Baseball’s
Longest Day
Memorial
Day Weekend, Sunday May, 31, 1964 - Thirty-Two Innings
“Well,
You Don’t Beat our Guys in a Hurry”[1]
It’s hard to believe it was more than 49 years
ago. I was a senior at West Babylon High
School and the Giants were coming to Shea Stadium for the first time to play
the Mets. In those days, I was a big
Giants fan and each time they would come to town I would go to the local
Howards Clothes Store and reserve my ticket.
Sometimes I would drag a family member or friend along. Sometimes I flew solo. On May 31, 1964, it would just be me. That morning, I decided to make a stop at the
World’s Fair and check out a few exhibits before heading off to the ball park.
At the end of what was to be baseball’s longest day,
I put my thoughts together in an article.
After I retired, I was cleaning out the basement and discovered my paper
which was written for my creative writing class. I dusted it off, did some updates, and now,
here is the story of that wonderfully exciting first visit to Shea Stadium.
Across from the magnificent 1964 New York World’s
Fair stood a spacious new arena known as Shea Stadium. During the spring and summer months, baseball
was played there. In the fall, football
attracted fans to the arena. In fact,
the first sporting event in the history of Shea Stadium was a Jets football
game. This story concerns baseball and, more specifically, two teams that on a
part cloudy, part rainy, part clear, and much too long day, played a doubleheader
during which records were set, broken, and made altogether unrecognizable – and
after which the result was absolutely clear.
The San Francisco Giants had swept two games from the New York Mets.
The “Official Program and Scorecard,” available at
the Stadium, included a number of features, one of which was a higher price
than existed during the days when the Mets played their home games at the Polo
Grounds. Late on that day, looking
around the stadium, you could notice that it was very difficult for those
keeping score (most had given up), to find room on the scorecard to keep an
account of the second game as it went into its latter stages.
Clouds hung overhead as I joined with the first
remnants of the crowd entered the Stadium.
The time was half past ten. It
was unbelievable, unless you had seen the lines of fans outside the stadium
purchasing tickets (and knowing that the lines were longer than any that
existed on the other side of the tracks at the World’s Fair) that the crowd
would eventually number 57,037, paid. It
would be the largest major league crowd of the season, breaking the record of
55,062 that the Mets and Giants had set two days previously. The attendance
figures for the Mets-Giants series – 150,571 - were the best since the 1963
World Series when the Los Angeles Dodgers, formerly of Brooklyn, had defeated
the New York Yankees.
By noon, most of the seats not sold in advance had
been gobbled up. However, a mist like
rain began to fall. Umbrellas sprung up
all over the park, and some spectators elected to purchase hats in order to
shield their heads from the steadily falling rain. The rain stopped just as the game was to
begin. The time was 1:05 PM. The Mets took the field and were wildly
applauded by their fans. The Mets, for
those who do not know, were an expression of human futility.
The Mets gave their fans something to cheer about in
the second inning. Joe Christopher, who,
as the day passed into night, gained a great following in right field,
singled. Ed Kranepool singled. Ed was
tired. Regular first baseman Tim Harkness had suffered an injury and Kranepool
had just been called up to the Mets from their Buffalo farm team after playing
a doubleheader for the Triple A affiliate. During the course of those two games,
he had gone 7-for-10 with two homers. That
doubleheader in Syracuse had ended late, and Kranepool caught a 6:00 AM flight
from Buffalo to Newark. He did not get
to Shea Stadium until 10:30 AM on Sunday.[2]
With two men on base, Giant Pitcher Juan Marichal
faced Jim Hickman, an original Met commonly known as “Whiff,” due to his
propensity to take far too many called third strikes.[3] Hickman put the Mets ahead with a three-run home
run over the left field wall. This
scoring represented the first runs scored by the Mets for starter Alvin Jackson
after 37 fruitless innings. It was also
Hickman’s second homer of the four game weekend series. His two run homer in the seventh inning on
Friday night had provided the margin in a 4-2 Mets win over Jack Sanford.
