Jackson: The rarity of a pitcher hitting a triple

From SABR member Frank Jackson at The Hardball Times on October 11, 2018:

On Wednesday, September 12, I was eating lunch in a local sports bar while watching the Cardinals take on the Pirates. The Cardinals had a rookie pitcher named Daniel Poncedeleon on the mound. The last name struck my fancy for obvious reasons. I could imagine the comments that name might inspire:

A pot-bellied coach might say, “Hey, Dan, I ain’t getting any younger, if you ever find that fountain, let me know.”

Another wit might say, “Dan, is is true you were 90 years old before you found that fountain?”

On Poncedeleon’s first road trip to Miami, a local wag might holler “Hey, Dan, at least now you’re in the right state.”

While my attention was divided between potential witticisms and my loaded baked potato, I looked up at the TV screen and noticed Poncedeleon running out a triple, his first major league hit. Of course, Poncedeleon isn’t the first pitcher to hit a triple, but I hadn’t witnessed it, in person or in the media, all year. In fact, I couldn’t remember when, if ever, I’d seen it before. When I started following baseball, the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, so I have had plenty of opportunities to see a pitcher hit a triple. Whether I had seen it before it not, it surely was something you don’t see every day. So that set me to wondering…

Just how rare is it for a pitcher to hit a three-bagger?

Read the full article here: https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/extra-extra-read-all-about-it-pitcher-hits...