BASEBALL; Pawtucket's 32-inning game

April 23, 1981

Word has spread rapidly about the 32-inning, eight hour game between the Pawtucket (R.I.) Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, a pair of minor league teams who will continue their epic battle on June 23. The score was tied 2-2 when a decision to send everybody home, including a handful of spectators, was made at 4:07 a.m. last Sunday morning. The game is already the longest in the history of organized baseball, the previous record being a 29-inning marathon played in the Florida State League. The major league record is a 26-inning job between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves in 1920.

According to the rulebook, no inning should have started after 12:50 a.m., but umpire Jack Lietz couldn't find it in his manual. Eventually, with a sunrise eminent, International League president Harold Cooper was reached at his home in Co lumbus, Ohio. He gave the word to call the game.