Remembering Mets History (1968) Mets Lose 1-0 in a Six Hour 24 Inning Game - the Second Longest Game in Franchise History
The Mets had beaten Houston the game before with a combined shut out from Nolan Ryan & Danny Frisella.
The Astrodome was also home for the NFL Houston Oilers (1968-1996) & the NBA Rockets (1971-1975) The stadium held concerts, rallies, expos, as well as other events such as the Houston Livestock & Rodeo which was held annually from 1966-2002.
Spacettes: The Astrodome, like Shea Stadium had female usherettes, but these girls known as "Spacettes" were dressed in futuristic spaced out costumes. The Spacettes went thru hours of etiquette & personality training.
The folks attending tonight's game had no idea what they were in for as this game would last six hours & six minutes going 24 innings, with only one run being scored.
Houston Astrodome Trivia: It was called the Eighth Wonder of the World at the time of it's opening. The Astrodome was the very first indoor air-conditioned stadium & would be home of the MLB Astros from its opening in 1965 thru 1999.
The 1968 MLB All Star Game has held at the Astrodome. The Mets Jerry Koosman struck out Carl Yastrzemski to end the game saving the 2-1 ML win.
Astroturf: The Astrodome was the first stadium with artificial turf which was known as Astroturf
which became a household word for fake grass. The outfield displayed the first stadium animated scoreboard "Astrolite".
which became a household word for fake grass. The outfield displayed the first stadium animated scoreboard "Astrolite".
It had a space age theme, during the space obsessed 1960's & the race to the moon, it was located in Houston near Nasa's Mission Control.
The male ushers dressed in space suits complete with helmets.
The Mets & Astros had both come into the National League in 1962 as part of baseballs big
expansion. Neither team had yet to see a winning season, after seven seasons, although the Mets were getting close as their 1969 Miracle Amazing World Championship was one year away.
The Astros would get to .500 in 1969 & not have their first winning season until 1972. Their first playoff berth would come in 1980.
It was the longest games in MLB history at that point & currently ranks as the fifth longest game ever played, second longest in Met history. At that time, no game had ever gone scoreless beyond 22 innings & no night game had ever gone that late.
After giving up that double, Seaver retired the next twenty-five batters in a row, getting all the way into the 10th inning when (future Met) Rusty Staub singled to right field. Seaver then retired Hal King for the third out.
Don Wilson shut out the Mets for nine innings, scattering five hits & three walks while striking out five.
From the 11th inning thru the 17th inning, the Mets then used five pitchers.
In the bottom of the 12th, Cal Koonce allowed a lead off hit to Ron Davis. After a sacrifice bunt, Manager Gil Hodges went to Bill Short who intentionally walked "The Toy Cannon" Jimmy Wynn. Short retired Rusty Staub on a pop up & struck out Hal King to end the inning.
For Houston, pitcher Jim Ray came on in the top of the 14th inning & gave the Astros seven scoreless innings striking out eleven Mets in that time. In the 18th Ray struck out the side in order. He posted two strike outs in the 15, 19th & 20th innings as well.
In the top of the 19th, the Mets got a leadoff single from Cleon Jones who was sacrificed over to second. Ed Charles was walked intentionally, then Ray struck out Jerry Grote as Cleon Jones safely stole third base. But Cleon was stranded there as Jim Ray struck out the Mets pitcher Danny Frisella to end the inning.
The last Mets pitcher of the night was 22-year-old Les Rohr. In the bottom of the 22nd inning, Rohr struck out Jimmy Wynn, then walked Rusty Staub.
In the bottom of the 24th, the Astros Norm Miller led off with a single to right field. Les Rohr then balked, in what the umpire said he was breaking his hands accidentally, advancing the runner over to second base.
Walk Off Error: Then Bob Aspromonte hit a ground ball to short stop Al Weis, normally a second baseman who was filling in for the injured Bud Harrelson. The ball went thru Weis' legs & Norm Miller crossed the plate with the games walk off winning run at 1:37 AM to end the game. His teammates along with manager Grady Hatton greeted Miller at the plate as they smiled & walked off the field.
Mets Trivia: Four years earlier the Mets had lost the longest day game in history at that time, a 23 inning seven-hour 23-minute 8-6 loss to the Giants in San Francisco.
Mets manager Gil Hodges would use a Mets record eight pitchers on the night & a total of 23 players. The Astros used five pitchers & a total of 17 players.
Two very good pitchers started out in this game, both putting in good performances. For the Mets the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, Tom Seaver went up against the Astros Don Wilson.
In the 1st inning, both pitchers retired the side in order.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Seaver gave up a one out double to Hal King, then threw a wild pitch advancing King to third.
Out at the Plate: The next batter Bob Aspromonte bounced a ball to second base where Ken Boswell fielded it then threw home to catcher Jerry Grote. Hal King ran into the former Astro Grote, who held on to the ball & tagged King out at the plate.
