George Burns, 1B

The Setup:

Only about 2500 fans were in attendance on a cold September day in Boston. In the top of the second inning, Cleveland trailed Boston 2-0. Riggs Stephenson singled off of Jack Quinn to lead off the inning. Rube Lutzke walked, moving Stephenson to second, with Frank Brower coming to the plate.

The Play:

Frank Brower hit a line drive that according to James O’Leary at the Boston Globe, looked like a sure base hit. The Indians first baseman, George Burns, snared the line drive, “fifteen feet from first base as Lutzke shot by him on his way to second.” Burns tagged the runner who stopped to try to return to first base. Then Burns ran to second beating Stephenson to the base for the third out.

The Rest of the Story:

In 1920 George Burns played for Cleveland and was on the bench in the fifth game of the World Series when his teammate, Bill Wambsganss, turned his unassisted triple play. After the 1921 season he was traded from Cleveland to Boston, and it was in his second season with Boston that he turned his triple play against his former team.

During the winter following his triple play, George Burns was traded back to the Cleveland Indians in a seven-player trade. Ironically, one of the seven players involved was Bill Wambsganss, so the trade swapped two players with unassisted triple plays.

After being traded back to Cleveland, Burns was installed in the lineup as a starter replacing Frank Brower at first base. Brower was the batter that hit into Burns’ triple play.

Burns was the first of only two first baseman to ever turn an unassisted triple play.