CLEVELAND (AP) -Asdrubal Cabrera even showed venerable Hall of Famer Bob Feller something new.
When the Cleveland Indians' young infielder turned the 14th unassisted triple play in major league history it was something the 89-year-old Feller hadn't seen since he was an Iowa farmboy.
``First one I've seen since Little League,'' Feller said Tuesday of Cabrera's stunning gem in the second game of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
``It was a great play,'' the always outspoken Feller continued, ``but unassisted triple plays are two things: luck and dumb base running.''
Feller went about 80 years between seeing two such plays. Indians infielder Jamey Carroll witnessed two on the highest level in 13 months. He was Colorado's second baseman on April 29, 2007, when Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki turned the rarest feat in the game against the Atlanta Braves.
``That one was a little more like mass chaos,'' Carroll recalled before the Indians played the Oakland Athletics in the first game of a three-game series Tuesday. ``Troy caught a line drive and didn't exactly know which guy to go after. So he ran around tagging everybody.
``These things are so rare, there's fewer of them than perfect games, so for me to be standing next to one guy who did it and in the dugout one year later when another teammate gets one, I feel really fortunate.''
Since 1900, there have been 15 major leaguers to experience the thrill of pitching a perfect game and 14 infielders with an unassisted triple play.
Cabrera, though, may have been the only one to toss the ball he used to make history to the crowd. The 22-year-old said he simply forgot the importance of the memento and flipped it over the dugout as he always does after making an inning-ending out.
An Indians spokesman said the team considers that ball lost, though a dozen others used in Cleveland's 3-0 loss in 10 innings Monday have been authenticated by Major League Baseball and will be auctioned off. One may given to the Baseball Hall of Fame, which has requested Cabrera's glove.
Good luck getting that historic piece of leather, according to Carroll.
``Infielders being who they are, get a little attached to gloves so I doubt if his is going anywhere,'' Carroll said.
The Indians said Cabrera would likely send the cap he wore while making the play to the Hall.
With Toronto's Kevin Mench and Marco Scutaro on first and second after opening the Blue Jays' fifth inning with singles, Cleveland left-hander Cliff Lee went to work against Lyle Overbay.
With the Blue Jays mired in a 27-inning scoreless streak at that point, manager John Gibbons called for a hit-and-run. Mench and Scutaro took off on a 1-0 pitch. Overbay broke his bat in hitting a line drive towards the second-base bag. Cabrera lunged to his right to make the catch, then got to his feet to step on second and tag Scutaro.
In the Cleveland broadcast booth, former Indians outfielder Rick Manning called, ``Triple play, triple play,'' before the ball even got to Cabrera.
``When the runners go and there's nobody out, that's the first thing you think of,'' said Manning, who on Thursday will celebrate the 27th anniversary of catching the final out of Len Barker's perfect game - against the Blue Jays.
Cleveland shortstop Jhonny Peralta doesn't anticipate waiting that long.
``It's my turn tonight,'' Peralta joked. ``I want one, too.''
By unassisted triple play standards, that statement isn't all that far-fetched. The Indians have been involved in six of the 14 made in history.
Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball turned the first one in 1909 and Indians second baseman Bill Wambsganss got the only one in postseason play in the 1920 World Series. The Indians also had unassisted triple plays completed against them in 1923 by Boston first baseman George Burns, 1927 by Detroit first baseman Johnny Neun and in 1968 by Washington shortstop Ron Hansen.
