The endless night

The official scorer’s handiwork from the longest of all games

Friday marks the 44th anniversary of the longest day – not to mention, longest night and longest early morning – in the playing career of journeyman catcher Dave Huppert.

A prospect then in the Baltimore Orioles' system, Huppert is the starting catcher on this night in 1981 for the Class AAA Rochester Red Wings in a game at Pawtucket – a game that lasts a record 32 innings before being suspended at 4:07 a.m. in the early morning of April 19, 1981.

The game resumes six weeks later for a 33rd and final inning, in which Pawtucket finally scores the winning run.

Huppert, who celebrates his 24th birthday only the day before beginning his marathon, is behind the plate for the first 31 innings and goes 1-for-11 before he is lifted for pinch-hitter Ed Putman in the top of the 32nd.

Oh, by the way, the game features two future Hall of Famers – Wade Boggs, who goes 4-for-12 for Pawtucket, and Cal Ripken Jr., who has just one hit in his 12 at-bats for Rochester.

“They pinch-hit for me in the 32nd inning, then I couldn't play when they resumed, because I’d already been in the game,” a still-grumbling Huppert says years later.

“I might as well have finished it,” Huppert says. “Actually, I was well rested. I hadn’t played in a week because of a hyperextended knee. After it got going, you just forgot about everything and kept playing.”