September 22, 2026
… this column exists for only one purpose and that is to answer your questions on Negro League baseball history. To that end, I need your help … if you are reading this column and enjoy it and want it to continue and you don’t already know everything about Negro League history … then please submit a question on any aspect of Negro League history. Your questions are the lifeblood of Shadow Ball—they shape where we go next.
Nobody asked me but …here is a list of all Major League players that his four triples in one game:
- George Strief, Philadelphia Athletics, American Association, on June 25, 1885,against the Brooklyn Grays at Washington Park, Brooklyn, NY
- Bill Joyce, New York Giants,National League, on May 18, 1897,against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Exposition Park, Pittsburgh, PA.
- Rap Dixon, Baltimore Black Sox, Negro National League I, on Augus6, 1930,against the Birmingham black Barons at Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL
Strief and Joyce had long been the only two Major League players to achieve this feat of four triples in one Major League game. However, on December 16, 2020,Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that “Major League Baseball was correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history by officially designating seven specific Negro Leagues as ‘Major League’.”One of those seven leagues was the Negro National League I (1920-1931). Making that August 6th game officially a Major League game. Overnight two four triple games became three. The August 7th edition of the Montgomery Advertiser covered the four triple game and noted that feat. No box score has been found so the statistics will not enter into the record book, but the event cannot be excluded.
Major League baseball is just completing its 151st season and only those three players have hit four triples in one game.
- There have only been about sixty instances of Major League players striking three triples in one game only three of them resulting in a 4th three bagger.
- Of those sixty, 12 were by Hall of Famers: Sam Crawford, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Goose Goslin, Heinie Manush, Jim Bottomley, Earle Combs, Charlie Gehringer, Joe DiMaggio, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, and Ernie Banks.
- Only one four triple event – the one in Montgomery – occurred in the 20th century. Only one in the past 129 years.
- Rap Dixon, the only Major League player with four triples in one game since 1897 has an inordinate amount of “unicornian legends.”In addition to the four triples game, he achieved a potential Major League record with 14 consecutive hits in 1929, those hits were part of another potential “modern” Major League record 16 consecutive reaches, in 1930 he hit the first homerun by an African-American in Yankee Stadium, in 1933 hestole the first base in the first Negro League All Star game, in 1934 he was the first professional manager for future Hall of Famer Leon Day, that same year he was offered straight up for Cool Papa Bell, in 1942.
Last Week’s Shadow Ball Significa Question of the Week
Q: In 1937, Monte Irvin joined the Newark Eagles under an assumed name. What was it? In 1942, Larry Doby joined the Newark Eagles under an assumed name — what was it? No one submitted either answer. Since no one has yet submitted the correct answers, I am going to let this question ride for another couple of weeks.
This Week’s Shadow Ball Significa Questions of the Week
In 1937, Monte Irvin joined the Newark Eagles under an assumed name — what was it? In 1942, Larry Doby joined the Newark Eagles under an assumed name — what was it?
Ted Knorr is a Negro League baseball historian, longtime member of the Society for American Baseball Research’s Negro League Committee, and founder of the Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference and several local Negro League Commemorative Nights in central Pennsylvania.
Beyond his research and organizing work, Ted is frequently invited to speak at sporting events, community programs, family gatherings, and educational forums, where he brings Negro League history to life. His deep knowledge of the players, teams, and cultural impact of Black baseball has made him a trusted voice for audiences who want to understand the legacy and significance of the Negro Leagues.
Send questions or Significa answers to shadowball@truthseekersjournal.com or Shadow Ball, 3904 N Druid Hills Rd, Ste 179, Decatur, GA 30033.
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