In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

13 The Game That Wouldn't End Rochester PaUltllcket 000000100000000000001000000 000 000-2 /8 J 000000001000000000001000 000 000 001-3 21 I -Linescorc frOlll the longes! game in professional haseball history Dave Huppert lost track of how many times he got in and our of his catcher's crouch that raw New England night in the spring of 1981. All he knows is that when Rochester Red Wings manager Doc Edwards mercifully pinch-hit for him in the tOp of the thirty-second inning, his knees were as stiff and creaky as the Tin Man's rust}' joints in The Wizard of Oz. "The game was dragging so bad that at one point I looked back at the home plate umpire and said, 'Would you please call 16 straight balls so we can cnd this thing and get some sleep?' " Huppert recalled in an interview ten years later. Umpire Jack Liefz refused to grant the catcher 's request, and the game between the Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox staggered on. And on. And on. And on. Finally, at 4:07 Easter morning, April 19, 1981, Lierz, under orders from International League president Harold Cooper, suspended the game before the start of the thirty-third inning with the score tied at two. The players, coaches, and two dozen fans who persevered for eight frigid hours at Pawtucket's McCoy Stadium drove off into rhe sunrise. Sixty-nve days later, on June 23, the teams resumed play before 180 GAME THAT WOULDN'T END 181 5,756 spectators at the tiny Rhode Island ballpark, and millions more listening worldwide on the Armed Forces Radio Network. The final chapter of one of the most bizarre baseball sagas took all of eighteen minutes to write. Dave Koza stroked a bases-loaded single off Cliff Speck and Pawtucket won the longest game in professional baseball history, 32 . "It was kind of disappointing when it ended that quickly," said Bob Drew, the Red Wings general manager and backup broadcaster. "We knew we were pan of history and we all wanted to keep the thing going." Some, though, were happy to see it end. Red Wings center fielder Dallas Williams, for example, went hitless in thirteen at-bats. Pawtucket designated hitter Russ Laribee didn't fare much bener. He struck out seven times and finished O-for-It. Nobody, though, felt worse than losing pitcher Steve Grilli. He had been with the Toronto Blue Jays when the first thirty-two innings were played, bur the Jays released him and he signed a free agent contract with the Wings before the longest game resumed. Grilli started the thirty-third inning and promptly loaded the bases. Edwards brought in Speck, who gave up the decisive hit, and Grilli became the answer to a trivia question: Who was the losing pitcher in the longest professional baseball game? "I was in the right place at the right time doing the wrong thing," he lamented. The game, though, helped immortalize Grilli and all its participants . The losing pitcher's Red Wings cap is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, as is a tape of Drew's broadcast and the strangest-looking boxscore ever. "Steve was much too hard on himself," Huppert said. "Nobody blamed him for the loss. It was a real downer when it ended that way, but that game made us a part of baseball history and no one can take that away from us, unless they playa longer game, which I don't see happening." o No one who showed up at antiquated McCoy Stadium that windy April night had an inkling one of the more bizarre games in the long history of professional baseball would be played. However, there were indications even before the first pitch that this was going to be a long night. The start of the game was delayed a half hour while maintenance men worked to fix a bank of lights. "It was an omen," Huppert would later joke, "bur we didn't pick up on it." Although McCoy had a reputation as a hitter-friendly park, pitching ruled on that historic night as starters Larry Jones of Rochester and Danny Parks of Pawtucket made zero the most popular number on the scoreboard. The Wings broke the scoreless tie in the seventh when Chris Bourjos singled home Mark Corey. Pawtucket tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. Chico Walker [18.226.177.223] Project MUSE (2024...

Share