Philadelphia Athletics 18, Cleveland Indians 17 (1932)

Philadelphia Athletics at Cleveland Indians

PHL CLE 18 17
18 innings
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 R H E PHL 2 0 1 2 0 1 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 18 25 1 CLE 3 0 3 0 1 1 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 17 33 5
Date	July 10, 1932 (1932-07-10)
Venue	League Park
City	Cleveland
Managers	Connie Mack (PHL) Roger Peckinpaugh (CLE)
Umpires	HP: George Hildebrand Brick Owens
Attendance	10,000 (estimated)
Time of game	4:05

On July 10, 1932, the Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians 18–17 in 18 innings in a Major League Baseball game played at League Park in Cleveland. Several major-league records were set during the game; for example, Johnny Burnett of the Indians became the only player to hit safely nine (or even eight) times in a game, while Cleveland's 33 hits and the teams' combined 58 hits are also single-game records. Pitcher Eddie Rommel secured the win for the Athletics, pitching an American League-record 17 innings in relief after Philadelphia's Lew Krausse gave up three runs in the first inning. The 29 hits Rommel allowed are a major-league record; the 14 runs against him are the most given up by a winning pitcher.

Coming into the game, the Athletics, who were the three-time defending American League champions, trailed the New York Yankees in the standings by 71⁄2 games. Sunday baseball was still illegal in Philadelphia, forcing the Athletics to make one-game road trips on some Sundays, including July 10. With his pitching staff exhausted by six games in the previous three days, the owner and manager of the Athletics, Connie Mack, took only two pitchers on the train trip to Cleveland, giving the rest of the staff the day off. With no chance of being relieved except by a position player, Rommel pitched with mixed effectiveness, giving up six runs in the seventh inning but only two runs in the final nine innings of the game. He aided his own cause by getting three hits in seven at bats. Cleveland's Wes Ferrell took the loss after Jimmie Foxx got his sixth hit of the game and then scored. Foxx had already batted in eight runs, having hit three home runs and accumulated sixteen total bases, tying a record that has since been broken.

The victory brought the Athletics to within six games of the Yankees, but they came no closer. Philadelphia finished the season in second place, and the Athletics did not win the pennant again for forty years. Neither Krausse nor Rommel pitched in the major leagues after 1932. The July 10 game was the 171st victory of Rommel's MLB career; he never won another major league game.