Mets make history in Amazin' doubleheader
On May 31, 1964 the New York Mets and San Francisco played a doubleheader at Shea Stadium. Game 2 lasted 23 innings and set multiple records.
Sunday, May 31, 1964: In the first game of a scheduled doubleheader at Shea Stadium, Juan Marichal pitched a complete game in the San Francisco Giants 5-3 win over the New York Mets.
Between games, Mets fans were introduced to Mr. Met for the first time. The man inside the costume was Dan Reilly, one of the team’s ticket salesman.
But the real story of the day was still yet to come.
The paid attendance of 57,037 (the largest MLB crowd of the season) settled in hoping the home team would bounce back in the second game. The crowd who remained got their money’s worth — and then some — as the Mets and Giants played 23 innings (seven hours and 23 minutes) in Game 2.
The Giants took a 6-3 lead into the 7th inning of the second game. But after back-to-back singles by Roy McMillan and Frank Thomas, Mets 3B Joe Christopher hit Bobby Bolin’s 3-0 pitch 410 feet over the center field wall, just inches further than Willie Mays’ glove to tie the score 6-6.
Neither team mounted a rally until the 13th inning.
13th inning: Gaylord Perry relieved Bolin. In his book Me and the Spitter, Perry wrote:
“They saw Gaylord Perry throw a spitter under pressure for the first, but hardly the last, time in his career.”
14th inning: The Giants had Jesus Alou on second and Willie Mays on first with no outs. Giants’ manager Alvin Dark signaled for a hit-and-run. On the next pitch Roy McMillan caught a line drive off the bat of Orlando Cepeda, stepped on second to double off Alou and fired to Kranepool at first to catch Mays. The Mets had a triple play, their second in franchise history (Memorial Day 1962)
15th inning: Giants catcher Tom Haller visited Perry on the mound and suggested:
“It’s time to break the maiden, kid. I think you can do it. Throw it when you can get it on the ball. Don’t worry about me. You throw it. I’ll catch it. Let’s go.”
Perry fired one spitter after another. On 3-2, Perry threw a fastball to Chris Cannizzaro who checked his swing. Homeplate umpire Ed Sudol called ball four. Giants manager Alvin Dark came out of the visiting dugout to argue. Sudol ejected Dark, who later filed a protest with Major League Baseball.
23rd inning: Jim Davenport tripled. Galen Cisco intentionally walked Cap Peterson, with Perry, remarkably still in the game, scheduled to hit next. The Giants sent Del Crandall up to pinch hit for Perry. Crandall delivered a ground rule double to give the Giants the lead after 19 consecutive shutout innings, the Giants led 8-6.
RECORDS
Innings played: 32, the most innings ever played by big‐league teams in one day.
Time of Game: 7 hours, 23 minutes.
Time of doubleheader: 9 hours 52 minutes.
Time elapsed from first pitch of Game 1 to final pitch of Game 2: 10 hours and 23 minutes.
The game is the fourth longest in baseball history. Brooklyn and Boston hold the marathon record, 26 innings to a 1‐1 tie on May 1, 1920.
Total players: 41 (Game 2), including Ed Kranepool’s remarkable performance, who played two full games for Buffalo (AAA) in Syracuse on Saturday, then returned to Buffalo where caught a flight to New York. He played all 32 innings of the Mets-Giants doubleheader.
Gaylord Perry pitched 10 scoreless innings in relief, allowing seven hits and striking out nine Mets.
Galen Cisco pitched nine innings in relief and surrendered two runs.
Excellent story.