How Long It's Been: The Yankees Pulled a Triple Play

Last night, the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1, on an RBI single by Gleyber Torres in the bottom of the 9th inning.

In the top of the 9th, Aroldis Chapman was brought in to pitch, and he let the 1st 2 men get on base: A walk to Yermin Mercedes, with Billy Hamilton pinch-running for him; and a bunt by Leury Garcia, which Chapman tried to handle himself, and couldn't.

All I could think of was the old line from Star Wars: "I've got a bad feeling about this!"

The batter was Andrew Vaughn. He hit a hard shot toward 3rd base. Gio Urshela got it, and stepped on 3rd. 1 out. He threw to 2nd, where Rougned Odor stepped on the bag. 2 outs. Odor threw to 1st, and Luke Voit got it before Vaughn could get to the base. 3 out.

A triple play. I've seen footage of triple plays after the fact before, but this is the 1st time I can ever remember seeing one as it happened, either live or on TV.

It was the 1st one pulled by the Yankees since April 17, 2014. It happened on the horrible carpet of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Yankees ended up beating the Rays 10-2, thanks to home runs by Alfonso Soriano, Brian McCann and Yangervis Solarte.

The triple play came in the bottom of the 2nd. CC Sabathia allowed a leadoff double to Evan Longoria, and then walked Wil Myers. Sean Rodriguez hit a ground ball to 3rd base, where Solarte took it, stepped on 3rd, and threw to 2nd. Brian Roberts took it, stepped on 2nd, and threw to 1st. Scott Sizemore caught the 3rd out.

That was 7 years, 1 month and 4 days before last night's Yankee triple play. How long has that been?

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For one thing, of the 14 Yankees who played in that game, only Brett Gardner, a late defensive replacement, is still playing for them. The only other one still playing in the major leagues is Dellin Betances, with the Mets. (He relieved Sabathia, who pitched 7 innings for the win.) Solarte is still playing, but in the Mexican League. No other Yankee then on the roster is still there, although Adam Warren has left and been brought back.

The Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers have opened new ballparks. The Oakland Raiders have moved to Las Vegas, the St. Louis Rams and the San Diego Chargers have both moved back to Los Angeles, and all of them have built new stadiums. So have the San Francisco 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons. The Vegas Golden Knights began play. They, the Edmonton Oilers, the Sacramento Kings, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Detroit Pistons and Red Wings have opened new arenas.

Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics, and Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians are the only MLB managers still running the same teams they were at the time. Head coaching changes have since come to the Yankees once; the Mets, the New York Rangers, and the New York Islanders twice each; the New York Liberty and the New York Red Bulls 3 times; the New York Jets, the New Jersey Devils and New York City FC 4 times each; the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Nets 5 times, the New York Knicks 6 times.

The San Francisco Giants, the Kansas City Royals (who hadn't done it in 30 years), the Chicago Cubs (who hadn't done it in 108 years), the Houston Astros (who had never done it in 56 years of trying), the Boston Red Sox, the Washington Nationals (who had never done it in 15 years of trying) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (who hadn't done it in 32 years) have won the World Series. The Mets, the Cleveland Indians and the Tampa Bay Rays have won Pennants. The Yankees haven't won either.

The defending World Champions were the Red Sox, the Seattle Seahawks, the Miami Heat and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was, aw, who the hell knows, the title's been split so many ways. The Olympic Games have since been held in Brazil and Korea; the World Cup, in Brail and Russia.

The President of the United States was Barack Obama. The Governor of the State of New York was Andrew Cuomo (that hasn't changed), and the Mayor of the City New York was Bill de Blasio (that hasn't changed, either). The Governor of New Jersey was Chris Christie.

The Prime Minister of Britain was David Cameron. The Pope was the same as now, Francis. There have since been 3 Presidents of the United States, 3 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 1 Pope.

The films Divergent, Muppets Most Wanted, Noah, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Draft Day and Oculus were in theaters. Jimmy Fallon had just become the host of The Tonight Show. Chicago P.D., Bitten, Wahlburgers, Black Sails, Chrisley Knows Best and The 100 had recently debuted on television. Psych, How I Met Your Mother and Being Human had recently aired their last first-run episodes. The Number 1 song in America was "Happy" by Pharrell Williams.

Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.13 would buy now. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that day at 16,408.54. There was no TikTok yet, and Vine has both come and gone.

In the Spring of 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people on board. Russia annexed the Crimea from Ukraine, causing the other 7 members to suspend them from the Group of 8. Islamic fundamentalists kidnapped 276 girls from a school in Nigeria. A Korean ferry sinks, killing 304 people. And, in order to save money, the City of Flint, Michigan changes the source of its water from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the considerably less-regulated Flint River, starting the Flint Water Crisis.

Maya Angelou, and formerly imprisoned boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, and Brazilian soccer legend Hilderaldo Bellini died. Nobody yet particularly famous was born yet, but Clint Frazier, Tyler Wade, Miguel Andujar and Michael King were just 19 years old, and Gleyber Torres was only 17.

April 17, 2014. The Yankees pulled off a triple play. Last night, they did it again, 7 years later.

Does it matter? In 2014, it didn't: They missed the Playoffs. If they make the Playoffs in 2021, that triple play might end up having had something to do with it.