The Longest Night in Baseball: When Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr. Battled Through 33 Innings

Baseball is a game of patience, endurance, and sometimes, absurdly long nights. On April 18, 1981, two future Hall of Famers (Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr.) found themselves in the middle of the longest professional baseball game ever played.

What started as a routine Triple-A matchup between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings turned into a 33-inning, eight-hour-plus war of attrition, a game so long that it literally had to be stopped in the middle of the night.

A Game That Just. Would. Not. End.

It all began at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. No one in the crowd or on the field had any clue they were about to witness (and suffer through) baseball history.

The game dragged into extra innings, but the umpires, unaware of a rule that should have allowed the game to be suspended earlier, just let it go on. And on. And on.

By the 21st inning, with Rochester clinging to a 2-1 lead, Wade Boggs — already showing the clutch-hitting skills that would define his Hall of Fame career — lined an RBI single to tie the game. As he later put it, “I’m just thinking, ‘Oh no, now we have to keep playing.’”

Cal Ripken Jr., playing third base for Rochester, endured the endless innings with his signature stoicism. He would later go on to set baseball’s ironman streak with 2,632 consecutive MLB games played, but even he probably didn’t expect to get a head start in Pawtucket.

4:09 AM: The Game That Defied Sleep

By the 32nd inning, the game was still tied. Fans had either gone home, fallen asleep in their seats, or simply gone delirious from baseball exhaustion. Players were using whatever caffeine or adrenaline they had left. The umpires? Running on fumes.

At 4:09 AM, mercifully, the league president called the stadium and ordered the game suspended. By that point, only 19 fans remained in the stands. Yes, NINETEEN.

June 23, 1981: The Conclusion

Over two months later, the teams resumed play in the 33rd inning. It didn’t take long this time — Pawtucket’s Dave Koza hit a walk-off single to finally end the longest professional baseball game ever.

Final score? Pawtucket 3, Rochester 2.

Total time played? 8 hours, 25 minutes.

Legends in the Making

Though just prospects at the time, Boggs and Ripken both used this experience as a stepping stone to greatness.

• Boggs would go on to win five batting titles and collect 3,010 career hits, cementing himself as one of the best pure hitters in baseball history.
• Ripken would redefine durability in the sport, breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak and becoming a Baltimore Orioles legend.

Baseball’s Ultimate Test of Endurance

This game displayed all of the perseverance, stamina, and sheer weirdness that makes baseball so great. No pitch clocks, no mercy rules — just a battle of willpower between two teams that refused to lose (or maybe just wanted to sleep).

The next time you think a game is dragging, just remember: at least it isn’t 33 innings long.