Why?
We have much more to fill our lives today than years ago and the pace of living has increased. It's not just that games take too long but that they are so obviously filled with pointlessly wasted time between each and every pitch.
The times of yesterday's games were pretty short by today's standards: 2:52 and 3:04. The half time between games was another 37 minutes, so the entire ordeal took only about six and a half hours, not bad for two games.
In my youth I only wanted to attend doubleheaders and usually did. Now I can't stand watching a game on TV without some other activity. Yesterday it was the NBA playoff game between Indiana and Miami during game two of the baseball doubleheader.
My friend's ten year old daughter supposedly is into baseball. But rather than attend yesterday's doubleheader on a beautiful sunny day she got him to take her to a baseball movie: "Million Dollar Arm" - A sports agent stages an unconventional recruitment strategy to get talented Indian cricket players to play Major League Baseball. Of course the run time is only 2:04. She could get home in time to watch game two on TV.
Four doubleheaders I attended in their entirety in which one game went extra innings:
Tuesday, July 4, 1961, 1:34PM, Yankee Stadium I
Time of Game: 2:20
Yankees 6, Tigers 2
W: Whitey Ford (15-2)
L: Don Mossi (9-2)
HR: Dick Brown (11, off W Ford; 5th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep LF).
Attendance: 74,246, Time of Game: 3:29 game two
Tigers, 4, Yankees 3 10 innings
W: Frank Lary (12-4)
L: Bill Stafford (6-4)
S: Terry Fox (6)
HR: Roger Maris (31, off F Lary; 8th inn, 1 on, 2 outs to Deep RF).
9th inning, Rolland Sheldon pitching, Rocky Colavito batting, two out, triple steal: Chico Fernandez home, Al Kaline 3B, Bill Bruton 2B; Tigers lead 3-2. Bottom 9th, two out: Hector Lopez singles in Bill Skowron; 3-3.
10th, two out, Stafford misplays Lary's bunt single toward third, which drives in Steve Boros; 4-3 Tigers. Lary pitched into the 10th, then was relieved by lefty Hank Aguirre after a leadoff single by Tony Kubek. Terry Fox retires his only batter, Skowron, for the final out with Kubek and Mantle (walk) on base.
Sunday, August 6, 1961, 2:04PM, Yankee Stadium I
Time of Game: 4:16
Yankees 7, Twins 6 15 innings
W: Hal Reniff (1-0)
L: Ray Moore (4-4)
HR: Bill Tuttle (2, off W Ford; 10th inn, 0 on, 1 out to Deep LF); Zoilo Versalles (4, off W Ford; 3rd inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep LF); Bob Allison (24, off W Ford; 3rd inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep LF).
HR: Johnny Blanchard (15, off Bill Pleis; 10th inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep RF); M Mantle 2 (42, 2 off Pedro Ramos; 1st inn, 1 on, 2 outs to Deep RF; 3rd inn, 0 on, 2 outs to Deep RF).
Blanchard's homer tied it the 10th and a bases loaded force out by Yogi Berra in the 15th drove in Boyer with the winning run. Ford pitched ten innings.
Attendance: 39,408, Time of Game: 2:26 game two
Yankees 3, Twins 2
W: Rollie Sheldon (8-3)
L: Al Schroll (0-1)
HR: M Mantle (43, off A Schroll; 2nd inn, 0 on, 0 outs to Deep CF-RF).
Clete Boyer singled in the bottom of the 9th to drive in Mantle with the winning run. Both starting pitchers went all the way.
Mantle hit three homers in the doubleheader going ahead of Maris 43-41, The Mick's last lead in the home run race.
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Tuesday, August 29, 1967, , Yankee Stadium I twi-night doubleheader
Time of Game: 2:10
Red Sox 2, Yankees 1
W: Jim Lonborg (18-6)
L: Mel Stottlemyre (13-11)
HR: Tom Tresh (12, off J Lonborg; 7th inn, 0 on, 1 out to LF).
Mantle did not play.
Attendance: 40,314, Time of Game: 6:09 game two; 1:00 AM curfew introduced in AL in 1968 because of this game, which ended about 2:00 AM.
Yankees 4, Red Sox 3 20 innings
W: Jim Bouton (1-0)
L: Bucky Brandon (5-11)
HR: Ken Harrelson (10, off Bill Monbouquette; 2nd inn, 0 on, 0 outs to RF).
HR: Steve Whitaker (11, off Sparky Lyle; 11th inn, 0 on, 1 out to RF).
Horace Clarke singled with one out to drive in John Kennedy with the winning run.
Mantle did not play.
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Friday, August 23, 1968, 5:06PM, Yankee Stadium I twi-night doubleheader
Time of Game: 2:23
Yankees 2, Tigers 1
W: Stan Bahnsen (12-9)
L: Earl Wilson (10-11)
HR: E Wilson (4, off S Bahnsen; 5th inn, 0 on, 1 out to LF).
HR: Tom Tresh (11, off E Wilson; 2nd inn, 1 on, 1 out to RF).
Mantle 0 for 3 plus a walk, playing first base.
8:03PM, Yankee Stadium I
Attendance: 33,880, Time of Game: 5:04 game two
Tigers 3, Yankees 3 19 innings ended by 1:00 AM curfew introduced by previous doubleheader attended.
Lindy McDaniel pitched seven perfect innings in relief.
HR: Roy White (12, off Fred Lasher; 8th inn, 1 on, 0 outs to RF).
Mantle: PH single off lefty John Hiller for SS Gene Michael in 9th with one out; last time I saw Mantle play.
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