Baseball's Longest Game
From SoSH
It started innocently on a cold, windy April day in 1981, with less than 2,000 patrons in the stands. It ended 65 days later, with a sellout crowd of 5,746 in attendance. 140 press credentials were given out, and four television networks (including the British Broadcasting Company), and a photographer from a Japanese magazine covered the game. The first pitch was thrown with little fanfare; the last aired over Armed Forces Radio.
Contents |
The Longest Game
Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2. 33 Innings. April 18th, 19th, and June 23rd.
The First Game
A long night started late, as the game was delayed a half hour while maintenance men repaired a bank of lights.
Marty Barrett sets the stage with the weather forecast:
--
"I'll never forget how cold it was, and how hard the wind was blowing -- straight in. You felt it as soon as you got out there. We all just wanted the night to go real fast."
--
The first 6 innings went by without a run being scored... but Rochester finally put a run on the board (as Chris Bourjos singled home Mark Corey) on a tiring Danny Parks. Luis Aponte came in and put out that fire. Rochester held the one run lead until the bottom of the 9th. Chico Walker doubled, reached 3rd on a Larry Jones wild pitch, and scored the tieing run on Russ Laribee's sacrifice fly. Onto extra innings.
The Next 2 Games
The game continued on and on and on, with 11 consecutive scoreless innings. At some point in the extra innings, the stiff wind may have played a part in marking history:
Exerpted from "Long Memories From A Baseball Classic"
--
Somewhere in the middle of the game -- which is to say, in perhaps the fifth or sixth hour -- Sam Bowen, Pawtucket's slugging right fielder, hammered a towering fly ball to center that looked like it would end the game.
"We thought to ourselves, 'Uh-oh,' " said Rochester pitcher Steve Luebber. "It looked like that was it. Our guys all started walking to the dugout."
Williams, Rochester's center fielder, swears the ball actually left the ballpark before being tugged back into play by the relentless wind.
"It was gone," Williams said. "But it came back in, and I caught it."
"Sam circled around in front of our dugout," Ripken said, "and he said, 'Boys, that's as good as I can hit it. If that one didn't get out, we're going to be here awhile.' "
--
The third run of the game was finally scored in the 21st inning, as Rochester's Dave Huppert doubled home a run. But, the Pawsox knotted it back up in the bottom of the inning, as Wade Boggs doubled home Dave Koza.
Some thoughts from the Hall of Famers:
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- "God, will it ever end? Cal Ripken Jr. recalls thinking at the time.
- "A lot of people were saying , 'Yeah, yeah, we tied it, we tied it!' And then they said, 'Oh, no, what did you do? We could have gone home!'" - Wade Boggs
- "And then, we played for another three hours." - Wade Boggs
---
Another 3 hours that should have been avoided. The International League did have a curfew provision that would have suspeneded the game around 1 am. Unfortunately, Home Plate Umpire Jack Lietz's rule book was not the updated version, it was missing the provision. So on they played, another 11 scoreless innings. The final 10 innings for Rochester were pitched by Lefty Jim Umbarger, as he gave up only 4 hits and struck out 9 in one of the greatest relief appearances in minor league history.
Fires at McCoy
While the offenses were ice cold, at least there were fires in the bullpens and the dogouts. Literally:
[Excerpted from "Long Memories From a Baseball Classic]
--
In the bullpen of the old wooden stadium, the pitchers were tearing up the benches and burning them in a 55-gallon drum. In the dugout, some position players were doing the same thing with broken bats.
"My whole job at that point was trying to keep people warm," said Richie Bancells, who was Rochester's athletic trainer and now does the same job for the Orioles. "And at the same time, we were trying to keep the players fed. We had this clubhouse kid, and we had him out trying to scrounge up some food. I don't know where he was finding it, but he managed to find some."
--
Suspension, Finally
Behind the scenes, Mike Tamburro was doing his best to reach Interational League President Harold Cooper to get a ruling on what to do. Cooper informed Tamburro to suspend the game after completion of the current inning, the 32nd. At 4:07, 8 hours and 7 minutes after it had started, the game was finally suspended. 19 Fans had braved the entire game. Ben Mondor, who had earlier on this Easter Morning had become a master concessionare, handing out free food to the brave souls still in the stadium, gave the remaining 19 fanatics lifelong passes.
65 Days Later
With a full house and international press in attendance, Bob Ojeda started where Bruce Hurst left off. Ojeda pitched the top of the 33rd inning, giving up only a single to Cal Ripken Jr.