The score remained 3-0 until Jesus Alou, batting
against Jackson, knocked in Orlando Cepeda with San Francisco’s first run in
the fourth inning. The Giants took the
lead with three runs in the fifth inning, all charged to Jackson. After allowing the first three batters to
reach safely, Jackson was relieved by the former Yankee, Tom Sturdivant. The lead run was scored by the Baby Bull,
Orlando Cepeda. Cepeda’s double had
scored Willie Mays and moved Jim Ray Hart to third base. A sacrifice fly by Jim Davenport scored Hart
and moved Cepeda to third. Then, the remarkable happened. Cepeda stole
home. His steal was remarkable in that
Sturdivant’s knuckleball appeared to have the runner beaten by at least ten
feet. Some observers speculated that
catcher Jesse Gonder’s better-than-average stomach got in the way of the tag.
The Giants completed the scoring in the ninth when
Harvey Kueen drove in Jesus Alou with the Giants’ fifth run. Juan Marichal completed the game by striking
out two batters in the ninth inning, bringing his total to seven. In wrapping
up his eighth win of the season, the San Francisco ace allowed nine hits. The time of game was 2:29.
Between games, the Sunrisers Band from Mineola, Long
Island, presented entertainment for those fans wishing to remain in their
seats. As the musicians completed a fine performance, the two teams returned to
their respective dugouts.
The Giants continued their scoring binge as they
took the second game lead with two runs in the first inning of the Mets’
starter Bill Wakefield. The runs were driven in by Jesus Alou and Willie Mays.
The Mets closed the gap by scoring an unearned run off the Giants’ Bobby Bolin
in the second. A four run outburst by
San Francisco in the third inning widened the gap to 6-1. Met Pitchers Craig Anderson and Tom
Sturdivant were victimized by the Giant rally which featured six singles and no
extra-base hits. Singles by Jesus Alou,
Cepeda, Tom Haller, Chuck Hiller, Jim Ray Hart, and Bolin caused some fans to head
home. The exodus was slowed but not
stopped when the Mets scored two runs in the sixth inning. The rally featured singles by Christopher and
Charley Smith sandwiched around a triple by Kranepool past Mays in center.
In the Mets’ half of the seventh inning, Roy
McMillan and Frank Thomas singled. Joe
Christopher then stepped in. The count
went to 3-and-0. Encouraged by his
supporters in right field, he hit the next Bobby Bolin pitch to deepest
centerfield, 410 feet from home plate.
The biggest roar of the afternoon came as Mays, the great San Francisco
centerfielder, leaped against the wall and, with his glove extended over the
wall, grabbed the ball as it was leaving the field. He came to the ground with his glove high in
the air, signifying for all to see that he had caught the ball. There was one
thing wrong, however. There was no ball
in the glove. After Christopher had
circled the bases and touched home plate, the score was knotted at 6-6.
From that point on, the score remained tied. It was not an absolute pitchers’ battle
however, as Cepeda, Haller, and Jesus Alou maintained hot bats for the Giants
against the superb Met relief pitching of Larry Bearnarth and Galen Cisco. In
the top of the tenth, Haller tripled but was stranded at third as Bearnarth got
pinch hitter Matty Alou to ground out. Shuffling
of players between positions became commonplace. In the bottom of the eighth,
after Willie McCovey had pinch hit for shortstop Gil Garrido, Jim Davenport was
inserted into the game at shortstop. In
the bottom of the tenth, after Matty Alou had pinch hit for Jim Ray Hart in a
lefty-righty switch, Davenport was moved to third base (his natural position)
and Willie Mays took over at shortstop.
Mays, temporarily, was replaced in centerfield by Matty Alou.
The Mets, especially Charlie Smith and Christopher,
would get some hits, but were unable to convert anything into a run. The hits were singles, and the Mets were not
able to bunch three singles together to score a run. The pitchers were in control. Giant relief ace Ron Herbel pitched the 10th,
11th, and 12th innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. Bearnarth of
the Mets pitched from the 8th through the 14th inning. In his seven innings of work, he gave up
three hits and struck out four.
But Herbel and Bearnarth’s accomplishments were to
be overshadowed by the exploits of Gaylord Perry of the Giants and Galen Cisco
of the Mets. Two weeks prior to this
game, Perry and Cisco entered the game in the late innings of a 15 inning
affair at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.
