Does anybody really know any of these off the top of their head? I know #7 is something like 53 or 58 minutes, but I'm pretty sure I remember them mentioning that during one of the broadcasts this weekend. Otherwise I'm not sure I would've known even that.

I am sure there are some SABR members who know all of the answers to this off the top of their heads. (I do now (though I'm not a SABR member), though it's questionable how long that "knowledge" will last...)

That being said, there may be some mention on radio or TV today of the game that is the subject of questions 1-3; I first heard about it on a "this day in history" featurette on an NPR station over 10 years ago, and I keep hearing it mentioned several times over the intervening years. It's one of those "amaze your friends" factoids that gets passed around a lot, in part I think because of the fact that two Hall of Famers were involved in it.

I think quizzes should be multiple choice, because, again, who knows this stuff off the top of their head?

len,

i'm old and gray enough to know some of this stuff. . . .

#1 the longest game ever was an international league game between pawtucket and, i don't know, tidewater or richmond or one of those other il teams.

#2 number of innings was 32 or thereabouts

#3 i'm gonna guess that wade boggs was involved, and just outta my a** i'll say the other was ryne sandberg.

#5 cards at mets, september somethingth, 1974 --- cards won it on a hit by bake mcbride in the 25th inning. mike shannon set a record by consuming an entire keg of busch beer during the broadcast

#1 Is pawtuckett vs. somebody (I'll guess Rochester since I'm gussing ripken).

#2 I'm also going with 32

#3 Boggs is right. I want to say Ripken was on the other side.

#4 Longest game was 26 inning. Between Brooklyn and somebody (Pittsburgh?) 1-1 tie, right? No clue on clock time.

#6 Is this the double header in 87 between the Cards and Dodgers?

And y'all are complaining that nobody knows the answers off'n the top of their heads. Here, some of y'all are right (and those that aren't right are close on a few of them. :-) )

I'll hold off on posting answers for a bit, since I did give the link to my blog where I discuss all the games asked about (though I don't post the actual answer list...)

Is this the Iowa Baseball Confederacy vs. Cubs game in 1908 that lasted some 2000 innings.

Oh, I think I'm getting my Kinsella novels mixed up with real life.

A little more detail on the Cards-Mets game that was mentioned above. On September 11th, 1974, Bake McBride scored the winning run in the top of the 25th inning. He was on first, and scored all the way from first on an errant pickoff attempt.

I believe this is by clock time (#4) the longest major league game ever played.

It also led to the Cardinals baseball network rule that Mike Shannon does not get any, um, refills of tall, frosty, cold Budweiser or other Anheuser-Busch product after the 9th inning. He was singing "It's 3 o'clock in the morning," and he was hammered. I remember getting up in the middle of the night, and hearing my dad listening to the game.

Then, 11 years later, September 11th, 1985 was the John Tudor - Dwight Gooden scoreless duel won by Cesar Cedeno's home run in the 10th. With the unbalanced schedule and the 90s divisional realignment, the Cardinals will probably not be scheduled to play the Mets in New York on September 11th for a very long time, so that's likely the end of those calendar coincidences.

Ok, answer time, but before I give them I'm impressed with TedSimmonsFan's mastery of the facts of the 9/11/74 game.

1) Class AAA, International League, the Pawtucket Red Sox playing the Rochester Red Wings on April 18, 1981.

2) The game went on for 33 innings, or 8 hours, 7 minutes by the clock (and two months by the calendar; the game was suspended at 4:07 AM of April 19 when the league president called the stadium to inform the umpires of the league rule prohibiting the start of a new inning in a game after 12:50 AM (for some reason, that rule was not printed in the umpires handbook distributed by the league). The game was resumed on June 23, when it took a mere 18 minutes to finally conclude the game in the bottom of the 33rd with a 3-2 Rochester win).

3) The two Hall of Famers who participated were Wade Boggs of the PawSox and Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Red Wings.

4) Longest MLB games: By clock time, the game between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers on May 9, 1984. Chicago beat Milwaukee 7-6 in 25 innings in a game which lasted 8 hours, 6 minutes. Going by innings played the very longest game ever played was a May 1, 1920 game between the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves, which ended tied 1-1 after 26 innings.

5) Two games rank as the longest (by innings played) games to be played through to a decision: both the May 9, 1984 Chicago-Milwaukee marathon and the St. Louis Cardinals-New York Mets marathon of September 11, 1974 (won by the Cardinals 4-3) lasted 25 innings.

6) The shortest regulation doubleheader (2 complete 9 inning games) was played between the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis on September 26, 1926. The teams completed both games in 2 hours, 7 minutes. Game 2, which was completed in 55 minutes, set the American League record for shortest regulation (9 inning) complete game.

7) The shortest complete regulation game was a September 28, 1919 matchup between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. That day, it took the Giants only 51 minutes to put down the Phillies, 6-1.

Thanks for the nod, Len -- perhaps the 9/11/74 game was the longest by clock time until the White Sox/Brewers game in 1984?

And for the record, I love Retrosheet.

TSF

I misread 6 and was going for longest doubleheader by time. Not that I knew it otherwise.