Artifacts tell story of record-setting 33-inning game from 1981

"A lot of people were saying, 'Yeah, yeah, we tied it, we tied it!' And then they said, 'Oh, no, what did you do? We could have gone home!'," said Boggs.

The International League by-laws stated that an umpire should not begin an inning after 12:50 a.m.

However, the 1981 International League Instructions for Umpires, Managers and Players had omitted this clause and only referenced a local curfew – which was absent at McCoy Stadium.

It was not until the 30th inning that Paw Sox president Ben Mondor brought out the bylaws and the league curfew was discussed.

“All the umpires have to go by is their manual,” said Mondor, who believed the umpires were not at fault for the game length.

By this time, the crowd had dwindled form 1,740 fans to about 20, who all received a free ticket to a future game.

Only one concession stand was open, offering free coffee and hot chocolate, the stadium music had been turned off and the reporters had a pool in the press box to guess when the inning number and the temperature would be equal.

Finally the game was officially suspended at 4:07 a.m. on April 19 in the 32nd inning when International League President Harold Cooper was woken from sleep at his home and called for a halt to the game.

"When we walked off the field at 4 o'clock in the morning, it was like, 'You mean we're not done with the game yet?'," said Pawtucket catcher Rich Gedman.

Some astounding statistics had already occurred, though the game was not over.

Dave Huppert caught 31 innings and center fielder Dallas Williams went 0-for-12 for the Red Wings.

Eleven pitchers recorded 59 strikeouts. Both teams combined for 213 at-bats, 36 hits and stranded 49 baserunners.

The next day, instead of finishing the game, the teams played their regular nine-inning ballgame and rescheduled the suspended game for the next time Rochester traveled to Pawtucket for a series.

That happened on June 23. The resumption of the game lasted only 18 minutes, in stark contrast to the first 32 innings. In the bottom of the 33rd, Red Wings pitcher Steve Grilli hit Marty Barrett with a pitch, gave up a single to Chico Walker and walked Russ Laribee intentionally to load the bases. He was relieved by Cliff Speck, who gave up an RBI single to left field by Koza which knocked in the winning run.

“This is history,” said Koza. “Ever since the end of the 32nd inning, I’ve been waiting for the 33rd. We’re all in Cooperstown now, and for a lot of us it’ll be the only way we get there.”

Koza was right – a number of artifacts from the game were donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s collection, including: the cap worn by Red Wings losing pitcher Grilli, a ball from the game, the bat used by Koza and the ball he hit for the game-winning RBI, tickets from the original start and the resumed game, lineup cards from both teams, and the official scorecard from the game.

Thirteen professional records were set during the game by both teams as well as each team and individuals, including: most innings, longest game by time, most total putouts, most total at-bats, most total strikeouts, most total assists and most total chances accepted.

By contrast, the longest Major League Baseball game was a 26-inning, 1-1- tie between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves on May 1, 1920.

That game featured complete games by both starting pitchers: Leon Cadore for the Dodgers and Joe Oeschger for the Braves.

But on an April day 61 years later, the minors eclipsed the majors.

"It sank in the next day,” Williams said. “Man, we just played 32 innings of baseball. We joked about it. We had smiles on our faces.

"I was thankful I was a baseball player and on the field that night. As time went by, I appreciated it more."