Steve Grilli, who was in the majors with Toronto when the game began, started the bottom of the 33rd for Rochester. Nerves hit Grilli hard, as he loaded the bases (HBP - Marty Barrett, Single - Chico Walker, IBB - Russ Laribee). Cliff Speck was brought on in relief, but faced only one batter, when Dave Koza singled to score Barrett and end the game.
What lasted over 8 hours on that Easter Eve/Morning ended in just 18 minutes. The longest game was over: Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2 in 33 innings. Official Time: 8 Hours, 25 Minutes. Unofficial Time: 65 Days, 21 Hours, 16 Minutes.
Box Score
| Rochester | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos. | AB | Run | Hits | RBI |
| Eaton | 2B | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Williams | CF | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ripken | 3B | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Corey | DH | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chism | PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rayford | C | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Logan | 1B | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Valle | 1B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bourjos | LF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Hale | LF | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Smith | LF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hazewood | RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hart | RF | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bonner | SS | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Huppert | C | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Putman | PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 105 | 2 | 18 | 2 | |
| Pawtucket | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos. | AB | Run | Hits | RBI |
| Graham | CF | 14 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Barrett | 2B | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Walker | LF | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Laribee | DH | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Koza | 1B | 14 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Boggs | 3B | 12 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Bowen | RF | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Gedman | C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Ongarato | PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LaFrancoic | C | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Valdez | SS | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 114 | 3 | 21 | 3 | |
| Pitching Line | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | ||||||
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Jones | 8.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Schneider | 5.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Luebber | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Umbarger | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Grilli (L) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Speck | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 32 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 26 |
| Pawtucket | ||||||
| Player | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Parks | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Aponte | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| Sarmiento | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Smithson | 3.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Remmerswaal | 4.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Finch | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Hurst | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Ojeda (W) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 33 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 34 |
| Parks pitched to 3 batters in the 7th Grilli pitched to 3 batters in the 33rd | ||||||
Records Set
- Most putouts by one team in one game: 99 (PAW)
- Most total putouts in one game: 195
- Most at-bats for one team in one game: 114 (PAW)
- Most total at-bats in one game: 219
- Most strikeouts by one team in one game: 34 (ROC)
- Most total strikeouts in one game: 60
- Most total assists in one game: 88
- Most innings: 33
- Most at-bats by one player in one game: 14, Dave Koza, Lee Graham, Chico Walker (all PAW)
- Most plate appearances by one player in one game: 15, Tom Eaton, Cal Ripken, Dallas Williams (all ROC)
- Total time for one game: 8 hours, 25 minutes
Quotes
- "There were several of us who had bad weeks that game. Think about it, that game was like an entire series in itself. I was so happy when I got a single in the top of the 33rd because I knew all those stats were going to count after that game ended, and my average was going to take a big hit. - Cal Ripken, Jr.
- "But we had this guy, Mark Corey, who had gotten taken out of the game in about the 13th inning. And when we got back to the clubhouse, all the beer was gone and [Corey] was hammered. I mean, hammered." - Dallas Williams
- "It's the only time I ever remember our postgame meal being breakfast." - Cal Ripken, Jr.
- "When we walked off the field at 4 o'clock in the morning, it was like, 'You mean we're not done with the game yet?'" - Rich Gedman
- "I wanted 40 innings so nobody could ever tie our beautiful record." - Joe Morgan
- "I remember striking out Cal Ripken on a 3-and-2 breaking ball at 4 o'clock in the morning, and I don't think he ever forgave me." - Bruce Hurst
- "I've been watching for the bunt for 23 innings now." - Cal Ripken Jr., wearily replying to relief pitcher Jim Umbarger's instruction
- "It sank in the next day. Man, we just played 32 innings of baseball. We joked about it. We had smiles on our faces. I was thankful I was a baseball player and on the field that night. As time went by, I appreciated it more." - Dallas Williams
- "It [Batting Average] went down about 15 points. I consider that day the worst day of my baseball life." - Dallas Williams on his 0/13 day finally becoming official.
- "I may have been the only one disappointed to see them suspend play. We should have at least played until sunrise. - Jim Umbarger
- "Not since the time they had to shoot the drunken camel at the city zoo has there been this much excitement in Pawtucket." - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle's Bob Minzesheimer, 6/23/81
Trivia
- Manager Joe Morgan was ejected from the Game in the 22nd inning.
- 25 Players who played in the Game Played in the Major Leagues.
- Two Hall of Famers (Cal Ripken, Jr. and Wade Boggs) Played in the Game.
- Rochester Catcher Dave Huppert caught the first 31 innings.
- The Game ended during the 1981 Major League Baseball Players Strike
- Fenway Park may have played host to the ending of the Game... But Players voted not to cross the Picket Lines.
Books
- The Longest Game, Steve Krasner
