Update: 8-31-2024
Welcome new subscribers.
In Case you missed it!
For those who like the lost stories, last Monday’s Backroads and Ballplayers Weekly featured two Arkansas-born pitchers who had memorable encounters with Babe Ruth. LINK
By the numbers:
8-6-2-3-2-4-5-4
So, on August 28, the Washington Nationals managed to “hit into” or “run into” a historic double play. In case you missed it, this is what an 8-6-2-3-2-4-5-4 double play looks like. Link
5-6-4-3
His name was Arvel Odell Hale, but he liked the nickname “Bad News.” In case you missed the story of Bad News Hale, a pretty good ballplayer from El Dorado, who was part of an unusual triple play, his story is retold below.
Hale’s 5-6-4-3” walk-off triple play represents one of the most unusual plays in baseball history.
“Bad News”
Arvel Odell Hale was born in Hosston, Louisiana, on August 10, 1908, but, after coming to El Dorado during the oil boom, he called south Arkansas his home for the remainder of his life. He was discovered there by the Alexandria Reds of the Cotton States League in 1929 while playing semipro baseball for a refinery team.
Hale had several nicknames. His Native American ancestry led to “Chief,” a title given to almost every pro baseball player who claimed an indigenous heritage. On his death certificate his nickname is listed as “Bing,” and in his youth, his family called him “Sammy.” It might logically be assumed he preferred “Bad News,” the nickname he listed on his Baseball Hall of Fame information card.
After four excellent minor league seasons and a 25-game trial with the Cleveland Indians, Hale reached the major leagues for good in 1933. For the next seven years, Odell Hale was not only one of the Indians’ most versatile infielders but also one of the top hitters in the American League. From 1933 until an injury-ridden year in 1940 reduced his effectiveness, Hale averaged a cumulative .294 and 70 RBIs per year, including two consecutive years when he batted in 101 runs.
Bad News Hale was a good player, but his most publicized moment in baseball history came from a line drive he misplayed at third base. On September 7, 1935, Hale started a triple play. That, in itself, is not historic. According to Baseball Almanac, as of the 2023 season, there have been 735 triple plays, but only one like the bizarre fielding anomaly that Hale started that Saturday in 1935.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, Joe Cronin of the Red Sox hit a screaming line drive toward third base. Hale did not react in time to get his glove up to make the play; consequently, the ball ricocheted off his forehead. Seeing the miscue, both base runners took off before they realized the deflected ball had been caught by shortstop Bill Knickerbocker. The startled shortstop threw to second base, where Roy Hughes stepped on the bag and threw to first baseman Hal Trosky for outs two and three that completed the triple play.
Although some legal version of the shift may eventually duplicate the unusual event, the triple play started by Odell Hale that day remains the only 5-6-4-3 triple play in baseball history. To add to the drama, the play occurred in the ninth inning to end the game with a walk-off triple play. Hale batted .304 in 1935, with 101 RBIs, but the day he started a triple play with his forehead remains his most enduring moment.
After his retirement in 1942, Hale returned to El Dorado where he worked for the Monsanto Chemical Company until his second retirement. Odell Hale died in his adopted hometown in 1980. He was elected to the Union County Hall of Fame in