Game time was 7:05, but play did not start until 8 because of problems with one of the light stanchions. Little did they realize that this was an omen.
The game was scoreless into the 7th inning, when the Red Wings broke on the scoreboard. Pawtucket tied it in the bottom of the 9th, and the fun started.
A series of pitchers took the mound for each club, throwing goose egg after goose egg. Rochester finally broke through in their half of the 21st inning, but the Pawsox re-tied it.
At that point, Pawtucket tried to remind the umpires of an International League rule forbidding an inning from starting after 12:50 a.m. The umps said, “That rule isn’t in our manual. Get back out there and play ball.”
It was three hours later that the umps finally learned of the rule. Seems the rule sheet they got at the start of the season omitted the curfew, which was known to the general managers. The game might not have been stopped if not for a call from the league president at 4:00, ordering that play be stopped at the end of the inning.
The 32d inning came to a halt at 4:09, with the score still tied, 2-2. The clubs were scheduled for another game the next day, Easter Sunday, but it was decided to complete this game on Rochester’s next visit, June 23, and to just play the scheduled game Sunday. Thankfully, that one only went nine innings.
Originally, the story of the marathon was treated as a footnote by the media. However, the Major League Baseball Players Association went on strike June 12, making the game’s completion a major story. All three networks, as well as ESPN, descended upon Pawtucket to catch the finish, which lasted just 18 minutes. Dave Koza’s single drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 33d inning.
As of mid-1999, the only players from that game still active in baseball were the starting third basemen, Wade Boggs of the Pawsox and Cal Ripken of the Red Wings. Ripken came up to the Orioles as soon as the strike ended in August, later moving to shortstop, and in May 1982 he started a consecutive-game playing streak that eventually reached a record 2,632 games. Boggs moved up to the Boston Red Sox and won several American League batting titles for them before being traded to the New York Yankees and, later, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Both “marathon men” soon reached the 3,000-base-hit plateau, Boggs in 1999, Ripken in 2000.
Winning pitcher Bobby Ojeda worked for about a dozen years with the Red Sox, New York Mets, and Cleveland Indians before retiring after the 1994 season. Other familiar names from the game include Marty Barrett, Rich Gedman, and Bruce Hurst.
The box score:
International League
Rochester Red Wings at Pawtucket Red Sox
18-Apr-1981 at Pawtucket, RI (McCoy Stadium)
Rochester Red Wings 2 Pawtucket Red Sox 3
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
Tom Eaton 2b............... 10 0 3 0 Lee Graham cf.............. 14 0 1 0
Dallas Williams cf......... 13 0 0 0 Marty Barrett 2b........... 12 1 2 0
Cal Ripken 3b.............. 13 0 2 0 Chico Walker lf............ 14 1 2 0
Mark Corey dh.............. 5 1 1 0 Russ Laribee dh............ 11 0 0 1
Tom Chism ph.............. 1 0 0 0 Dave Koza 1b............... 14 1 5 1
Floyd Rayford dh/c........ 5 0 0 0 Wade Boggs 3b.............. 12 0 4 0
Dan Logan 1b............... 12 0 0 0 Sam Bowen rf............... 12 0 2 0
John Valle 1b ............ 1 0 0 0 Rich Gedman c.............. 3 0 1 0
Chris Bourjos lf........... 4 0 2 1 Mike Ongarato ph.......... 1 0 0 0
John Hale lf.............. 7 0 1 0 Roger LaFrancois c........ 8 0 2 0
Keith Smith lf............ 0 0 0 0 Julio Valdez ss............ 13 0 2 0
Drungo Hazewood rf......... 4 0 0 0
Mike Hart rf.............. 6 0 1 0
Bobby Bonner ss............ 12 1 3 0
Dave Huppert c............. 11 0 1 1
Ed Putman ph............. 1 0 0 0
Steve Grilli p........... 0 0 0 0
Cliff Speck p............ 0 0 0 0
TOTALS.....................105 2 18 2 TOTALS.....................114 3 21 3
Score by Innings R H E
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rochester Red Wings. 000 000 100 000 000 000 001 000 000 000 000 - 2 18 3
Pawtucket Red Sox... 000 000 001 000 000 000 001 000 000 000 001 - 3 21 1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: 0 outs, 3 LOB when the game ended.
E - Eaton; Logan; Bonner; Valdez. DP - Rochester 4; Pawtucket 3. LOB - Red
Wings 30; Red Sox 23. 2B -- Koza 2; Walker; Boggs; Huppert. SH - Williams 2;
Logan; Hart; Huppert 2. SF - Laribee. SB - Eaton.
Rochester Red Wings IP H R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Larry Jones................ 8.2 7 1 1 2 5
Jeff Schneider............. 5.1 2 0 0 0 8
Steve Luebber.............. 8.0 6 1 1 2 4
Jim Umbarger............... 10.0 4 0 0 0 9
Steve Grilli L,0-3........ 0.0 1 1 1 1 0
Cliff Speck................ 0.0 1 0 0 0 0
Pawtucket Red Sox IP H R ER BB SO
------------------------------------------------
Danny Parks................ 6.0 3 1 1 4 3
Luis Aponte................ 4.0 0 0 0 2 9
Manny Sarmiento............ 4.0 3 0 0 2 3
Mike Smithson.............. 3.2 2 0 0 3 5
Wim Remmerswaal............ 4.1 4 1 1 3 3
Joel Finch................. 5.0 3 0 0 1 3
Bruce Hurst............... 5.0 2 0 0 3 7
Bob Ojeda W,9-5........... 1.0 1 0 0 0 1
HBP -- by Schneider (Laribee); by Parks (Eaton); by Aponte (Bonner); by Grilli
(Barrett). WP - Jones; Hurst; Smithson.
Umpires - HP: Dennis Cregg 1B: Tony Maners 3B: Jack Lietz
Start: 20:02 Time: 8:25 Attendance: 1,740
Game notes:
Game suspended after 32 innings, curfew, completed 23-Jun (attendance 5,746)