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And in fact they did.
Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post recounts the 33-inning epic between Rochester and Pawtucket played 25 years ago. At least about the first 32 innings of it.
Thanks to loyal reader Sam DC (he swore an oath on a stack of Joey Eischen baseball cards).
My personal best (in person) for innings is a measly 16-inning game in Milwaukee.
I saw most of this one on TV and convinced my parents to stay up until the end. They wanted to go to bed around the 17th and I badgered them by saying, "You're giving up now!" They stuck it out to the end.
Later that year, my grandmother and I listened to this game together on the radio.
And when I was 19, I went out with some friends to try to see some fireworks on July 4, but we could never get to the show in Santa Monica because the traffic was impenetrable. So I went back home and found out that this game was still going on at 11:00 pm PT. And still had a ways to go.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/2005_NLDS2.shtml
Game 4
Retrosheet doesn't have 2005 data ready yet.
Ross sounded on the edge a few times. I was worrying that he might have fallen victim to Stockholm Syndrome in that one.
I can still recall listening to it on the radio (Larry, Milo, etc.) while engaged in a running-into-the-wee-hours session of D&D, including a 1 a.m. run to get some spicy fried chicken from Popeye's.
The Astros and Dodgers were scheduled to play a afternoon game the next day, Sunday. I can't recall what the starting time was supposed to be, but they delayed it an hour or so to give the teams a chance to get a bit more rest. And then it turned out that that game went 13 innings. (Yes, I listened to that one on the radio also.)
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06040HOU1989.htm
By that point the Astros had used so many pitchers up that they had to call up Mark Portugal to start Monday's game.
Oh, and the Astros were struggling that season, and were 5-6 games under .500 come late May. Fans were getting depressed (after and folks were beginning to write them off. Those two extra-inning games in a row turned out to victories 9 and 10 in a ten-game streak. They lost the Monday game, and then won the next six in a row, for 16 wins in 17 games.
1. Griffin ss
2. Randolph 2b
3. Harris lf
4. Murray 1b
5. Hatcher rf
6. Scioscia c
7. Hamilton 3b
8. Gonzalez cf
9. Hershiser p
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