Lengthy game times nothing new... two gems from the game's past

With all the recent comments about the length of major league games, I thought a look back at a couple of marathon contests from an earlier era might provide a little perspective. When umpire Joe West publicly blasted the slow pace of Red Sox/Yankees games, calling them an "embarrassment" and this season's April 17 Cardinals/Mets game lasted 20 innings and took 6:53 to complete, long-time fans of the game just shook their collective heads in disbelief. More disturbing than the nearly seven hours need to complete 20 innings of play was the fact that the Mets and Cardinals combined to use a total of 19 pitchers. With all the commerical TV time between innings, it's a wonder all those stopages and repeated trips to the mound by both managers (I'm looking at you, La Russa) didn't drag things out even longer.

But long before the era of televised games, it wasn't always so. For today marks the anniversary of one of the game's great endurance contests. On April 29, 1936, the New York Giants were in St. Louis to play the Cardinals. The Giants starting pitcher was the legendary Carl Hubbell, en route to the greatest single season of his Hall of Fame career. By season's end he'd win 26 games and capture the National League ERA crown. The Cardinals countered with former Giants pitcher, Roy Parmelee, who'd won 14 games just the year before for New York. For the first 11 innings neither pitcher allowed a run. But when Parmelee walked the Giants lead-off hitter to begin the12th, eventually leading to the first run of the game on an RBI single by Hank Lieber, his effort looked for naught. However, the Cardinals countered with consecutive one-out hits by Ducky Medwick and Johnny Mize in the bottom of the 12th to load the bases. A sharp single by Charlie Gelbert scored Medwick with the tying run, but Giants right fielder Mel Ott's perfect throw to the plate cut down the winning run and preserved the 1-1 tie. Both pitchers continued posting zeroes for another four innings. In fact, when Parmelee again held the Cardinals scoreless in the top of the 17th inning, he had allowed a total of just 6 hits.

By comparison, things ended sloppily for Hubbell and the Giants in the bottom of the 17th. A lead-off double by St. Louis catcher Spud Davis was followed by an intentional walk and a fly-out to center by Leo Durocher for the first out of the inning. Parmelee then came to the plate and hit a routine grounder to Giants shortstop Dick Bartell, who instead of initiating a double play to end the inning and keep the game tied, promptly booted it to load the bases. Hubbell then induced St. Louis outfielder Terry Moore to hit a grounder to Giants third baseman Travis Jackson. But Jackson's throw to the plate sailed wide off catcher Gus Mancuso's outstretched glove as the winning run crossed the plate to give St. Louis a 2-1 victory. Almost as impressive as both starting pitchers going the distance was that the entire 17-inning game was played in just 3:41.

A second marathon pitchers duel from baseball's golden era had previously occurred in 1920. On May 1 of that season, the Brooklyn Dodgers were in Boston to face the Braves. Brooklyn, who'd eventually capture the National League pennant that year, sent righty Leon Cadore to the mound to oppose the Braves' Joe Oeschger. When Brooklyn pushed across the first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning, none of the assembled crowd had any reason to think they were witnessing history. In fact, the Braves tying of the score at 1-1 in the sixth made the home crowd happy, but proved no precursor of what was about to unfold over the remainder of the afternoon. For although Oeshger had allowed a total of four hits through the first five innngs, he would allow only five more safeties over the next 21 innings of work. Brooklyn's Cadore proved his equal as both pitchers kept posting zeroes as the afternoon wore on and darkness approached.

Better still, both pitchers seemed to strengthen as the game progressed. Neither Cadore or Oeschger allowed a single hit over the game's final six innings. Finally the umpires called the game on account of darkness after 26 innings. The 26 innings marked it as the longest game in major league history up to that point and it was completed in just 3:50. It was a mark of the stamina of both men that Cadore and Oeschger both went the entire distance, despite both their respective catchers having to be replaced earlier in the contest. Think any modern-era club would have had any pitchers remaining as the game moved passed the 20-inning mark? Playing 26 innings in less than four hours in 1920 tells you all you need to know about how much the ol' game has indeed changed with the passage of time.