Go The Distance
Posted by Steve Lombardi on August 21, 2007
Through some research for WasWatching.com, I came across a game from 1976 where the Yankees Catfish Hunter and the Angels Frank Tanana started against each other – and they both went 13 innings in the contest. This got me curious as to how many other games were played since 1957 where both starting pitchers went 13+ innings in the game. Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Pitching Gamelog Finder, it’s easy to find all games since 1957 where a starter went 13+ innings. Then, cutting and pasting the results into Excel allows us to see that there have been just nine games since 1957 where both starters threw 13+ innings in the contest:
May 21, 1957 - Ray Moore vs. Jim Bunning
June 5, 1958 - Ralph Terry vs. Camilo Pascual
July 2, 1963 - Juan Marichal vs. Warren Spahn
June 6, 1964 - Jim Bouton vs. Dean Chance
October 2, 1965 - Chris Short vs. Rob Gardner
September 24, 1971 - Ken Forsch vs. Clay Kirby
May 26, 1973 - Stan Bahnsen vs. Gaylord Perry
June 14, 1974 - Luis Tiant vs. Nolan Ryan
August 27, 1976 - Frank Tanana vs. Catfish Hunter
Pretty cool list, huh? There are some brand-name hurlers among these 18 pitchers.
That October 2, 1965 game was something – It was the next to the last day of the season, second game of a double-header, both starters went 15 innings, the game went 18 innings, and was called a tie, 0-0, after eighteen. You don’t see that everyday.
Mark your calenders for August 27, 2007. That date will be the 31st anniversary of the game between Hunter and Tanana – which is the last time that two starting pitchers went 13+ innings in the same game. Based on the way that baseball is played today, I suspect that contest may be the very last time ever where two starting pitchers went 13+ innings pitched in the same game.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:54 pm
There’s a game from 1961 where Sandy Koufax went 13 innings, threw a complete game and threw 205 pitches. Unbelievable.