In that game, Willie Mays had sent the game into extra innings with a
home run and the Giants went on to win 6-4, as Jim Davenport’s homer off Cisco sent
everyone home.
On this day, Perry, still young and unproven,
entered the game in the bottom of the thirteenth, and there were wholesale
changes in the fielding alignment. Mays
went back to centerfield. He did not
have anything hit at him during his three innings at shortstop. Davenport went
back to shortstop and Cap Petersen took over at third base. Matty Alou moved from centerfield to
leftfield, replacing Harvey Kueen.
In “Me and the Spitter”, Perry devotes his entire
first chapter to the events of that day.
He lists the records set that day and concludes by saying that “they saw
Gaylord Perry throw a spitter under pressure for the first, and hardly the
last, time in his career.” Before May
31, 1964, Perry was the eleventh man on an eleven man pitching staff. The twelfth man was in Tacoma (the Giants
Triple A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League).”
In the thirteenth inning, Amado “Sammy” Samuel
reached Perry for a single. This was
followed with a single to right field by Roy McMillan. A great throw by Jesus Alou cut down Samuel
trying to advance to third base.
In the fourteenth, the Giants had Jesus Alou on
second and Mays on first with none out, with the great Cepeda coming to the
plate, prompting more fans to head for the exits. Dark, with fast runners on base, put on the
signal for a hit-and-run play. It was
the obvious thing to do, and why shouldn’t Dark have made that call with
Cepeda, the hottest bat in the Giant lineup, coming up. Well, as one Met fan
may have reasoned – if Cepeda should hit a line drive at an infielder, there
could be a triple play. He hit a line
drive that shortstop Roy McMillan grabbed. He stepped on second and fired to
Kranepool at first. The Mets had the
triple play, the fans returned to their seats, and the game went on.
In the Mets’
fifteenth inning, Perry was struggling.
Hickman had singled and advanced to second on Smith’s sacrifice
bunt. Haller went to the mound and
instructed Perry him to try out that “new pitch” that he had been working
on. If there was ever a time to use it,
this was it. Haller said, “It’s time to break the maiden, kid. I think you can do it.” Before resuming his position behind the
plate, Haller told Perry, “Throw it when you can get it on the ball. Don’t worry about me. You throw it.
I’ll catch it. Let’s go.”
Chris Canizzaro stepped in and Perry loaded it up. Five spitters later, the count went to
three-and-two. Perry
unleashed a fast ball and Cannizarro checked his swing. Umpire Ed Sudol awarded Cannizzarro first
base. What followed was the best
argument of the long day. Dark argued that umpire Ed Sudol should have
conferred with the other umpires before making the decision. Sudol, whose temper had become very hot,
quickly ejected Dark.
Sudol’s temper was short, as Cannizarro, earlier in
the at-bat, had fouled the 0-2 pitch off Sudol’s foot. His temper made even
shorter by hunger. Someone had forgotten
to bring food to the umpires’ quarters between games. Before he left the
playing area, the Giant manager put the game under protest. The base on balls
was not fatal. While the commotion was
going on, Gaylord loaded up another spitter and Cisco hit a ball back to
Perry. Perry fired to Davenport who
threw the still wet ball to Cepeda to complete the inning-ending double play.
Cepeda rolled the ball back to the mound ever so slowly, so as to allow the
ball to dry.[4]
From then on, Sudol became the target of taunts from
the Giant fans in attendance.
At this stage of the game, the impatient fans could
hear constant police whistles as fights sprang up around the stadium. Hunger was a problem throughout the
park. The vendors had left the park at 8
o’clock. Even before that, most fans
were not about to leave their seats for food, fearing that they might miss an
important piece of action. Up until that advanced stage of the game, the
spectators had felt that the game would not last more than fifteen innings.
Over the course of the day, twenty-four innings had been played before their
eyes, and those eyes were beginning to close. It looked as though the game
would go on forever.
