Glenn Wright, SS

The Setup:

The St. Louis Cardinals trailed Pittsburgh 9-4 late in the game, before scoring six runs in the eighth inning to take a 10-9 lead. They looked to increase their lead in the ninth inning, when Vic Aldridge came into the game to pitch for the Pirates and walked the first two batters, Jimmy Cooney and Rogers Hornsby, and then had to contend with Jim Bottomley coming to the plate.

The Play:

Jim Bottomley hit a line drive up the middle that the shortstop, Glenn Wright, caught. Cooney was headed to third and was put out easily when Wright stepped on second base. He then tagged Rogers Hornsby who had stopped short of second base and apparently made little or no attempt to return to first.

The Rest of the Story:

Glenn Wright was in his second season in the Major League playing for Pittsburgh. The previous year as a rookie, he had had many conversations with Rogers Hornsby about hitting. These occurred when the Pirates stayed at the Chase Hotel when coming to St. Louis. Hornsby had a residence at the hotel. Wright credits Hornsby with helping him a great deal with his hitting. When Wright tagged out Hornsby for the third out, Hornsby said to him, “Nice work, kid.”

Wright claimed that after stepping on second base he was getting ready to throw the ball to first base, but Hornsby was standing in the way, so he tagged him. Wright also noted that he wasn’t the most accurate thrower, so it was better that he could just tag him. (Wright’s nickname was Buckshot because his throws went all over the place.)

Jimmy Cooney, who was the second out in the play, would get traded from St. Louis to the Chicago Cubs following the season. In his second season with the Cubs, he would turn his own unassisted triple play against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cooney is the only player to be involved in two unassisted triple plays in official games.