A 32-Inning Baseball Game Was Played on This Date
The date was April 18, 1981 and the Pawtucket Red Sox were hosting the Rochester, Red Wings in a Triple “A” minor league baseball game. What was to happen in this game was unbelievable. The players who were involved had no idea they were to be playing the longest professional baseball game ever. After nine innings, Pawtucket tied the score at one run apiece with a run in the bottom of the 9th inning. It remained a 1-1 game until the 21st inning when Rochester scored a run to grab the lead. A determined Pawtucket team didn’t give up as they pushed across a run in the bottom of the 21st to continue the extra inning affair.
It remained a 2-2 game as the clock reached 4 a.m. and the inning became number 32 when the International League president suspended the game with just more ball players than fans in the stands. They resumed the game later on June 23rd when both teams were scheduled to meet again.
The 33rd inning was played and took only 18 minutes before the marathon game finally ended when Pawtucket scored a run to win the game 3 to 2. Some batters got as many as 14 at bats in the contest. Some notables who played in that game included Cal Ripkin Jr. and Wade Boggs.
It was the longest professional baseball game spanning three days, eight hours and 25 minutes. The line score for the longest game ever is below:
TEAM R H E
Rochester 000-000-100-000-000-000-001-000-000-000-000 2-18-3
Pawtucket 000-000-001-000-000-000-001-000-000-000-001 3-21-1