As of late, it seems as if baseball is getting longer and longer. In fact, this past season had the longest games ever in baseball history. In fact, I covered length of game in this article on January 6, 2020. If you were to read that article, you would discover that games in the 1950’s were A LOT faster than they are today.
If the 1950’s were faster than today, what would the 1910’s be like?
The date was September 28, 1919. It was a game between two teams out of contention: the New York Giants (the baseball team) and the Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants were 86-53 up to that point (they finished 2nd in the National League) and the Phillies were 47-89. It was the first game of a doubleheader.
The Giants set out Jesse Barnes, and the Phillies sent out their best pitcher, Lee Meadows. Both pitchers were good for their respective teams.
This game was a very quick game. Noticeably quick. Most likely, too quick. This game ended in 51 minutes. They played all nine innings.
What if I told you that this wasn’t even the shortest game in baseball history? That there had somehow, someway been a game shorter than 51 minutes? That honor would go to a 1915 game that ended in a whopping 35 minutes. Needless to say, the game was rained out after the bare minimum 5 innings.
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