Harold Baines Ends the Longest Game in American League History

On May 9, 1984, Harold Baines of the Chicago White Sox hit a home run into the center field bullpen in the bottom of the 25th inning, ending the longest game in American League history. The White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 in a contest that consumed eight hours and six minutes spread across two days.

The game had started the previous evening, May 8, at Comiskey Park. The two teams traded leads through regulation and into extra innings. The Brewers scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 3-1 lead, and the White Sox answered with two in the bottom half to tie it, and the game ground forward inning after inning with neither team able to break through. An AL rule prohibited any new inning from starting after 1 a.m. local time, so the game was suspended after 17 innings (some sources say 18) in the early morning hours.

When play resumed the following evening before the regularly scheduled game, the marathon continued. Pitchers on both sides were exhausted. The White Sox had already used eight pitchers. Milwaukee was in similar shape. Tom Seaver, the 39-year-old scheduled starter for the regularly scheduled game that evening, pitched the top of the 25th inning in relief and earned the win. He then started and won the second game as well, picking up two victories on the same day.

On the 753rd pitch of the contest, Baines stepped in against Chuck Porter. He drove a fastball over the center field fence. The White Sox poured out of the dugout. The game was finally over.

Baines went 2-for-11 in the marathon, but only the last at-bat counted. The bat he used for the final swing is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Baines played 22 major league seasons and was inducted into the Hall in 2019. Of everything he did on a baseball field, the swing that ended 25 innings of attrition at old Comiskey Park remains the moment most fans remember first.