Relive the wacky chaos and fashion nightmare of Randy Velarde's unassisted triple play

Life is randomness and chaos, with our simple animal brains trying to make some sense of order in it. It's probably why sports exist -- take the weirdness of existence, add a ball and a handful of rules, and boom, you've got something that resembles sense, of humans being in control. 

The unassisted triple play is the best example of that. For it is the purest expression of randomness -- the ball has to be hit just right to a fielder positioned just so with the runners in just the right spot, unable to avoid the tag or get back to the bag.

At the same time, the fielder who makes the play gets to feel the power of having single-handedly shown his dominion over the elements: He is here, he is corporeal and the heavens shall quake in his presence -- even if it is all down to luck. 

Just such a thing happened 15 years ago today when Randy Velarde caught a liner off the bat of Shane Spencer, tagging out Jorge Posada before stepping on the bag to get Tino Martinez. 

Even then, there's a look of shock and confusion on the player's face as, like a small child checking with a parent to make sure it's OK to eat that cookie, the player checks with the umpire to see "Did I really just make all three outs? Is this real life?" 

The best part of this play is using it as a fashion relic to perhaps the darkest moment in baseball's sock history. With the pants tight and tapered, showing just the slightest hint of sock, this was not the era of the bloused pants and striped socks, nor the long, thin-strip of stirrup that one would see in the '70s and '80s.

It even lacks the modern and relaxed look of long, flowing pants. Instead, this is the Jerry Seinfeld look. 

Oh yeah, and as for Velarde and his triple-play turning powers? The Athletics still dropped the game, 4-1.