On May 31, 1964, the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants played a scheduled doubleheader at the then new Shea Stadium. A record crowd of 57,037 – the largest crowd in MLB that year – was on hand, and what they witnessed bordered on the surreal.
The first game started at 1:05 PM. When all was said and done, the fans that stayed the course nearly stayed until June, as the games ended at 11:25 PM that night – including a Game 2 that lasted over seven hours. It featured a triple play, outstanding outings by relief pitchers on both sides, and many other unusual occurrences.
The doubleheader also featured a young Ed Kranepool, who played a twin bill the day before for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons before being called up the following morning to the big club. Kranepool would play 51 innings in the space of 48 hours.
The first game was a normal everyday two hour and twenty-nine minute affair won by San Francisco, 5-3. Winning pitcher Juan Marichal picked up his eighth victory of the season in the Giants’ win.
The nightcap was a marathon ending scarcely 30 minutes before midnight, June 1. The box score of this classic is here.
The Giants took a 6-1 lead early in the game, but the Mets tied it on RBIs by Kranepool and Charley Smith. Then, in the seventh, Joe Christopher hit a ball just over the outstretched glove of Willie Mays for a three-run homer to tie the game at 6-6.
Larry Bearnarth took the mound for the Mets in the eighth inning. Pitching into the extra innings, Bearnarth gave up a tenth inning triple to Tom Haller and a double to Orlando Cepeda in the twelfth, but no runs. Meanwhile, San Francisco’s Bob Shaw and Ron Herbel combined for five full innings of shutout ball before Gaylord Perry came in to pitch a scoreless thirteenth.
In the top of the fourteenth, Bearnarth started off by walking Jesus Alou. A single by Mays followed, and Cepeda came up to the plate. With the runners moving on the pitch, Cepeda lined out to shortstop Roy McMillan. Roy then stepped on second base for the second out and threw to Kranepool at first for a 6-6-3 triple play. It was the second triple play in Mets history. Bearnarth left after the fourteenth, with seven shutout innings of relief.
Galen Cisco entered in the fifteenth and got into a relief pitcher’s duel with Perry. Cisco allowed only two singles over eight shutout innings, during which he retired 14 straight hitters and recorded five strikeouts. Perry matched scoreless innings with Cisco, bringing his total for the game to 10 while striking out nine batters. Cisco’s and Perry’s outstanding performances kept the game tied after 22 innings.
Jim Davenport came to bat against Cisco with two out in the top of the 23rd. Davenport hit a triple to right field and Cap Peterson was intentionally walked. Pinch hitter Del Crandall then doubled to score Davenport, putting the Giants ahead 7-6. Peterson then scored on Jesus Alou’s single for another Giant run. The runs were the first by Giants batters in 19 innings of play.
San Francisco reliever Bob Hendley retired the Mets in order in the bottom of the 23rd, ending the game and the nearly 10 hour marathon. The Giants had an 8-6 win and a sweep of the doubleheader.
Giants pitchers struck out 22 Mets in Game 2, eclipsing the mark for strikeouts in an extra-inning game (21), set initially by the Philadelphia Phillies. When the final out was registered, the game became the longest ever in terms of time to be completed in the history of the major leagues – 7 hours and 23 minutes. The doubleheader, also the longest in history, went 9 hours and 52 minutes. The record still stands.
