5 takeaways from ESPN’s 30 for 30 podcast on 33-inning PawSox game
The longest pro baseball game ever played took place in Pawtucket, R.I.
The Pawtucket Red Sox got their shot at the history books on a cold, windy April night at McCoy Stadium in 1981.
When they trailed 1-0 against the Rochester Red Wings in the bottom of the ninth, it seemed like a routine game was coming to an end.
Little did they know, the game would go on for 33 innings and would eventually be postponed for months until the Red Wings were back in town. It was the longest game — by both innings and time — in professional baseball history.
More than four decades later, ESPN is chronicling that historic night through a new 30 for 30 podcast called “The Longest Game.”
Here are five interesting nuggets from the podcast.
A monstrous wind keeps the score low
As the game dragged on through the night, the players eventually became “resigned” to the fact that neither team would score anytime soon.
Ultimately, the game lasted nearly nine hours while producing only five runs between the two teams.
The windy weather conditions certainly didn’t help matters.
“The wind was like a wall,” general manager Mike Tamburro said. “It was like a big monster just slapping balls back was you. You’d hit a shot that you thought was going out and the shortstop would make a play on it. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
Hall-of-famers and journeymen had “same fears, same anxieties”
Each team had a future hall-of-famer playing third base. Pawtucket had Wade Boggs and Rochester had Cal Ripken Jr.
“All of us were in the same boat, we were all young and we had the same fears, same anxieties,” Ripken said. “We wanted to make it and we wanted to make it bad.”
Ripken went on to break Major League Baseball’s consecutive games played record. Boggs’ No. 26 is retired by the Red Sox.
There were plenty of players on both sides who never made the major leagues, but all got to be a part of history that night.
The ghostly sounds of Elvis Presley
Around the tenth or eleventh inning, broadcaster Bob Drew calls his wife to see if she is still recording the game.
She began to run out of tapes, so she called a friend to bring more tapes, then finally she decided to tape the game over his collection of Elvis Presley recordings.
“I’ve listened to the recording,” longtime New York Times journalist Dan Barry said. “And as you’re listening to Bob Drew and Pete Torres, you can hear in the background the ghostly sounds of Elvis Presley.”
Umpire threatens to call cops on Joe Morgan
In the 22nd inning, Dallas Williams bunted the ball off of himself. Pawtucket manager Joe Morgan thought Williams was hit by the pitch, so he went out to the field to yell at the umpire after Williams was called out.
“The umpire said ‘if you don’t get off the field, I’m going to call the cops.’ And Joe said ‘what are you crazy?’ What cop is going to come to the ballpark at 1 o’clock in the morning to throw the manager out of the field?”
Broken bats became firewood
Eventually, the concessions stand started giving out free coffee and players began lighting things on fire to stay warm.
A player recalled starting a fire in a metal can and throwing broken bat pieces in along with ends of the bench to keep the fire going.
Up in the owner’s box, people were huddled under blankets, taking swigs of scotch.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com