An old friend asked me over the weekend if Albert Pujols set a record for consecutive games without a triple, or if he set it for the end of a career. A couple of days testing queries resulted in this spreadsheet, which list every player with a tripleless streak of at least 300 games, all streaks starting from the 1920 season on.

Pujols did not set a record in either case. His streak of 977 games without a triple is the fourth longest in the time span, and the second longest to end a career. Mark McGwire holds the record with 1389 games. He tripled on June 20, 1988, and didn’t triple again until August 2, 1999. Paul Konerko is second with 1215 games. Third, and owning the longest streak to end a career is Victor Martinez at 981 games. Pujols is fourth at 977 games. Note that I only counted games in which the hitters earned a plate appearance. I threw out games in which they did not come to the plate.

If you look at the spreadsheet, the First Triple and Last Triple columns are dates with a double header indicator at the end. (0 for a single game, 1 for the first of two, 2 for the second of two.) If the Last Triple date starts with a 2200, that indicates the streak ended with the player’s career or the streak is still active. For example, Josh Donaldson is climbing the ladder at 742 games, ranking 11th all time. If the indicator ends in a 99, that’s was the start of the player’s career.

Note that among the streaks of at least 700 games, almost all of them started in the 21st century. It’s not until the streak get below 600 that you start seeing players from the pre-division era. I am fairly confident that the top 20 is really the top 20 of all time. Triples have been in constant decline, so the streaks keep growing.

I hope you enjoy pursing the list. You’ll find all three Molina brothers and both Giambi brothers. Cecil and Prince Fielder make the list. I was surprised to see Aaron Judge with a current streak of 440, because Judge strikes me a fast. John Olerud, a great doubles hitter, didn’t seem to try to stretch those hits.