What happened to the triple? If you believe some of the best minds in the game, it's just one more casualty of long-ball mania. "Hitters today are so strong," says Braves hitting coach Merv Rettenmund. "When they get the ball up, it doesn't land on the warning track, it lands in the upper deck."

Baseball has become such a power trip that the triple-still the most beautiful play in the game-is on the verge of extinction. In 1901, an average of 1.12 triples were hit per game. Last season, that number was .39. In 1912, Chief Wilson set the major league record with 36 triples. The mark is safe. Players today have bigger swings, says Twins coach Paul Molitor, and they're slower getting out of the box: "You get most of your triples between home plate and first." Molitor, with 114 career triples, should know.

Twins manager Tom Kelly links the decline in triples to teams protecting against the power game: "Every centerfielder in our league-except Chris Singleton of the White Sox-plays deep. We're all trying to stay away from the big inning. Three singles in front of an outfielder might only mean giving up one run. But it's hard to hit a ball over an outfielder's head when he's so deep."

In the early 1900s, ballparks were enormous, the ball was dead and outfielders played shallow (CF Tris Speaker had six unassisted double plays in his career). Anything hit over an outfielder's head rolled forever. Today's ballparks are small, with few secret hiding places for a ball to get lost. Of the top 50 triples leaders, only two played after 1950-Roberto Clemente and Stan Musial. Mark McGwire, today's Babe Ruth, has six career triples. Ruth had 136. Tim Raines has the most of any active player (112).

The triple's last hope: Twins SS Cristian Guzman. In 2000, he hit 20, as many as the Mets. As of April 29, he had already hit five. The Metrodome's bouncy turf helps, as do bullpens in play down the lines and the wild caroms the ball takes when it hits the stands jutting out behind third and first. It also helps that Guzman can fly.

"Every time I hit a ball," he says, "I'm thinking triple." He might be the only one.

This article appears in the May 14 issue of ESPN The Magazine.