From the Ruhl Book,” The Sporting News, January 2, 1952: 4.

47 “Seventh Pilot in Six Years,” The Sporting News, October 27, 1954: 18.

48 Bill Westwick, “Coaker Triplett Among Three Joining Ottawa Ball Club,” Ottawa Journal, February 28, 1952: 19.

49 According to Triplett, after a rough landing in Syracuse, he refused to fly anymore and once rode 17 hours on a train to get to Syracuse from Baltimore. Stone, 32.

50 Stan Musial was still an active player but started in left field.  After the first inning, Triplett replaced him, reminiscent of 20 years before. Oscar Kahan, “’42 Birds, Yanks, Rate Salutes at Snappy Reunion,” The Sporting News, July 14, 1962: 29.

51 Bloom; Russell.

52 Ruby Ellis, “Ex-Pro Triplett Will Take. . .  Spring Training in Boone,” Winston-Salem Journal, February 17, 1957: 15.

53 “Carolina’s School Opens Sixth Session, March 8,” The Sporting News, February 10, 1954: 26.

54 Stone, 30.

55 Henry Jenkins, “Sideline Review,” Johnson City (Tennessee) Press, July 11, 1971.

56 He was elected in its second year of existence. 

57 Stone.

58 “Mr. Herman Coaker Triplett, Former Major League Baseball Player,” Watauga Democrat. January 31, 1992: 11A.