I am a solid two for two this year when it comes to seeing quality Red Sox games. After witnessing the completely improbable on Mother’s Day, last night I got a chance to see Kevin Youkilis leg out an inside the park home run. He ran pretty fast despite the difficult wind resistance caused by that pile of pubes he has glued to his face, but I digress. Needless to say, the inside the park home run is one of the rarer plays in baseball, as is the triple play…and as it happens, the Sox missed turning one of those last night also, by about 18 inches and 1 second, when Mike Lowell fielded a soft grounder at third, with no outs and men on 1st and 2nd.

My question then is this:

Has there ever been a triple play AND an inside the park home run by the same team in the same game? If anyone knows, or can find the answer to this, leave it in the comments.

Another question that came up last night was “how many baseballs do they go through in a MLB game?“. Looks like around 72. And lastly, the other question that followed, was “What was the highest number of foul balls ever in one at bat?“. This one was tougher to track down, and the “record” seems to be unofficial.

A far more humble achievement, yet just as remarkable in its way, was turned in by Hall of Fame shortstop Luke Appling, who twice led the A.L. in batting during his 21-year (1930-1950) career with the Chicago White Sox.

Appling probably was the most accomplished batter ever at fouling off pitches. Official record or not, he once fouled off 24 pitches in one plate trip against the Yankees in a 1940 game. The Sox were trailing, 8-2, at the time.

More here.

************UPDATE************

Ok, this is why baseball stats are great, and why the internet is unbelievable. With some research, we found a list of every triple play ever turned in the major leagues. Unfortunately, no such list could be found for inside the park home runs, so we relied on a list of inside the park grand-slams, which frankly is a much more amazing when combined with the triple play anyways.

After sorting through the dates, and running a quick script to find cross-over, we got a match.

8/30/1921

Tony Boeckel hits an inside the park GRAND SLAM for the Boston Braves against the Cincinnati Reds. The Braves also turn a 4-6*-3*-5-2* triple play.

The kicker? It was a double-header, and while the grand slam was in game one, the triple play came in game two.

The hunt continues, and a list of every inside-the-park home run ever hit would give us the answers we need!