The Mets were not going to remove Cisco, as they had
run out of pinch hitters. The Giants had
back-up catcher Del Crandall on the bench available for pinch-hitting duties,
but opted to leave Perry in the game. Perry, in relief, went on to strike out
nine batters, allowing seven hits. In
the top of the 20th inning, Haller singled with one out, was slow getting back
to first on a fly ball to right by Hiller, and was thrown out by Christopher.
It seemed as if every longevity record would
fall. The first record to fall was time
for a doubleheader, followed by innings in a doubleheader. The record for time for a doubleheader had
been 8:07, set by Houston and Cincinnati on July 8, 1962. The record for innings in a doubleheader had
been set at 29 by the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox on July 4,
1905. Interestingly enough, those two
teams also played a 24 inning game on September 1, 1906. The Mets and Giants went
into the twenty-third inning, and it became clear that the single game record
for time would quite obviously be broken. The teams set a new record as they
went into the eighth hour of the second game.
The record had been 7 hours, set by the Yankees and Tigers on June 24,
1962. After that game, as I recall,
Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford noted, “If anyone had a beer between innings as
prompted by the commercials, they’re pretty drunk by now.”
In the Giants’ half of the 23rd inning,
Hiller and Matty Alou were out before some fans in the front row had time to
sit down from their between inning stretch.
Jim Davenport, who had been excelling in the field, then stepped in. The crowd roared as he hit a ball that
travelled into the right field corner.
By the time a very tired Joe Christopher could retrieve the ball,
Davenport was standing at third base with a triple. Met Manager Casey Stengel ordered Cisco to
intentionally walk Cap Peterson, bringing up Perry. Perry was not your typical hitting
pitcher. He was worse, and had gone 0-for-3
with a strikeout and two ground balls. The brain trust of the Giants sent in
Crandall to pinch hit for Perry. Of
course, Giant fans were a bit apprehensive as Perry was not showing any signs
of tiring on the mound. Crandall proceeded to break up the game, plating
Davenport with a ground rule double to right field. Peterson advanced to third
and scored on an infield hit by Jesus Alou.
The Giants took an 8-6 lead into the bottom of the 23rd inning, Bob
Hendley then came in to settle the issue retiring the three Mets he faced,
striking out two. Very few fans were around for the finish. Estimates run from 8,000 to 15,000, but they
may be on the high side.
In the twenty-third and final inning, two records
were set. One was about dexterity, and
the other was about time. The strikeouts
by Hendley brought the total by Giants’ pitching for the game to twenty-two,
eclipsing the mark for strikeouts in an extra-inning game (21), set initially
by the Phillies against the Pirates in a fourteen inning win on September 22,
1958 and tied by Tom Cheney of Washington in a sixteen inning complete game
against Baltimore in 1962. When Jesus
Alou caught the final out, the game became the longest ever, in terms of time, to
be completed in the history of the major leagues – 7 hours and 23 minutes.
Fans filed out of the ball park, and the looks on
some faces implied that some fans were hoping for the game to last even longer
so as to break more records. None of the
Met fans seemed to mind the loss because in that loss there had been several
wins – the thrills of such a game, including a triple play, the fact that the
Met pitchers had kept the Giants scoreless for twenty straight innings, and the
realization that it would not be hard to fall asleep. How could you stay awake after a game like
that?
Postscript and Update:
The core of this presentation was originally written
in June, 1964.
The game took place a few days before the twentieth anniversary
of the D-Day invasion. Darryl F.
Zanuck’s feature film, “The Longest Day” had been released in 1962 and was
still showing in theaters at the time the games of May 31, 1964 were played. Writers in at least three New York Newspapers
used “The Longest Day” to headline their articles.
In those days, fans would come early for batting and
fielding practice. Fielding practice for
the Giants was always a highlight as Willie Mays played at shortstop during the
infield drills. Thus it was no big surprise
when Giant manager Alvin Dark played Mays at shortstop during the nightcap.
