September 11, 1974

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!