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May 21, 1943: 89 Minute Contest is Quickest 9 Inning Night Game Ever Played in AL

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    May 21, 1943: 89 Minute Contest is Quickest 9 Inning Night Game Ever Played in AL

    From nationalpastime.com:

    May 21, 1943: "At Comiskey Park, it takes only one hour and twenty-nine minutes for the White Sox to defeat the Senators, 1-0. The 89-minute contest is the quickest nine-inning game ever played in the American League."
    ========================================================================

    MAY 21-QUICKEST AL NIGHT GAME
    https://todayinbaseball.com/quickest...ue-night-game/
    Excerpts from the todayinbaseball.com article:


    "MAY 21, 1943 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – How about an hour and 29-minute major league baseball game? That’s all it took the Chicago White Sox to beat the Washington Senators (today’s Minnesota Twins) on this date in 1943. The 1-0 Chicago victory was the quickest night game in American League history. Sox starter Johnny Humphries beat Senator starter Dutch Leonard."

    "The National League has the American League beat in the quickest night game category, however. About a year after the above referenced Senators/Sox game, the Boston Braves (today’s Atlanta Braves) beat the Cincinnati Reds 2 to 0 in an hour and fifteen minutes in Cincinnati. And these are just night games."

    "It’s remarkable that a game could be played in less than an hour and a half. What’s even more amazing is that 13 of the first 26 games the St. Louis Browns (today’s Baltimore Orioles) played in 1943 took less than 2 hours. Only one took more than 3."
    ========================================================================

    Flashback to 1919: New York Giants beat Phillies in fastest nine-inning game ever
    https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...icle-1.2377281
    Excerpts from the www.nydailynews.com article:


    "It's unlikely that anyone with an hour to kill would think of attending a baseball game as a viable option."

    "But on Sept. 28, 1919, New Yorkers who wanted to watch the Giants as they wrapped up their season were able to do just that — with nine minutes to spare."

    "In the opener of a double header at the Polo Grounds, the Giants beat the Phillies 6-1 in a game that took only 51 minutes to complete. To this day, the breezy affair remains the fastest nine-inning contest in the history of major league baseball."

    "Both Giants and Phils agreed to go after the speed record before the game started," read a recap by the Daily News, which was just a few months old at the time."

    ""That they shattered the mark and still made seven runs is remarkable. The men went up intent on smacking the first pitch. They did for the most part and this led to the hasty finish."

    "The article states that the previous record for the quickest nine-inning game was 56 minutes, set on Aug. 30, 1918, when Brooklyn visited the Polo Grounds."
    ========================================================================

    MLB GAME LENGTH RECORDS
    https://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_gmlg.shtml




    "The Yankee is one who, if he once gets his teeth set on a thing, all creation can't make him let go." Ralph Waldo Emerson

    #2
    John and Suzyn still would have complained that the game was taking too long.

    Come to think of it, they might have been there.
    Brian Cashman: "I have no idea."

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by jdpnyy View Post
      john and suzyn still would have complained that the game was taking too long.

      come to think of it, they might have been there.
      lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...lol...
      "The Yankee is one who, if he once gets his teeth set on a thing, all creation can't make him let go." Ralph Waldo Emerson

      Comment


        #4
        Early 1943 was known for low-scoring, fast games. It was wartime and the culprit was the "balata ball."

        https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/05/04...dead-ball-era/


        The core of a ball is made out of rubber and the United States’ main source of rubber was in the Dutch East Indies, which had been taken over by Japan. Between that and the fact that rubber was an essential commodity for the war effort — tank treads and airplane tires need a great deal of it — the folks at Spalding were not going to get their usual allotment for the National Pastime.

        The solution: a rubber substitute called “balata,” which is made from the dried juices of tropical trees and which, at the time, was used in the making of industrial gaskets and the insulation for telephone lines. The new ball, quickly dubbed the “balata ball” was introduced at a press conference toward the end of spring training in 1943. Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, NL President Ford Frick, and AL President Will Harridge all claimed that the ball was functionally identical to the regular baseball used through the end of the 1942 season.

        Except . . . it wasn’t. Not by a long shot.

        Almost immediately it became apparent to players and managers that the ball was deader than vaudeville. It didn’t carry. It actually hurt batters’ hands when they made contact. But it wasn’t all anecdotal. The ball’s deadness played out in the early season numbers.
        I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up.

        Comment


          #5
          Absolutely fascinating. Thank you. Great NBC Sports article also. Sincerely appreciative.
          "The Yankee is one who, if he once gets his teeth set on a thing, all creation can't make him let go." Ralph Waldo Emerson

          Comment

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