Walter Carlisle (6 July 1881 – 27 May 1945) was an English-born

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

in the United States in the early 20th century. He played briefly in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

during the 1908 season. Nicknamed "Rosy", he was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. Carlisle is best remembered for successfully executing an

unassisted triple play In baseball, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three outs by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in Major League Baseball (MLB) under ...

as an outfielder in 1911.

Biography

Carlisle was born in

Yorkshire, England Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, and played baseball professionally in the United States during 1902–1918, 1920, and 1923. He played in over 2200 minor league games; records for some of his minor-league seasons are missing or incomplete. For seasons with records available, he had a career-high

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .304 in 150 games for the Lincoln Tigers of the Western League in 1916. Carlisle is credited with playing in three major league games, all in May 1908 as a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

for the

. He registered one hit in 10

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, ''Striking Out'' stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is ...

four times; he also had one

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

. While playing in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

for the

Vernon Tigers The Vernon Tigers were a Minor League Baseball team that represented Vernon, California in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) from 1909 to 1925. The team won back-to-back PCL pennants in 1919 and 1920. The Tigers, together with the Sacramento Solons ...

, Carlisle executed an

on July 19, 1911, against

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

. With the score tied at 3–3 in the sixth inning, and runners on

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

bases, Carlisle made a diving catch of a short fly batted by Roy Akin, stepped on second to retire Charley Moore, and tagged George Metzger coming from first. The Tigers won the game, 5–4. With his rare feat, Carlisle entered the record books as the first, and to date only,

known to have made an unassisted triple play in professional baseball. According to ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'', Carlisle had at one point been a circus acrobat, which may have helped account for the bit of extra athleticism he showed in making the tumbling play. During the following season, Akin pulled off his own unassisted triple play, as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. Carlisle died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, at the age of 63.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlisle, Walter 1881 births 1945 deaths Sportspeople from Yorkshire English baseball players Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball players from England Boston Red Sox players Crookston Crooks players Joplin Miners players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Lincoln Tigers players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Portland Beavers players Rock Island Islanders players Sioux City Packers players Venice Tigers players Vernon Tigers players English emigrants to the United States

Biography

See also

Notes

References

External links