Both teams played shorthanded. Mets second baseman Ron Hunt (spike wound)
and Giants shortstop Jose Pagan (rib muscle tear) were on the shelf due to
injury. Kranepool was one of two recent
acquisitions to see action that day. The
Mets had bought pitcher Frank Lary from Detroit. He arrived after the first game had begun and
was pressed into service in the sixth inning of the second game. As he walked onto the field, Met organist
Jane Jarvis played “Hold That Tiger” and the fans welcomed the old “Yankee
Killer” with a standing ovation. He
stopped the bleeding, pitching two shutout innings.[5]
A game of thise length lends itself to second
guessing and there was significant second guessing of Stengel, who by 1964 and
a third year of losing baseball, had become a favorite target of the local
media, particularly Howard Cosell. In
bottom of the second inning, with the Mets behind 2-0, Stengel pushed the
button. He elected to send up George
Altman to pinch hit for pitcher Bill Wakefield.
He received an intentional walk.
Then Stengel used his other left-handed power threat, Jesse Gonder, to
pinch hit for Rod Kanehl. Gonder flew out to end the inning, and when the 23rd
inning came around, the only pinch hitter available was John Stephenson, who
struck out.
Stengel also took some heat for his moves in the top
of the 23rd inning. After
Davenport’s triple, he elected to walk the light hitting Cap Peterson. Peterson had gone 0-for-4ince entering the
game in the 13th inning and was batting all of .158. Peterson’s walk
set the stage for Del Crandall’s game winning double.
Of course, Dark took some heat for sending the
runners in the 14th. McMillan
had no trouble initiating the triple play.
Had he not been covering second, Cepeda’s liner would have gone through
for a run scoring hit.
Shea Stadium did not see much baseball activity in
the fall months during its first years of existence. There was post season play starting with the
Miracle Mets of 1969. Shea Stadium was
torn down prior to the 2009 season and replaced (to use a song lyric) with a
parking lot. There was a certain irony
that, in that morning’s New York Times, there was a story about the demolition
of the Polo Grounds, a Stadium that both the Mets and Giants called home.[6]
The New York Jets played at Shea Stadium until they
moved to Giants Stadium in New Jersey in September, 1984. One of Shea’s drawbacks, abundantly clear on
that day, was that there was little protection from the elements.
The New York World’s Fair lasted from 1964 through
1965. Not much is left. The Unisphere was US Steel’s contribution. The large globe is still there, as are the
towers of the New York Pavillion that served as a back drop in the movie Men in
Black. The Singer Bowl was renamed the Louis Armstrong Arena and is part of the
US Tennis Center. It has played host to
numerous US Opens and now stands aside Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Disney produced program “Carousel of
Progress” at the GE Pavillion was moved to Walt Disney World in Florida and my
eyes still well up with tears each time I visit – There is a Great Big Beautiful
Tomorrow.
Christopher was to go on to play 154 games in 1964 and
bat .300. It was a great series for Joe.
In the Friday night opener, he singled to drive in Frank Thomas with the
tying run, and scored on Hickman’s home run.
On Memorial Day, Joe had driven in three runs as the Mets beat the
Giants 6-2. During the Doubleheader, he
went 5-for-14 and raised his average from .325 to .330. During the course of
the doubleheader, he, along with Roy McMillan, Eddie Kranepool, Frank Thomas,
Jim Hickman, and Jesus Alou had 14 at-bats, eclipsing the old mark of 13.
And yes, Orlando Cepeda did steal home. In the early stages of his career, Cepeda was
most definitely a stolen base threat.
Over the course of his career, he had 146 thefts, including 23 in 1959. And yes, Kranepool tripled past Mays. Willie
got over it and went on to with his eighth consecutive Gold Glove Award. However, during the course of the
doubleheader, Mays saw his batting average decrease 19 points to .364, and he
went from second to fourth place in the batting race.
Roy McMillan of the Mets had the game of his
life. During the course of the second
game, he had 10 assists and five putouts.
Not only did he start the triple play in the 14th inning, but
he also made a dazzling play in the 12th inning. With Cepeda at second, he grabbed a grounder
off the bat of Haller and was able to tag Cepeda before the Giant first baseman
could get back to the bag. He almost gunned Haller out at first. He also was able to convert a bad-hop
grounder off the bat of Jesus Alou into a force play during the 11th
inning, preventing Jim Davenport, who was on second base at the time, from
scoring.[7]
Gaylord Perry, prior to this outing, had minimal
success. In this game, he used a new
pitch, his “hard slider”, to dominate the Mets. Over the course of his more than twenty year
career, many accused him of doctoring the ball.
