Gaylord Perry, for one.

So famous for his spitter, that in an Old Timers' game I saw at the 'Stick, they brought a bucket out to the mound when he pitched.

The actual game that day (SF vs LA) was, oddly enough, another walk-off, extra (10) inning affair in which the winning pitcher (journeyman long reliever/spot starter Mike LaCoss) went the distance for the winning team.

Oh goodness yes on Gaylord Perry. And I just remembered Don Sutton. Both those guys were great but played at the same time as so many superstars.

The bat talent that was kept quiet for 15 and a half innings in that game was impressive, too: Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda for the Giants and Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews for the Braves.

That's SEVEN future Hall of Famers on the field that day (and the Giants had Gaylord Perry not pitching that day).

Some batting averages took a hit that day. Aaron went 0 for 6. Mathews went 0 for 2 then was replaced ( injury?) by Denis Menke who went 0 for 5. McCovey and Felipe Alou both went 0-6 and Mays went 1 for 6 with his only hit being the game winner.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196307020.shtml

Here's another great pitched game. Harvey Haddix's 12 inning perfect game that he lost in the 13th 1-0.

Plus the cheating, sign stealing angle that was admitted to later is interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Haddix%27s_near-perfect_game

From the thread title I just figured this would be about Kerry Wood's 20K game. The most unhittable looking stuff I've ever seen that day, the ball was moving like a wiffle ball.

In my search to verify that Wood's game is the best of all time, I came across this article from a couple of years back.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23861547/the-best-pitching-performance-ever-all-30-teams

My favorite one on there, Joe Oeschger for the Braves pitching all 26 innings in a game to set the game score record at 153, a record that is 100% unbreakable.

Also of note, the author agrees that Wood's game is the greatest. The 9 inning game score of 105 is the highest ever for a 9 inning game, and will be hard to ever best. Basically a pitcher would have to throw a 20 strikeout perfect game to do it.

What I think makes this game so unique is that both pitchers took shutouts into the 16th inning.

Someone even wrote a book about it.

"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain!"

BTW years ago (it was published on January 1, 1974 - so yeah I guess I am an old Ag) I read Gaylord Perry's book, "Me and The Spitter."

He called it "An Autobiographical Confession"

It was a hilarious, informative, and just all-around great read.
I would highly recommend it.

And holy moley it is crazy expensive on Amazon - maybe I have a collector's item.

rausr said:

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"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain!"

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The Giants had a variation on that in the late 2000s..."Lincecum and Cain and pray for rain."

rausr said:

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BTW years ago (it was published on January 1, 1974 - so yeah I guess I am an old Ag) I read Gaylord Perry's book, "Me and The Spitter."

He called it "An Autobiographical Confession"

It was a hilarious, informative, and just all-around great read.
I would highly recommend it.

And holy moley it is crazy expensive on Amazon - maybe I have a collector's item.

---

I went looking for that book, and discovered a biography of Perry written by the former head of the A&M history department, Dr. David Vaught.

Spitter: Baseball's Notorious Gaylord Perry

Evans Library, annoyingly, doesn't have Perry's autobiography. Interlibrary loan FTW!

AggieEP said:

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From the thread title I just figured this would be about Kerry Wood's 20K game. The most unhittable looking stuff I've ever seen that day, the ball was moving like a wiffle ball.

In my search to verify that Wood's game is the best of all time, I came across this article from a couple of years back.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23861547/the-best-pitching-performance-ever-all-30-teams

My favorite one on there, Joe Oeschger for the Braves pitching all 26 innings in a game to set the game score record at 153, a record that is 100% unbreakable.

Also of note, the author agrees that Wood's game is the greatest. The 9 inning game score of 105 is the highest ever for a 9 inning game, and will be hard to ever best. Basically a pitcher would have to throw a 20 strikeout perfect game to do it.

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I checked out that link and learned that this thread should more properly be called the greatest game pitched in the live ball era. On May 1, 1920 Joe Oeschger of the Brooklynn Robins and Leon Cadore of the Boston Braves hooked up in the ultimate pitcher's duel. Both pitchers went the distance in a 26 inning 1-1 tie.

Rumors are that the Robins, predecessors of today's Los Angeles Dodgers, complained the Cadore was scuffing the ball.

Smeghead4761 said:

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rausr said:

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"Spahn and Sain and pray for rain!"

---

The Giants had a variation on that in the late 2000s..."Lincecum and Cain and pray for rain."

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If only Cain ever got any run support he'd have been a 15-20 game winner throughout his career. So sad he got "Cained" as often as he did, as he's still one of my favorites. Got to see his sendoff game, to make his last appearance, and damned if I didn't tear up a bit. His stats didn't show it, but he's one of the unknown and under appreciated greats of this giants generation through the dynasty of great teams won by incredible pitching, if only because he was such a likeable guy who gritted through no run support, but never once complained. A true class act.

WT

Sandy Koufax had some Gems back in the day where he just flat out dominated start to finish.

AggieEP said:

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From the thread title I just figured this would be about Kerry Wood's 20K game. The most unhittable looking stuff I've ever seen that day, the ball was moving like a wiffle ball.

In my search to verify that Wood's game is the best of all time, I came across this article from a couple of years back.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23861547/the-best-pitching-performance-ever-all-30-teams

My favorite one on there, Joe Oeschger for the Braves pitching all 26 innings in a game to set the game score record at 153, a record that is 100% unbreakable.

Also of note, the author agrees that Wood's game is the greatest. The 9 inning game score of 105 is the highest ever for a 9 inning game, and will be hard to ever best. Basically a pitcher would have to throw a 20 strikeout perfect game to do it.

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I was expecting the same....that base hit should have been an error. And he did it against a very strong lineup - 2 HOFers and a couple other All-Stars