The “Succession” craze has spread to the Major Leagues as the MLB acknowledged a popular fan theory on Saturday linking the HBO show’s conclusion to a memorable World Series play. We’ll see if the conclusion does in fact connect to a moment in baseball history from 103 years ago, as MLB.com writer Brian Murphy phrased it.
Watch out for spoilers for “Succession” below.
The MLB reposted Nameberry’s popular TikTok video linking the surname of an unremarkable MLB player whose only noteworthy performance in the Majors was in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series to the “Succession” character Tom Wambsgans. The only player in league history to turn an unassisted triple play in the postseason is Cleveland infielder Bill Wambganss.
This theory about Tom in Succession is wild. đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/xoOXJV90iF
— Christina Garnett (@ThatChristinaG) May 25, 2023
In baseball, a triple play occurs when a team obtains all three outs in a single play. A remarkable feat in and of itself, but to accomplish it alone (i.e., have one fielder take responsibility for each of the three outs) is almost unheard of. In the history of the league, just 15 such plays have been made, but Wambsganss is the only player to do so in the postseason, when the stakes are the highest.
The HBO drama’s Sunday season finale will include the highest stakes Waystar Royco has ever faced, and it seems like everyone and their mother has an opinion on who will succeed Logan Roy as CEO. Nameberry said that since nothing about showrunner Jesse Armstrong and his Emmy-winning writing team is coincidence, the decision to use Tom’s last name might be a hint as to how the program would turn out.
Could Tom, like his namesake, execute an unassisted triple play to “out” all three Roy siblings (sorry, Connor) simultaneously? Does that mean he won’t be taking his friend Greg to the peak of Waystar if the play is actually unassisted?
For what it’s worth, the Roy family playing a baseball game during the show’s debut was one of the more memorable scenes. Baseball games are a Roy family tradition.
As of Saturday afternoon, the hypothesis has received over 1.3 million views on Twitter and over 300,000 views on TikTok.
When the season finale of Game of Thrones airs on HBO at 6 p.m. on Sunday, we’ll find out if the notion is true.