On This Date in Sports September 11, 1974: All Night at Shea
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
In the second-longest game in MLB history, the St. Louis Cardinals outlast the New York Mets 4-3 in 25 innings at Shea Stadium. A total of 50 players were used, with nine playing the entire game. The game took seven hours to play ending after 3 AM, as Hank Webb’s errant pickoff throw led to Bake McBride scoring the winning run for the Cardinals.
After a stunning September comeback and a run to the World Series in 1973, the New York Mets had a letdown in 1974. It started all on opening day when Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a walk-off home run against Tug McGraw. As September arrived, the Mets were out of the race at 65-74 under manager Yogi Berra. The St. Louis Cardinals meanwhile led by a record-setting season by Lou Brock on the basepaths were battling the Pittsburgh Pirates at the top of the National League East. Coming into the series, the Cardinals were 74-68 under Red Schoendienst, trailing by three and a half games.
The Mets had Jerry Koosman on the mound, while the Cardinals had impressive rookie Bob Forsch making the start. Each pitcher gave up a run in the first inning as Joe Torre drove in Ted Sizemore for the Cardinals and John Milner doubled in Cleon Jones for the Mets. In the fifth inning, the Mets took a 3-1 lead thanks to a two-run home run from Jones, with Felix Millian on base. The lead would hold up until the ninth inning when Ken Reitz tied the game with a two-run shot, Larry Herndon on base after pinch-running for Ted Simmons.
Koosman went nine for the Mets and left with a no-decision, while the Cardinals got six innings from Forsch, and two from Mike Garman, while Al Hrabosky the Mad Hungarian came in for the ninth inning after the game as tied. Hrabosky would pitch three innings, while Harry Parker was the first reliever to come in the game for the Mets. In the 12th inning, the Cardinals sent a rookie pinch hitter to the plate for Mike Tyson. That rookie named Keith Hernandez made his debut as September call up flew out to right in his only at-bat of the night.
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Rich Folkers came on to pitch for the Cardinals in the 12th, while Bob Miller took over for New York in the 13th inning. Miller got bailed out perfect relay throw home as Joe Torre was tagged out by Duffy Dyer on a perfect relay from Cleon Jones and Wayne Garrett on a single by Bake McBride. As the game went past midnight, Bob Apodaca and Jerry Cram pitched in and out of trouble for the Mets. Meanwhile, Claud Osteen went nine-plus for St. Louis, after taking over for an ineffective Ray Bare in the 14th.
Later and later the game went, as the crowd which started at 13,460 dwindled down to 1,000. Had the Wednesday Night game been played in the American League, it would have been halted at 1 AM, due to league curfew rules. Those rules did not exist in the NL, so the game went on another two hours. Sonny Seibert came on for the Cardinals in the 23rd inning and escaped a bases-loaded jam by getting Cleon Jones to flyout.
In the 25th inning, Hank Webb took over for New York and allowed a leadoff single to Bake McBride. Looking to hold McBride on, Webb threw over to first base, but the ball got away and sailed down the right-field line. McBride would go all the way around the bases, as an error by Ron Hodges on the throw home, allowed him to score the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the 25th, Brock Pemberton singled with two outs, but John Milner struck out to end the game, allowing the Cardinals to hold on for a 4-3 win.