July 19, 1909: Neal Ball’s unassisted triple play and homer propel Cy Young to win over former team

The first game of the doubleheader between the Cleveland Naps and Boston Red Sox on July 19, 1909, featured a matchup of two pitchers who were swapped in a multiplayer trade before the season, but it was little-known Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball who stole the show.

When Cy Young’s longtime batterymate Lou Criger was traded from Boston to the St. Louis Browns in December of 1908, it was rumored that Young also would likely be traded. Despite denials from the Red Sox front office, the trade took place two months later, disappointing many Boston fans.1 Young, the major-league record holder in wins,2 went to Cleveland for pitchers Charlie Chech and Jack Ryan plus $12,500 on February 16, 1909.

Young, who turned 42 before the 1909 season began, was coming off eight strong seasons with Boston in which he averaged 24 wins with an ERA of 2.00.3 The trade returned him to Cleveland, where his career had begun 19 years earlier with the National League’s Cleveland Spiders and where he had earned 240 wins in nine seasons.

Chech, 31, had spent two seasons with the Cincinnati Reds before joining Cleveland in August of 1907. He had pitched well for the Naps in 1908, posting an 11-7 record with an ERA of 1.74 in 27 games. Ryan, 24, had debuted in the majors with eight appearances for the Naps in the second half of 1908.

The trade angered many Boston fans. According to the Boston Post, 99 percent of Red Sox followers  thought the trade had weakened the team.4 Boston team President John I. Taylor defended the move, saying that Young was “discontented” and wanted to be traded.5 Young contradicted Taylor, stating in a letter to fans published in the Boston Post, “I am getting along in years for a baseball player, but still feel able to pitch many a game. … Had hoped to finish my career in Boston.”6

Young’s first start against his former club was an 8-1 loss in Cleveland on May 13, but his return to Boston was more successful, a 3-1 Naps win on June 11.

On July 19 Young faced the Red Sox for the third time. Through 20 starts with Cleveland, he had a 13-7 record and had pitched all but one inning of those games.

His pitching opponent was Chech, who was making his 13th start and 17th appearance for Boston. Chech entered with a 7-4 record, including a 3-2 win over the Naps on May 12.

Over 10,000 fans attended the Monday afternoon doubleheader at League Park in Cleveland.7 They were hoping to see the fourth-place Naps sweep the twin bill to pull even in the standings with the Red Sox, who were currently in second place, five games behind the Detroit Tigers.

Batting eighth for Cleveland in the opener was the 28-year-old Ball, who had been purchased from the New York Highlanders on May 18. He made his first appearance for the Naps on June 2, when starting shortstop Terry Turner was out with a stiff neck.8 After Turner returned to the lineup, he was injured in a collision with Nap Lajoie, and Ball returned to shortstop. He remained there for most of the remaining schedule.9 

The Naps opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when a leadoff walk to Elmer Flick, a passed ball, and a single by George Stovall put Flick on third with no outs. One out later, Bill Hinchman brought home Flick when center fielder Tris Speaker muffed Hinchman’s fly ball. Right fielder Doc Gessler picked it up and forced Stovall at second, saving Speaker from being charged with an error, but the Naps had a 1-0 lead.10

Young had pitched a scoreless first, but the Red Sox threatened in the top of the second. Shortstop Heinie Wagner started the inning with a base hit to center. Jake Stahl beat out a bunt that was just out of the reach of Young, moving Wagner to second and bringing up Amby McConnell.11

With a count of 3-and-2, both runners were off with the pitch as McConnell hit a “sizzling drive”12 over Young’s head. Ball, moving to his left, leaped and caught the ball. Years later when recounting the play, Ball would say, “I jumped, and the darn thing hit my glove and stuck. The rest was easy.”13

Ball stepped on second to retire Wagner. At the same time, Stahl, running from first, realized what was happening and stopped, but before he could retreat, Ball tagged him for the third out.14

Kathia Miller, Ball’s great-niece, recounted in Jim McMurray’s SABR biography of Ball that he received a tremendous ovation, with hats being thrown on the field,15 but Ball simply put his glove down and headed to the dugout. Young asked, “Where are you going, Neal?” and Ball replied, “That’s three outs.”16

Having just turned the first unassisted triple play in major-league history,17 Ball came to bat in the bottom of the inning with two outs and the bases empty. He drove the first pitch over Speaker’s head in center and circled the bases for the first home run of his career – and the only one he hit in 1909.18

The Naps opened up a 4-0 lead when they scored two more in the third. Flick was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. After Harry Niles robbed Stovall of extra bases on a catch in deep left, Ted Easterly singled. Hinchman and Joe Birmingham followed with run-scoring singles, driving in Flick and Easterly.19

Chech was replaced by Ray Collins in the fourth.20 The 22-year-old lefty was making his major-league debut, and Ball greeted him with a leadoff double to left. Collins then settled down and pitched five strong innings.21 In an article the next day, Paul Shannon of the Boston Post predicted that Collins would be one of Boston’s best pitchers.22

Young held Boston scoreless until the seventh. Ball, who had bailed out Young with his defense in the second, made a throwing error on Stahl’s leadoff infield hit, and Stahl got to second. First baseman Stovall fumbled a bunt by McConnell, putting runners on the corners. Pat Donahue reached on a fielder’s choice as Stahl scored to cut the lead to 4-1.23

In the eighth, Collins’s defense let him down. After a leadoff single by Hinchman, George Perring reached base when the throw on his attempted sacrifice was dropped at first base by Stahl. Bill Bradley’s fly was lost in the sun, allowing Hinchman to score. With two outs, Bradley scored on Gessler’s drop of Ball’s fly to right, extending the lead to five runs.24

Young finished off the Red Sox in the ninth, and the Naps pulled to within one game of Boston with their 6-1 victory.

