“Succession” – The Craze Has Reached The Major Leagues MLB acknowledged a viral fan theory on Saturday About the finale of the HBO show that ties into a historic World Series play. As MLB.com writer Brian Murphy put it, “We’ll see if the findings really add up to a piece of baseball history from 103 years ago.”
Beware for “Succession” spoilers below.
mlb shared nameberry’s viral tiktok Video linking “Succession” character Tom Wambsgans’ nickname to an obscure MLB player whose only memorable moment in the majors came in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series. Bill Wambsgans, an infielder for Cleveland, is the only player in league history to turn a triple play without an assist in a post-season.
For those who don’t follow baseball, a triple play means that a team gets all three outs in a single play. A rare feat in itself, but doing it without assistance (meaning a fielder accounts for all three dismissals himself) is almost unheard of. There have only been 15 such plays in league history, but Wambsgans is the only player to have done so in the post-season – when the stakes are highest.
The stakes have never been higher for Waystar Royko during Sunday’s series finale of the HBO drama, and it seems like everyone and their moms have a theory as to who will pass on the CEO crown after Logan Roy’s death. Nameberry proposed that, as nothing is a coincidence when it comes to showrunner Jesse Armstrong and his Emmy-winning writing staff, the choice of Tom’s last name may have foreshadowed the show’s outcome.
Can Tom pull off an unassisted triple play like his namesake, “outing” all three Roy siblings (sorry, Connor) at once? If the play is indeed unaided, does that mean he won’t be bringing his friend Greg with him to the helm of ViaStar?
For whatever it’s worth, one of the more memorable moments of the show’s pilot was the family playing a baseball game — a tradition in the Roy family.
As of Saturday afternoon, the theory has garnered over 300,000 views on TikTok and over 1.3 million views on Twitter.
We’ll find out the accuracy of the theory on Sunday night, when the finale airs at 6 p.m. on HBO.
