09-05-2012, 11:03 AM
I called my mom this morning. I asked her if she recalled that baseball game I went to as a kid. Without missing a beat she said it was in Detroit, the Tigers and Yankees, and it went 22 innings. She thought it was back around 1960. That was enough for me to track it down online (FYI, the web holds a wee bit of baseball info).
June 24, 1962. The Yankees prevailed 9 to 7. I had thought it ended 1 to 0 on a homer. Still, it’s not surprising it gave me that impression. All the scoring came early. 6 to 3 after the first, knotted at 7 apiece at the end of six. After that there were 15 scoreless innings. Occasionally there would be a long ball that would bring everyone to their feet, followed by a collective groan as some fielder nabbed it. By then it no longer mattered which team prevailed. It was now spectators versus baseball players.
I remember suffering an injury on one of those long balls. I had stood up along with everyone else, and when the fielder ran back and caught it on the warning track, I groaned and sat down sharply. But the man behind me was still standing, and he had his hand resting on the back on my seat, and he was holding a cigarette. I jumped at the sudden fiery pain and slapped at the back on my neck, and the man apologized profusely. I had a scab for months afterward.
It’s odd I don’t remember many other the details of that outing. My mom recalls it far better than I do. It was my dad’s birthday. His brother Bud had the idea of our respective families going to the game together. We took two cars. (I do remember wanting to invite Lady Cranefly along, but on that particular day she was suffering a severe case of youngness -- exactly one month old, drooling in a crib in Missoula.)
Looking at the online stats, I see that there were some big-time players in the game. People like Maris and Mantle, Berra. Lots of the players batted 9 times. One of them batted 11 times. Each team used 7 pitchers.
We got home at about 3 in the morning. My mom had to get up at 5 to go bake pies at her mother’s restaurant. My great uncle Argyl came into the restaurant that morning. He was a noted hunter/trapper/fisher in the region and something of a braggart. He was always stopping in at our place with a great horned owl he’d caught in a trap, or a 21-pound carp from the river, or a huge snapping turtle. Anyway, that morning he said to my mom, “Did you hear about that crazy game in Detroit last night that went 22 innings?” And my mom had the pleasure of telling him yes, she had been at the game.
I do recall one other thing about the game. As we were walking out of the stadium, I was thinking, “Someday I’ll have to go another game -- but not right away.”
True to my word, just over 50 years later I’ve gone to another game -- though it felt short at 11 innings.
New York Yankees vs Detroit Tigers
June 24, 1962 Box Score
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scor...6206240DET
June 24, 1962. The Yankees prevailed 9 to 7. I had thought it ended 1 to 0 on a homer. Still, it’s not surprising it gave me that impression. All the scoring came early. 6 to 3 after the first, knotted at 7 apiece at the end of six. After that there were 15 scoreless innings. Occasionally there would be a long ball that would bring everyone to their feet, followed by a collective groan as some fielder nabbed it. By then it no longer mattered which team prevailed. It was now spectators versus baseball players.
I remember suffering an injury on one of those long balls. I had stood up along with everyone else, and when the fielder ran back and caught it on the warning track, I groaned and sat down sharply. But the man behind me was still standing, and he had his hand resting on the back on my seat, and he was holding a cigarette. I jumped at the sudden fiery pain and slapped at the back on my neck, and the man apologized profusely. I had a scab for months afterward.
It’s odd I don’t remember many other the details of that outing. My mom recalls it far better than I do. It was my dad’s birthday. His brother Bud had the idea of our respective families going to the game together. We took two cars. (I do remember wanting to invite Lady Cranefly along, but on that particular day she was suffering a severe case of youngness -- exactly one month old, drooling in a crib in Missoula.)
Looking at the online stats, I see that there were some big-time players in the game. People like Maris and Mantle, Berra. Lots of the players batted 9 times. One of them batted 11 times. Each team used 7 pitchers.
We got home at about 3 in the morning. My mom had to get up at 5 to go bake pies at her mother’s restaurant. My great uncle Argyl came into the restaurant that morning. He was a noted hunter/trapper/fisher in the region and something of a braggart. He was always stopping in at our place with a great horned owl he’d caught in a trap, or a 21-pound carp from the river, or a huge snapping turtle. Anyway, that morning he said to my mom, “Did you hear about that crazy game in Detroit last night that went 22 innings?” And my mom had the pleasure of telling him yes, she had been at the game.
I do recall one other thing about the game. As we were walking out of the stadium, I was thinking, “Someday I’ll have to go another game -- but not right away.”
True to my word, just over 50 years later I’ve gone to another game -- though it felt short at 11 innings.
New York Yankees vs Detroit Tigers
June 24, 1962 Box Score
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scor...6206240DET