The ballet of the double play … a beautiful thing.
Photo by roy.luck 
If you follow Baseball Roundtable – and I hope you do – you know that I am particularly appreciative of the on-the-diamond ballet of a 4-6-3 or 6-4-3 double play. With that in mind, I wish I had been in the Astrodome back on this day (May 4) in 1969 – when the Astros turned a record seven double plays, while topping the Giants 3-1. Seven twin-killings by a team in nine-innings, that’s a record that still stands. Here’s how it went:
- In the top of the first inning, the Giants had one run in, the bases loaded and just one out – and had knocked Houston starter Denny Lemaster out of the game – when reliever Dooley Womack (love that name) got Giants’ left fielder Jim Ray Hart to ground into a 6-4-3 (SS Denis Menke to 2B Joe Morgan to 1B Curt Belfary) double play to end the inning.
- In the third inning, with the game tied 1-1, the Giants threatened again, with runners on first and second with one out; when Womack induced a groundball (C Dick Dietz batting) 5-4-3 (3B Doug Rader to 2B Menke to 1B Blefary) twin killing – again ending the inning.
- The top of the fourth started with a Jim Ray Hart single off Womack, followed by the Astros’ second groundball 6-4-3 double play. The inning ended when the next Giants’ hitter (SS Hal Lanier) grounded out second-to-first.
- The top of the fifth looked a lot like the top of the fourth – with one less exchange of the baseball. Giants’ P Juan Marichal opened with a single off Womack. Next up was Giants’ RF Frank Johnson, who grounded into a second-to-first twin killing. The inning ended when the next batter, 2B Ron Hunt, grounded out third to first.
- In the top of the seventh (after a 1-2-3 sixth by Womack), the Giants (now down 2-1) put two men on with one out – and the Astros brought Fred Gladding to the mound. The Giants let Marichal hit for himself –and he grounded into a 6-3 double play to end the threat.
- In the top of the eighth, now down 3-1, the Giants opened with a single (off Gladding) by pinch hitter Bob Burda. Gladding then got Ron Hunt to ground into a tougher 3-6 double play, before getting CF Willie Mays on a 6-3 groundout.
- Finally, in the ninth, with Giants’ runners on first and third and one out, Gladding appropriately ended the game by getting 3B Bobby Etheridge to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
A couple of notes: 1) Despite only four strikeouts by Giants’ batters, Houston outfielders recorded only one put out on the afternoon – which included 18 infield assists by the Astros. 2) The Giants turned one double play in the game, when 1B Jack Haittt speared a line drive by the Astros’ Gary Geiger and doubled Curt Blefary off first.
Lots of Multiple Killings – and Still No Wins
The record for turning double plays in game by both teams is ten – in a 6-4 Red Sox home win over the Twins on July 18, 1990. Six of those were turned by the Twins – four by the Red Sox. That double play record came just one game after the Twins became the first (and still only) team to turn two triple plays in a single game. On July 17, the Twins turned a pair of groundball, around-the-horn (3B Gary Gaetti to 2B Al Newman to 1B Kent Hrbek) triple plays in a 1-0 loss to the Red Sox.
A couple of other bits of twin-killing trivia.
- The 1990 Red Sox hold the team record for GIDP in a season at 174, as well as a share of the AL single-game record six (which has been done 14 times in the AL, four by Boston). The only other AL team to achieve this negative record more than once is the Blue jay (twice).
- Albert Pujols (still active) holds the individual career GIDP record at 365); while the single season record belongs to the Red Sox’ Jim Rice at 36.
- Miguel Tejada holds the record for the most seasons leading his league in GIDP at five (2004-05-06 with the Orioles and 2008-09 with the Astros).
- The record for most GIDP in a game is four, shared by the Tigers’ Goose Goslin, Tigers’ Victor Martinez and Mets’ Joe Torre.
ONE OF EACH PERSUASION
Only three MLB batters have played in more than 150 games in a season without grounding into a double play – one lefty (Dick McAuliffe, Tigers – 1968); one righty (Craig Biggio, Astros – 1997); and one switch-hitter (Augie Galan, Cubs – 1968).
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; MLB.com
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Member: Society for American Baseball Research; The Baseball ReliquAry; The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