Seaver then got Julio Gotay to pop up behind the plate to catcher Jerry Grote.
On the night, Seaver pitched ten innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits. He walked no one & struck out just three batters.
Tom Seaver Shut Out Trivia: On the season, Seaver would pitch five complete game shut outs along with this game & its ten shut out innings.
Don Wilson Trivia: Wilson would toss three additional shut outs that season. He would win 15 or more games three times in his career, posting double figures in wins for eight straight seasons.
In the top of the 7th inning, Ed Kranepool led off with a base hit. With two outs Wilson walked Tom Seaver. But then he got Al Weis to ground out to first base to end the inning.
In the top of the 9th, Art Shamsky led off with a single to right field. After two ground ball outs, Jerry Grote was intentionally walked to get to Seaver who grounded back to the pitcher Wilson for the third out. These were the only two innings the Mets had put on two base runners up to that point.
From the 11th inning thru the 17th inning, the Mets then used five pitchers. In the bottom of the 11th, Ron Taylor gave up a two out base hit to Hector Torres but then retired Doug Rader for the third out.
In the top of the 12th, Astro pitcher Danny Combs gave up three singles, but when Ken Boswell singled the slow-footed Jerry Grote couldn't score from second base. Tommie Agee then grounded out to second base to end the threat & the inning.
In the top of the 13th, Danny Combs retired the Mets in order. In the bottom of the inning Bill Short gave up a one out single to Julio Gotay then walked Hector Torres putting the winning run in scoring position.
Mets manager Gil Hodges went to Dick Selma in the Mets bullpen who got out of the inning, getting two flyball outs from Ivan Murrell & Ron Davis.
For Houston, pitcher Jim Ray came on in the top of the 14th inning & gave the Astros seven scoreless innings striking out eleven Mets in that time. In the 18th Ray struck out the side in order. He posted two strike outs in the 15, 19th & 20th innings as well.Jim Ray retired the first nine Mets he faced before a leadoff double from "the Glider' Ed Charles in the 17th inning. Jerry Grote sacrificed him over, but Ray struck out Bud Harrelson & got Al Weis to ground out to end the inning.
In the 14th, the Mets Al Jackson came on pitching three scoreless innings striking out four along the way getting New York to the 17th inning. Danny Frisella came on & gave the Mets five more scoreless innings, as he did not allow a hit, he walked one & struck out four, getting New York to the 22nd inning.
In the bottom of the 20th, with one out Julio Gotay singled. Danny Frisella struck out Hector Torres & Jerry Grote threw out Gotay trying to steal second for a strike 'em out throw 'em out double play to end the inning.
In the top of the 21st inning, Houston's Wade Blasingame came on to pitch, he would go the last four innings, giving up just one hit.
In the top of the 22nd, Jerry Grote singled with one out. Manager Gil Hodges was running out of players & put up pitcher Don Cardwell to pinch hit. Cardwell sacrificed Grote over to second. But Al Weis grounded out to third baseman Bob Aspromonte to end the inning.
The last Mets pitcher of the night was 22-year-old Les Rohr. In the bottom of the 22nd inning, Rohr struck out Jimmy Wynn, then walked Rusty Staub. A wild pitch advanced Staub to second base. After retiring Hal King on a grounder to Al Weis at short, Bob Aspromonte was walked intentionally. Rohr then struck out Julio Gotay to end the inning & extend the game to the 23rd inning.
In the 23rd & 24th innings, Wade Blasingame retired the Mets in order having retired the last 11 batters in a row
In the bottom of the 23rd, Les Rohr had an easy 1-2-3 inning.
The "toy cannon" Jimmy Wynn was given his second intentional walk of the game. Rusty Staub then grounded out second base, but advanced the runners to scoring position at second & third base. Pinch hitter John Bateman was then walked intentionally to load the bases in hope of a force out at any base.
Walk Off Error: Then Bob Aspromonte hit a ground ball to short stop Al Weis, normally a second baseman who was filling in for the injured Bud Harrelson. The ball went thru Weis' legs & Norm Miller crossed the plate with the games walk off winning run at 1:37 AM to end the game. His teammates along with manager Grady Hatton greeted Miller at the plate as they smiled & walked off the field.It was a heartbreaking loss for New York as they split the two games at the Astrodome. Both teams collected eleven hits each in the game. The Mets three & four hitters, Tommie Agee & Ron Swoboda went a combined 0-20.
Luckily, the Mets had an off day the next day as they had to travel back to New York for the home opener on Wednesday afternoon.
Quotes- Gil Hodges: "These long games can really be murder".
Umpire Trivia: The home plate umpire in that long game was New Jersey born Umpire, Ed Sudol. Sudol was an MLB umpire from 1957 to 1977.
Strangely enough, Ed Sudol would be behind the plate at Shea Stadium on September 11th, 1974, as the Mets & St. Louis Cardinals played a 25-inning game, lasting seven hours, five minutes. That game is ranked as the second longest in MLB history.