On This Date in Sports May 31, 1964: A Long Day at Shea
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
The San Francisco Giants and New York Mets play a doubleheader that redefines playing all night as the second game takes 23 innings to complete at Shea Stadium. In the opener, the Giants beat the Mets 5-3 behind Juan Marichal. However, the nightcap turns into a doubleheader of its own, going 23 innings with the Giants winning 8-6 as Gaylord Perry gets the win with ten innings of relief.
Managed by Casey Stengel, the New York Mets were still in their expansion diapers as they played their first season at Shea Stadium. As May came to an end the Mets were in last place at 14-30 as they prepared for a Sunday Doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants the day after Memorial Day. The Giants managed by Al Dark were 24-17 and in second place in the National League. In those early days of the Mets, the always drew large crowds when they faced the two teams that used play in New York. The Mets had played well that weekend winning on Friday and Saturday as the Giants made their first trip int Shea Stadium.
For the doubleheader, the Mets had a capacity crowd of 57,000 on hand. Many of them, were fans of the Giants still pining for the days they played at the Polo Grounds. In the opener, Juan Marichal made the start for the Giants, while Al Jackson started for New York. The Mets had gotten off to a good start as Jim Hickman hit a three-run home run in the second. Marichal buckled down and would not allow another run, as the Giants began chipping away when Jesus Alou singled home Orlando Cepeda in the fourth inning. In the sixth, the Giants took the lead with three runs as Cepeda doubled home Willie Mays and later stole home. While Jim Ray Hart scored on a sacrifice fly by Jim Davenport. The Giants would later tack on a run when Harvey Kuenn singled home Jesus Alou in the ninth, winning 5-3. The game was played in two and a half hours.
The second game began at 4 pm, thirty minutes after the opener and three hours after the day began for the sellout crowd. Bobby Bolin started the game for the Giants while Bill Wakefield toed the rubber for the Mets. The Giants got off to a fast start as Jesus Alou doubled home Harvey Kuenn after a leadoff walk and scored on hit by Willie Mays. The Mets got one run back in the second, as Chris Cannizzaro singled home Jim Hickman. Craig Anderson came on to pitch for the Mets in the third and was less than effective as he allowed hits to four of the five batters he faced before he was relieved by Tom Sturdivant. Sturdivant also struggled as the Giants put up four runs to take a 6-1 lead.
The Mets comeback began in the sixth inning, as Joe Christopher scored on a triple by Ed Kranepool, and scored on a hit by Charley Smith. In the seventh, the Mets started a two-out rally with hits by Roy McMillan and Frank Thomas. Christopher than came to the plate and tied the game 6-6 with a three-run homer. With Larry Bearnarth tying up the Giants for seven innings, the game went deep into extra innings. After Ron Herbel gave San Francisco four innings, it was Gaylord Perry who got the call in 13th. Bearnarth appeared to be tiring in the 14th as the first two batters reached base. However, Orlando Cepeda hit a screaming line drive to Roy McMillan, which led to a triple play. Perry took command on the mound for the Giants, while Galen Cisco came on in the 15th inning for the Mets.
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The game went on and on late into the night as the doubleheader turned into a tripleheader going past 18 innings. At 10:30, the live primetime game show “What’s My Line” began on ABC and was talked among the panelist causing a surge in the game’s ratings locally on WOR. Bennett Cerf and John Daly had no need to worry as the game in the 21st inning were still going after mystery guest star Liberace singed in.
In the 23rd inning, Cisco retired the first two batters before a triple by Jim Davenport. Cap Peterson was intentionally walked. This led Del Crandall to pinch hit for Gaylord Perry and end 21 scoreless innings by the Mets with an RBI double. He would later score on a single by Jesus Alou to make the score 8-6 in favor of the Giants. Bob Hendley came on and retired the Mets in order to end the long day’s journey into night with a save.
The second game had taken nearly seven and a half hours to play, ending just before 11:30. As the teams had played 32 innings and over ten hours of baseball. The longest doubleheader in baseball history.