40 years ago today I was at Shea Stadium in New York to watch a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets.
My father's company sponsored bus trips to Yankee and Shea Stadium a few times each year. We would go a couple of times each year. This night, it was me, my dad and mom, my brother and my cousin.
The night before, Lou Brock of the Cardinals has stolen a base to set the all time record of most stolen bases in a season. I was a little disappointed as I was hoping to see him set the record at our game. It seemed like a missed chance to see something historic happen. Little did I know.
It was a good game and the Mets were winning 3 to 1 in the top of the ninth inning. With 2 outs, Ken Reitz of the Cardinals hit a 2 run home run to tie the game. The game went into extra innings. Neither team could score. At around 1:30 AM Mets manager Yogi Berra was thrown out. Some people who were with us went back to the bus to sleep. The Cards scored a run in the top of the 25th, yes 25th inning. The Cards won in 25 innings, 4 to 3.
It was the longest baseball game in history played to completion. (There was a famous 26 inning tie in 1920). The game ended at 3:12 AM!
We got home a little after 5:00 AM. I went home and slept to about 10 AM, skipping school. My cousin went right to his morning job at the newspaper store and went home to bed, also skipping school. I think my dad went to work and my brother had to go to classes as it was his first day of college.
So, I ended up seeing history made!
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
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