The Phillies turned a rare triple play that hadn’t been seen in MLB since 1929

You never know what you’ll see at a baseball game — or what kind of historical significance might be associated with a certain play.

For example, the Phillies were playing the Tigers in Detroit on Monday night when Philly turned a triple play. That’s cool enough on its own, but the manner in which the Phillies got the three outs hadn’t been seen in Major League Baseball since 1929.

That’s 95 years ago.

On Monday in Comerica Park, the Tigers’ Carson Kelly was on first base and Zach McKinstry was on third. Matt Vierling hit a looper back to pitcher Aaron Nola, who snagged the ball and threw to first to double off Kelly.

For some reason, McKinstry wandered too far from third base and was tripled off.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson, the former Kansas Jayhawks player, said he didn’t know what was happening at first.

“How about that?” Thomson told MLB.com. “It’s funny because from where we sit, there’s a glare on that left-field fence-wall. You can’t see the ball coming off the bat, so I had no idea where the ball went. And all of a sudden, they were throwing it around, and then they were running off the field.”

There’s one other cool element to this history story. That triple play in 1929 was also turned in Detroit, according to the SABR database.

The Tigers did it against the Boston Red Sox when batter Russ Scarritt lined back to pitcher Josh Billings. He threw to first baseman Dale Alexander (forcing Bill Narlesky) and the throw to third baseman Marty McManus forced pitcher Bill Bayne, who had tripled to open the inning.

In the ninth inning of the 1929 game, Scarritt lined to Alexander, who turned an unassisted double play by stepping on the bag to get Narlesky again.

The triple play and unassisted double play didn’t stop Boston, which won 15-8 at Navin Field thanks to a 10-run sixth inning.