Will it ever end

In Major League Baseball history, 6 games have reached the 24th inning. The games are equally divided between the two leagues. Three of the six games have gone on to the 25th inning. Two of the games were called tie games. Today we are looking at the American League game played on July 21, 1945 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the Philadelphia A's and the Detroit Tigers.

The game tied an American League record set some 39 years earlier for most innings in one game. The record was broken some 39 years later in 1984. The 24 inning game was called a 1-1 tie. The A's scored their run in the bottom of the 4th inning and had the lead until the top of the seventh, when the Tigers scored their run. The two teams combined for 27 hits but, each team scored only one extra base hit, that being a double for each team. The two teams combined to leave 33 runners on base. The pitching only walked 12 batters in the game. Each team also sent two pitchers to the mound. The Tigers Russ Christopher pitched the first 13 innings and Joe Berry pitched the last 11 innings. The A's starter Les Muellar pitched 19 2/3 inings before being relieved by Dizzy Trout. The game was played in 4:48 before a crowd of 4526. The teams sent an amazing 179 batters to the plate.

Tomorrow we will look at extra inning no-hitters.