National League Standings, September 11, 1974
METS FANS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES OF THE SEPTEMBER 11, 1974 GAME:
Kevin
August 17, 2001
Woke up about 3 or 4 in the morning.....they're still playing.....Cards go ahead in the top of the 25th....Bob Murphy says, "Wouldn't it be great if the Mets tied it up.....and we went another 10 or so......."
robert
July 8, 2003
I went to this game! Was getting ready to head for the exit with the Mets up by two runs - two out in the top of the ninth. Ken Reitz hits a homer and ties it up. We stick it out until about the 15th inning. One long subway ride later - I get home to see it's still on TV! Don't think I made it past the 20th before calling it a night.
Mark
October 13, 2003
I was in college at the time and sat down when the game became tied. I told myself I would watch it until the end. Osteen pitched a great game 9 + innings late in the game. He was near the end of his career. Bake McBride scored all the way from 1st on an overthrown pick off throw to 1st. After the game on Kiner's Corner, he was asked why he kept running around third even though the coach did not signal him to run. He said sonething like we have been here long enough already and I just wanted to go home.
Ray
January 12, 2004
I lived ten minutes from Shea Stadium. In around the 15th inning I called a friend and we headed off to Shea. We walked in to the stadium and grabbed a box seat somewhere behind home plate, on the 1st base side. I was well aware that the longest game ever ended in a 1-1 tie in 26 innings due to darkness in 1920. Here we are sitting in on history, although we missed the first 16 innings.
Bake McBride is on 1st base in the top of the 25th with no one out. He's taking a big lead and the Mets pitcher has him picked off easily, as McBride heads for 2nd. OOPS! He throws the ball down the right field line, and McBride is off to the races. It's like little league where the guy is not going to stop for anything in the world. The 3rd base coach has his arms up pleading for McBride to stop at 3rd with no one out. McBride flies thru the stop sign. The relay from rightfield to the infield to home was on the money, and McBride is going to be out from Flushing to Bayside. Only problem the throw short hops the catcher who can't hang on. The next 3 Cardinals went down in order.
Mets fail to score in the bottom of the 25th. We still got to see 9 innings.
Bob P
October 15, 2004
A couple of obscure records were set in this game. The Mets sent 103 batters to the plate, the largest total in major league history...and the only time 100 batters have been up for one team in one game (St. Louis had 99 plate appearances in the game).
Also, a record 45 men were left on base by the two teams.
Thirty-five year old veteran Claude Osteen pitched 9.1 innings in relief, coming into the game in the fourteenth inning, and leaving in the 23rd. Jerry Cram pitched eight innings of shutout relief for the Mets.
It was also the first major league game for Bruce Boisclair, who came on as a pinch-runner for Duffy Dyer in the 23rd inning.
The Mets did not score over the final twenty innings of the game.
Blame Ken Reitz for the late night: it was his two-out home run in the top of the ninth that tied the score and spoiled Jerry Koosman's bid for a complete game four-hitter. Reitz averaged just eight home runs per 162 games in his career.
Putbeds 62
December 28, 2005
Joe Torre went 2 for 9. The SS for the Cards was Mike Tyson (NOT the boxer). The Mad Hungarian pitched in this game (When I would play wiffle ball with my friend I would imitate Al H. and his mad as heck pitching stance.) Plus making a brief pinch-hitting appearance was a St. Louis rookie who went 0 for 1. You may have heard of him: Keith Hernandez.
Scott Hacker
August 23, 2006
I was in school; the year had just started. My older brother took me to the game. We stayed the whole time. My father yelled at my brother when we got home. I got into big trouble. Talk about being out late on a school night!!
Jerry Hedges
February 10, 2011
Talked with Jerry Cram in 2009 in Bakersfield at a local game (Bak vs San Jose Giants). Jerry being my cousin answered my question, what do you remember about THAT game, said, "I came in at one o'clock in the morning and was still pitching at three." I did not go to the game. My mom's a Cram.
Steve Tuttle
May 10, 2013
I went to this game with 3 guys I worked with. I was an avid Cardinal fan. When Reitz hit his HR in the 9th and the Mets failed to score in the bottom of the inning, we were thrilled to get extra innings. The other 3 guys, including my boss, wanted to leave around the 14th inning, but I refused to go. We all had to be at work at 8:00 sharp that morning. We stayed through 23 innings and then gave up and left. I think it was around 3 AM. Then we got lost on the way home, heard the end of the game on the radio, and realized we should have stayed til the end.
The worst part was that I bought 2 tix that night to the next night's game. My buddy came to pick me up the next afternoon and I was so sound asleep that I didn't hear the doorbell. He went to a pay phone and called me and I dragged myself out for another game. Barely stayed awake through that one.
I've always been glad that I was there on Sept 11 to see history but regret that I left after 23 innings.
Jane Hocter Remis
June 29, 2013
Of all of the games I've been to, this one will always be one of my top favorite memories, because
#1 - in those days, players who were taken out of the game were not allowed to leave the ballpark until the game ended, but many of the Mets players got bored sitting in the locker room for such a long time, so some of them came and sat in the stands with their families or by themselves to watch the rest of the game. George Theodore sat in the row behind us.
#2 - As the game went on and on and Shea Stadium emptied, it became more and more fun to be one of the overtired faithful few that remained. We stayed until the very end.
#3 - Late in the game, they were calling Ralph Kiner over the PA system, asking him to return to the broadcast booth. Later on, they found him asleep in the Kiner's Korner Studio, where he had gone to prepare for his show in the 18th inning, when it looked like the game would be over soon.
Mark Bronkowski
August 11, 2015
I was 16 years old and a sophomore at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, NJ. My father took me and our neighbor who was a custodian at Ridgewood High School a die-hard Cardinals fan to the game. My dad caught a foul ball and we stayed for the whole game. There wasn't a lot of people left and some were sleeping when the game ended. We got home around 5 am and I made it to school the next day. What a wild game, only to have it end on a error! That was one of the best memories I have of my father and neighbor!
Raymond
March 19, 2016
The Mets were just playing out the season.
NYB Buff
November 1, 2022
The Mets and Cardinals played a 25-inning game that was decided by an unearned run. This marathon featured Cleon Jones' 93rd and last career homer, Bruce Boisclair's major league debut in the bottom of the 23rd and Brock Pemberton's first hit in the 25th. Boisclair had entered as a pinch-runner and was left stranded at third base. Jerry Cram, who pitched eight scoreless innings of relief, singled in the 18th for the only hit of his career. The whole thing lasted a total of seven hours and four minutes.
Not that Mets fans would be interested, but I've got to include this. While the Mets and Cards were going on and on and on, the Yankees were playing a twi-night doubleheader in Baltimore. The Orioles won the opener in 17 innings and the Yanks took the nightcap in the regulation nine. The two New York teams combined for 51 innings in three games on one night. That's a lot of baseball!
Now it's your turn! Tell us what you remember of this game:
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