For Young it was his 14th win and 20th complete game of the season, and the 492nd win of his distinguished career.25 Chech was charged with the loss, dropping his record to 7-5 in what turned out to be his final major-league appearance.26

It was a remarkable game for Ball both offensively and defensively. In addition to his unassisted triple play, home run, and double, he was credited with nine putouts and two assists.

He continued his offensive production in the second game with two more hits, but he also made two of the team’s six errors. Boston earned a split with an 8-2 victory.

To honor Ball for his unassisted triple play, the Cleveland News took up a collection that received over $100 in donations, including $20 from his teammates and $15 from the Red Sox.27  A week after the game, American League President Ban Johnson came to Cleveland and presented a gold medal to the shortstop to commemorate his play.28

Ball finished the 1909 season with a .252 batting average. The next year he was a backup, playing second, shortstop, and third, as well as a few games in the outfield. In 1911 he saw regular action, starting 113 games, mostly at second.

On June 25, 1912, Ball was purchased by the Red Sox and went back to being a bench player. He finished his seven-year major-league career in 1913 at the age of 32 with a .250 lifetime batting average.

The Red Sox finished 1909 in third place, 9½ games behind the Tigers. For the Naps it was a forgettable season as they finished sixth, 27½ games back, but Ball made July 19 a day to remember.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Kevin Larkin and copy-edited by Len Levin. The author is grateful for suggestions from John Fredland, Bill Nowlin, and Laura Peebles.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score. The Boston Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer were used for play-by-play information.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE190907191.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1909/B07191CLE1909.htm

Notes

1 “Old ‘Cy’ Sold to Lajoie,” Boston Post, February 17, 1909: 1.

2 Young finished with 511 career wins, 94 more than runner-up Walter Johnson.

3 For the first seven of those seasons, the team was generally known as the Boston Americans. It adopted the name Red Sox only before the 1908 season.

4 “What Fandom Says About Young’s Sale,” Boston Post, February 18, 1909: 10.

5 “Taylor Is in Centre of Stage,” Boston Post, February 18, 1909: 10.

6 Denton T. Young, “Cy Young’s Message to Boston Fans,” Boston Post, February 18, 1909: 10.

7 The Atlanta Georgian and News reported 11,000 in attendance.

8 Ed Bang, “Neal Ball’s History with Naps Reads Like That of Real Player,” Atlanta Georgian and News, July 1, 1909: 22.

9 Turner was in and out of the lineup with various injuries and played second base through July 16, his last appearance of the season. Ball played shortstop in every game from June 15 through September 11, then was replaced in the lineup by rookie Dolly Stark for the season’s final three weeks.

10 “Chech Driven to Bench,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20, 1909: 6.

11 Ed Bang, “Neal Ball Made First Unassisted Triple Play of Big League History,” Atlanta Georgian and News, July 22, 1909: 28.

12 Bang, “Neal Ball Made First Unassisted Triple Play of Big League History.”

13 Jim McMurray, “Neal Ball,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/neal-ball/, accessed May 27, 2020.

14 Bang, “Neal Ball Made First Unassisted Triple Play of Big League History.”

15 An article in the Tacoma Times corroborates the enthusiastic crowd response including “tearing hats to pieces,” but there is no mention of hats being thrown on the field. “Neal Ball’s Unassisted Triple Play Makes Big League History,” Tacoma Times, July 27, 1909: 2.

16 McMurray. At the time, players typically left their gloves on the field, rather than bringing them back to the bench.

17 Major League Baseball does not recognize the triple play that occurred on May 8, 1878, as unassisted. Major league official historian John Thorn believes Paul Hines of the Providence Grays should be credited with an unassisted triple play. According to the Boston Post, there had been eight other unassisted triple plays outside of the major leagues. “Records of 1909 Show Season to Have Been Greatest Year in the History of Our Favorite National Game,” Boston Sunday Post, December 26, 1909: 16.

18 One opinion was that the ball would have been caught if not for Speaker’s “lame leg.” Paul H. Shannon, “Neal Ball Kills Hopes in First,” Boston Post, July 20, 1909: 8. Two other players have hit a homer in their next at-bat after turning an unassisted triple play. John Valentin, playing for the Boston Red Sox against the Seattle Mariners, led off the next half-inning with a home run on July 8, 1994, and Randy Velarde of the Oakland Athletics turned his unassisted triple play in the sixth inning and then hit a home run in his next at-bat in the ninth inning on May 29, 2000, against the New York Yankees.

19 Henry P. Edwards, “Cleveland and Boston Break Even in the First Local Double Header,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 20, 1909: 6.

20 According to Collins’s SABR biography by Tom Simon, Collins had an outstanding baseball career at the University of Vermont. After his last season there, eight of the 16 major-league clubs wanted to sign him. He chose the Red Sox and played seven seasons in Boston before retiring with a record of 84-62 and an ERA of 2.51. Tom Simon, “Ray Collins,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ray-collins/, accessed January 23, 2023.

21 Edwards, “Cleveland and Boston Break Even.”

22 Shannon, “Neal Ball Kills Hopes in First.”

23 Edwards.

24 Edwards.

25 Young finished the 1909 season with a 19-15 record. He was released in August of 1911 and returned to Boston. This time he signed with the Boston Rustlers of the National League. Young started 11 games for the Rustlers with a 4-5 record that included two shutouts. He retired at the end of that season at the age of 44 with 511 career victories, by far the most in major-league history.

26 The Red Sox traded him – and Ryan – to the St. Paul Saints of the American Association on July 26; he pitched in the minors through 1919.

27 “Neal Ball to Get Money for His Play,” Atlanta Constitution, July 24, 1909: 4.

28 “Modest Neal Ball,” The Sporting News, July 29, 1909: 5.