The Braves' Joe Oeschger battled Brooklyn's Leon Cadore for 26 innings in the longest
game in major league history, played to a 1-1 deadlock on May 1, 1920. Oeschger gave
up only nine hits, walked four, and set a single-game ML record by pitching 21 consecutive
scoreless innings. He was "a little tired" at the end, but said he benefited from
the short seventh inning, when he retired the side on three pitches. It was not Oeschger's
first marathon performance against Brooklyn; on April 30, 1919, facing
Burleigh Grimes,
he had pitched the Phillies to a 20-inning, 9-9 tie. Oeschger lost a league-high
18 games for Philadelphia in 1918 and won a career-high 20 with Boston in 1921. He
faltered the following year, going 6-21. Before his death in 1986, he was the last
survivor of the 22 participants in the 1920 marathon game.
(LRD)