3B

A triple is the most consistently exciting hit in baseball.  Here's why I think it beats the home run:


A home run doesn't always matter.
Sometimes it's just the winning team in a blowout tacking on another run.

Oops.
A breaking ball that didn't break.  Poor pitch selection or placement.  Sometimes a pitcher just makes a mistake and the ensuing home run comes as no real surprise.

The trot.
In any other context, it's not really interesting to see a guy jog around the bases.

"...but the ball carried just enough."
How many homers have you heard described that way?  Sometimes a homer looks like a routine fly ball, but gets just enough lift to go an extra three feet.


With a triple there's always hustle.  There's most likely going to be a play at 3rd that ends in a slide.
It also means a well-hit ball either caromed pretty hard off the corner or made it by an outfielder in plain view (which is pretty rare and at the major league level is probably the result of the outfielder taking the chance on a dive for the ball and missing.)  Then the fielder has to get up and give chase, Benny Hill style, and the base-running intensity immediately amplifies and we've got ourselves a show here.  And when that's all over, you've got a guy on third, which creates more excitement for the next at-bat.

On top of all that, you just don't see them everyday.  Kind of a rare bird.  An open and shut case in my book.