A Long Day's Journey into Night: Twenty Innings, Two Pitchers, 39 Hits, 18 Runs, and a Tie Game

The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, one Jim Nasium*, called it "one of the most sensational ball game (sic) ever played on any ball park." On April 30, 1919, the Phillies squared off against the Brooklyn Robins at Philadelphia's Baker Bowl. The teams battled mightily through 20 innings only to see the game called because of darkness with the score tied at 9-9 after four hours of wacky and wonderful baseball. Most remarkable of all, perhaps, was that after those 20 innings, 164 plate appearances, 39 base hits, 11 walks, 5 errors, 18 runs and untold number of pitches, only two pitchers had appeared on the mound. The Robins' future Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes and the Phillies' journeyman Joe Oeschger (ESH-ker) each pitched 20-inning complete games. This is a feat that is hard to imagine in this day, when starting pitchers are generally asked to pitch six or seven good innings and when complete game nine-inning pitching performances are becoming a rarity. 

Grimes faced 82 batters in the game. Oeschger faced 84. Grimes gave up 15 hits. Oeschger gave up an astounding 24. Even by conservative estimates each of the pitchers must have thrown close to 300 pitches on the afternoon. All this and yet for an error on a routine ground ball with two outs in the ninth inning, the game would have ended in regulation.

The game was a seesaw battle from the start. The Phillies scored first when Dave Bancroft drove home Cy Williams with a triple in the first inning. The Robins came right back with two runs in the second on four consecutive singles by Hi Myers, Ed Konetchy, Lew Malone, and Ernie Kreuger. The Robins extended their lead to 5-1 in the third on singles by Ivy Olson, Zach Wheat, and Konetchy, and a double by Myers. The Phils closed the gap to 5-4 on a single by Bancroft, a walk to Possum Whitted, and doubles by Fred Luderas and Doug Baird. From there the game calmed down and the pitchers took over until the Phillies retook the lead in the bottom of the eighth on another Luderas double, a bunt, a fielder's choice ground ball where Luderas beat the throw home, and an error by Robins' third baseman Malone.

Oeschger took the mound in the top of the ninth with a 6-5 lead and a chance to win the game for the Phils. It was not to be. Pinch-hitter Jim Hickman led off with a single and advanced to second on a Grimes sacrifice bunt. Hickman advanced to third on a groundout. Oeschger then induced Lee Magee to hit a ground ball to second base, but Harry Pearce bobbled the ball and the tying run scored. In time, players on both teams, as well as fans with dinner reservations, would come to regret that muff. 

Grimes and Oeschger managed to keep the opposition off the board for the next nine innings. Defense played a role in keeping the game tied. Pearce, whose error had let in the tying run, redeemed himself in the fourteenth. With one out and Robins' baserunners on first and third, Pearce speared a hard bouncer from Tommy Griffith and fired home to catch Olson trying to score. Then after Oeschger issued an intentional walk to Wheat, Pearce leaped to grab Myers' wicked shot toward right and throw him out at first. Later a pair of spectacular double plays started by Bancroft at short in the 16th inning and Luderas at first in the seventeenth, kept the Robins off the board.

In the nineteenth the dam broke. With two men on and one out, Oeschger struck out the dangerous Wheat. That brought up Hi Myers, the Robins center fielder who was having a terrific game. In the field he had made several spectacular grabs of Phillies' drives and at the plate he had four hits including that RBI double. Now Myers launched a long fly ball over left fielder Whitted's head. Whitted got turned around and the ball flew beyond his outstretched glove and bounced into the stands. Under ground rules in effect at the time, the ball was ruled a home run and the Robins had a three-run lead. 

The Phillies weren't finished yet, however. Two of their best hitters, Irish Muesel and Gavvy Cravath, who did not start the game, were still on the bench and available to pinch-hit. Williams led off the bottom of the 19th and reached base when Robins' right fielder Griffith dropped his line drive. Bancroft forced Williams at second. Luderas lashed his fourth hit of the game, a single to right. Whitted followed with a single driving home Bancroft. Baird grounded out sharply to the pitcher Grimes, but Muesel, batting for Pearce, was walked. Phillies manager Jack Coombs then went to his ace in the hole and sent Cravath up to hit for catcher Hick Cady. Cravath, the aging Phillies slugger, smashed a drive off Baker Bowl's famous short, high wall in right. Luderas and Whitted scored easily to tie the game, and when Cravath intentionally got caught in a rundown between first and second, Muesel tried to score. Grimes threw to catcher Mack Wheat just in time to catch Muesel and the game marched into inning number 20.

Both pitchers worked around a runner on second base in a scoreless 20th inning. At that point umpire Bill Klem turned toward the crowd of 1,300 and announced the game would be called because of darkness. No one really complained. If the game ended with no decision, at least the crowd had been mightily entertained. 

This would be the longest game Burleigh Grimes pitched in his long Hall of Fame career. For Joe Oeschger, however, the game was merely a warm -up. The following year on May 1, 1920, while pitching for the Boston Braves, Oeschger pitched all 26 innings in another game against the Robins. That game, the longest game by innings in major league history, ended in a 1-1 tie. You can read about the game at the SABR Games Project here.

*Jim Nasium was the pen name of the sports cartoonist/sports writer, Edgar Forrest Wolfe, who worked for newspapers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as well as drawing covers for The Sporting News. This quote is from his article on the game in The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 1919.