Perry also went on to pitch 10 or more innings in a game on 37 separate
occasions – more than anyone since 1950.[8]
The second game ended at 11:25 PM, prompting Met
announcer Lindsey Nelson to say that it had been the longest game ever broadcast
in color. In New York, TV ratings were
higher than those for such stalwarts as “What’s My Line?” on CBS. Only Ed
Sullivan and Bonanza topped the Mets in the Ratings on that day. For New York’s
Channel 9, WOR, the ratings bonanza was somewhat of a financial disaster. They had to cancel the scheduled programming
which would have generated advertising revenue, and the Mets’ sponsors had paid
a fixed rate, virtually getting four hours of free advertising.[9]
I took the subway to Woodside, Queens and
transferred to the LIRR for the long trip to Babylon. Mom came to pick me up at the station. The next day was a school day. In homeroom, I mentioned that I was at the
game, and the girl to my left had also been there.
Five future Hall-of Famers were in the second game
for the Giants: Mays, Cepeda, Perry, McCovey, and Duke Snider. Another Hall of Famer, Marichal, had pitched
in the first game of the doubleheader.
The extra- inning game team strikeout record has
been eclipsed on four occasions. The
record, set by the Oakland A’s (in 20 innings) in 1971, and tied by the Angels
(also in 20 innings) in 2004 stands at 26.
The Giants came to within two of setting the all-time double header
strikeout record. The Phillies stuck out
31 Pirates in a double header on September 22, 1958. Combined team strikeouts
were equally impressive. Mets and Giants
pitchers combined for 36 strikeouts in the second game and 47 strikeouts for
the doubleheader. Prior to May 31, 1964,
the single game strikeout record had been 33 (Phillies and Giants in 1958), and
the doubleheader record had been 44 (Indians and Red Sox – 1963). Over the years, both records have been
eclipsed. The single game record, set in 1971 by the Angels and A’s, is 43. The
doubleheader strikeout record of 47 was broken by the Mets and Phillies on
September 26, 1975, when they combined for 51.
The record for the longest game in terms of elapsed
time is eight hours and six minutes, set by the Brewers and the White Sox in
1984. The game began on May 8, was suspended
at 12:59 AM on May 9, and was resumed later in the day on May 9. The
Mets-Giants game is still the longest without an interruption. The Mets have been involved in six games of
twenty innings or more, including three of the eight longest. The records for most innings in a double
header (32) and time of a double header (9 hours 52 minutes) still stand.
Chris Cannizzaro (Mets) and Tom Haller (Giants)
caught all twenty-three innings of the second game. 264 baseballs were used during the marathon. The
umpires were even hungrier than the fans.
No food had been sent to the umpires’ quarters between games of the
doubleheader. After the festivities,
they shared a steak dinner, courtesy of the Mets.
Harvey Kueen went on to become a Pennant Winning
Manager. Tom Haller became a General
Manager with the Giants, and Jim Davenport served as his field manager for part
of his tenure. Al Jackson, Larry
Bearnarth and Galen Cisco became pitching coaches. Roy McMillan continued on in
the Mets organization as a coach and minor league manager, managing in New York
for 53 games in 1975, and was instrumental in the development of a young Bud
Harrelson.
In 2012, I was at the Honda Classic in Florida. On Pro-Am day, I caught up with Rusty Staub
and he shared a story with me. He was
playing with the Houston Colt 45’s at the time and they had just completed a
series in Philadelphia. They had
changed, had dinner, took the train to New York and checked into their hotel
rooms in time to catch the end of the game on television.
I was fortunate enough to speak with Joe Christopher
on several occasions. He remembers the
game well, especially the homer off Bolin.
Prior to the game that day, he had had his picture taken alongside Mays.
At the 50th Anniversary of the New York Mets
Conference at Hofstra University, I had the opportunity to talk with Kranepool
about the game, and he commented that “Perry was putting anything he could find
on the ball.”
