the worst you can do

when i was (assistant) coaching travel ball (and even before that when i would just talk with my son), i would say the worst thing you could do at the plate was to hit in to a triple play. however, the likelihood of that happening was nil. same went for hitting in to a double play (at least at the lower age groups of travel ball), which is the second worst thing you can do at the plate. my point was that to strike out looking was really the worst thing they could do at the plate. 

i wanted the players to give themselves a chance to put the ball in play, and most importantly have the confidence to swing the bat. sure they would strike out sometimes. and sometimes they would strike out looking. but you might be surprised how many kids were so worried about failing that they would fail to swing the bat.  it's different at the big league level, although i would still contend that you can't worry about hitting in to double or triple plays to the point where you are not aggressive in the strike zone.  

having said that, clarence mitchell should have kept the bat on his shoulder.

as the 1991 conlon collection card notes, mitchell was the batter involved in an unassisted triple play on october 10, 1920. in the world series, no less!

in fact, not only did mitchell hit in to a triple play shortly after relieving dodger (really, robin) starter burleigh grimes, he hit in to a double play in his next at bat! that's five outs he created in two at bats. pretty bad as far as batter outcomes go. eight years later, mitchell appeared in another world series game, this time as a cardinal against the yankees. he came to bat with a runner on first and one out in his first plate appaearance, but only popped out, likely to the relief of his teammates and manager.