Let's Play Two!

One of the most iconic phrases in baseball history comes from the late, great Ernie Banks, who often said, "Let's play two!" Well, the Blue Legs and Canaries played two tonight, although it counts as only one game in the standings. One game, but eighteen innings. Yep, that's a league record for my nineteenth-century Hall of Famers! 

I'd venture to say that there isn't anything typical about an 18-inning game, but this one was bizarre all around. For one thing, the final score was just 1-0, which ties the mark for the lowest-scoring game in league history, despite being twice the length of a standard game. Holy cow (said the Scooter), it took 18 innings to score the game's first and only run! Even more astounding is that the fact that the two guys who started the game in the first inning -- Old Hoss Radbourn of the Blue Legs and Kid Nichols of the Canaries -- were still taking the mound in the 18th. 

Realistic? Obviously not today. In the nineteenth century, however, guys threw a lot of pitches, and they tended to finish what they started. When the ninth inning came and went with both men still working on shutouts, I didn't feel the need to remove them. There were a few opportune moments to lift them for pinch hitters, but both are reasonably proficient with the bat and Radbourn himself managed to pick up three hits in the game, which is more than most of the position players can say.

And I haven't even mentioned who won! In the end, the Legs edged the Birds by that single run when Jimmy Collins led off the 18th with a double and scored on pinch hitter Frank Chance's walkoff single. The Blue Legs' narrow victory also clinches them a spot in the Creighton Cup championship series against the first-place Haymakers. There are a still a few more regular-season games to wrap up before the championship, but I don't think anything will match the drama of what we saw tonight!