Tom Haller died all too young in 2004 at the age of
67, after contracting the West Nile Virus. His wife Joan remembers being in
church with their two sons in California when the doubleheader began, and
putting the kids to bed before the doubleheader reached its conclusion. She scolded husband Tom when he told her he
had called for an illegal pitch.
Jim Davenport is still coaching in the Giants system
working with minor league infielders. He
remembers that after finally getting to bed well past midnight, the Giants had
an early wake-up call the next day. It
was San Francisco Day at the World’s Fair and the Giants were scheduled to be
part of the festivities before boarding a plane to Pittsburgh for a series with
the Pirates.
It was a week for marathons. On May 28, the Reds and the Dodgers locked
horns in a 2-2 affair that was called due to curfew after 17 innings and four
hours and 58 minutes. Under the rules in
place, the game was replayed in its entirety.
The Dodgers were no strangers to long games that ended in ties. In their Brooklyn days that hooked up with
the then Boston Braves in two such encounters.
In 1920, the two teams went 26 innings tying at 1-1, and in 1939 it was
2-2 when the game was stopped after 23 innings.
In the latter encounter, the Dodgers Manager was Casey Stengel.
You can look it up.
Articles referred to for additional information and
documentation include:
Jesse Abramson, “Met’s Giant-Sized Effort Included a
Triple Play in 14th”, New York
Herald Tribune, June 1, 1964, 1.
Jimmy Cannon. “The Longest Day”, New York Journal-American, June 1, 1964
Murray Chass (AP). “Off-Broadway Show of Gaylord and
Galen Has Its Run Extended”, Greensboro
(NC) Record. June 1, 1964, B5.
Richard K. Doan, “Mets’ Marathon Brings WOR-TV
Highest Ratings. . . and $20,000 Loss”, New
York Herald Tribune, June 2, 1964, 17
Joe Donnelly. “At Shea Stadium: The Longest Day”, Newsday, June 1, 1964, 44
Joe Donnelly, “Mets Better? By the Clock, Not the
Record, Newsday, June 2, 1964, 31
Joseph Durso. Giants Top Mets Twice, as 7 hour 23
Minute 23-Inning Sets marks, The New York
Times June 1, 1964
George Frazier. “Stay as Awful as You Are”. The Boston Herald, June 1, 1964, page
8-C.
Sam Goldaper. “The Moaning After a 23 Inning
Baseball Game”, New York Herald Tribune,
June 2, 1964, 23
Stan Isaacs. “It was No Waltz as Casey’s Band Played
On”, Newsday, June 1, 1964, 5
Barney Kremenko. Mets, Giants Go Round and Round to
L. P. Record, The Sporting News, June
13, 1964, page 5.
Barney Kremenko. Christopher Heating up Mets with
Sizzling Bat, The Sporting News, June
13, 1961, page 6.
Robert Lipsyte. Ball Park Well Built and “Could have
lasted forever”, The New York Times,
May 31, 1964.
Jim McCulley. “The Longest Day: Mets Swept in 23”.
New York Daily News, June 1, 1964, 46
Harold Rosenthal. “Longest Game Ever”, The New York Herald Tribune, June 1,
1964, 21
Gary Schnorbus. Marathon went on. And On. And On. Trenton Evening Times, June 1, 1964, 17.
Red Smith. “The Desperate Hours”, The New York Herald Tribune, June 2,
1964, 23
Associated Press.
Mets Fans Discussing Marathon. The
Hartford Courant, June 2, 1964, 19A.
[1]
Kremenko, in his Sporting News story, makes mention of this headline in one of
the New York Papers.
[2]
Goldaper, June 2, 1964
[3]
Kremenko notes this in his story about Christopher.
[4] Gaylord Perry
(with Bob Sudyk). Me and the Spitter: An
Autobiographical Confession. New
York. E. P. Dutton and Company. 1974,
pages 12-20.
[5]
Donnelly, June 2, 1964
[6]
Lipsyte, May 31, 1964
[7]
Smith, June 2, 1964
[8]
Tom Zocco. Stats by Zoc.
[9]
Doan, June 2, 1964
