Sports History April 18th: The Longest Baseball Game

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the April 18, 1981 Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings baseball game that is known as the longest professional baseball game in history. The game began the day before on Easter Sunday with future Hall of Famers on third base for each team. (Cal Ripken Jr. for Rochester and and Wade Boggs for Pawtucket). The two teams played 32 innings into the wee hours of April 19th, when the league president sent everyone home a little after 4:00 a.m. with the scores tied at 2-2.

10 years ago, on the 25th anniversary, Dave Shinin (for the Washington Post) wrote about the Rochester/Pawtucket game in great detail including the freezing cold that compelled the players to tear up the benches and burn them, as well as burning broken bats, in order to keep warm.

“It’s the only time I ever remember our postgame meal being breakfast.” Cal Ripken, Jr.

The game would be continued on June 23rd when Pawtucket broke the tie in the 33rd inning that lasted only 18 minutes.

Compare that 33 inning record to the longest game in Major League Baseball: the 1984 Brewers vs. White Sox games that lasted 25 innings. That game began on May 8, 1984, was suspended in the top of the 18th inning and was finished on the next day.