April 25, 1928: Red Lucas goes the distance for Reds in 17 innings

Standing only 5-feet-9 and weighing about 165 pounds, Cincinnati Reds hurler Red Lucas might not have given the impression that he was one of the most durable pitchers of his generation. The Nashville Narcissus, so called because of his vanity, belied his physical stature to complete almost 79 percent of his starts (151 of 191) during an impressive seven-year stretch (1927-1933) that saw him pace the senior circuit in complete games three times. No pitcher in baseball went the distance at a higher percentage than Lucas in that span. On an unseasonably warm and sunny spring day against the St. Louis Cardinals in the Queen City in 1928, Lucas tossed what might be the most impressive of his route-going affairs, a 17-inning victory in which both teams, gushed sportswriter Jack Ryder in the Cincinnati Enquirer, “displayed feats of nerve and skill which had the maddening rooters gargling at the throat.”1

Two weeks into the 1928 season, the eight NL teams were bunched together with just 3½ games separating the first-place New York Giants and the cellar-dwelling Pittsburgh Pirates. Skipper Jack Hendricks’ Reds (6-6) were in the middle of the pack, while Bill McKechnie’s Redbirds (6-4) were a half-game out of first. Coming off their first losing season in six years, the Reds once again turned to their pitching staff to propel them back into the first division, where they had resided in nine of the last 10 seasons. On a staff long anchored by the now graybeards Eppa Rixey and Dolf Luque, Lucas emerged in 1927 as the new ace, pacing the club with 18 victories and completing 19 of 23 starts. On the slab for the rubber match of a three-game series, the first of the nascent season with the Cardinals, Lucas was 2-1, and had authored a five-hitter in his first start to record his sixth of 22 big-league shutouts.

After two quick 1-2-3 innings, the Redbirds drew first blood in the third when Tommy Thevenow doubled to left and moved to third when second baseman Hughie Critz fumbled Fred Frankhouse’s hot grounder. Taylor Douthit singled to plate Thevenow. Shortstop Hod Ford made a leaping stab of Andy High’s liner and doubled Frankhouse off second to end the threat.

Through four innings the Reds had no answer for Cardinals starter, right-hander Frankhouse, whom Roy J. Gillespie of the St. Louis Star and Times described as having “more stuff on the ball” than any Redbird pitcher all spring.2 That changed when the Reds bunched four hits to produce three runs. Curt Walker opened with a double that center fielder Douthit almost caught in acrobatic fashion, diving yet missing the ball by inches.3 After Billy Zitzmann singled, the Reds scored on RBI singles by Chuck Dressen and Ford sandwiched around Val Picinich’s sacrifice fly. The Reds tacked on another run in the sixth when Pid Purdy led off with a single, stole second, and scored on Walker’s one-out single.

Since his third-inning hiccup, Lucas had breezed through the Cardinals’ lineup, and was working on a four-hitter to start the eighth. After fanning pinch-hitter Ray Blades, Lucas was nicked for consecutive singles by Douthit and High. Frankie Frisch’s sacrifice fly decreased the Reds’ lead to 4-2. Facing the Redbirds’ most lethal threat, Jim Bottomley who would go on to capture the NL MVP by leading the league in triples, home runs, and RBIs in ’28. Bottomley belted what the Enquirer admitted was “one of the prettiest homers ever seen at the yard,” well over the screen in right field and into the bleachers to tie the game, 4-4.4

In the bottom of the eighth Lucas, one of the best hitting pitchers of his generation, greeted Cardinals reliever Art Reinhart with a solid single, sending the modest crowd of 2,800 spectators on a Wednesday afternoon in Redland Field into a loud cheer. But Reinhart, a 29-year-old southpaw swingman with a 26-12 record in parts of four seasons and making his first appearance of the season, proved to be a “mean stumbling block,” opined Reds beat writer Jack Ryder.5 Reinhart yielded only one more hit in nine innings (a single by Picinich in the 15th) until the fateful 17th frame.

Tension mounted as the game progressed into extra innings. When Wally Roettger singled to lead off the 12th, McKechnie decided to play small ball for a run, but Thevenow’s ensuing sacrifice bunt ignited a raucous brouhaha. According the St. Louis Star and Times, catcher Picinich collided with and “shoved” Thevenow off the baseline in his attempt to retrieve the orb, and subsequently “lost his own balance and fumbled the ball.”6 Home-plate umpire Charlie Moran immediately called Thevenow out on interference and ordered Roettger back to first. At this point, the Reds bench erupted, led by backup shortstop Rabbit Maranville and Blades, both of whom vigorously protested Moran’s interpretation of the rules. The Enquirer reported that Moran “chased [the two loudmouths] into outer darkness,” apparently banishing them from the game.7 Yet the controversy was far from over.

Lucas hurled “his finest work” in the 14th, opined Ryder, though it did not initially appear that way.8 Bob O’Farrell led off with a single and moved to third on Roettger’s third single of the game. O’Farrell, noted the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, smashed his nose on his slide into third and was bleeding profusely.9 Time was called, yet the hard-nosed veteran, who was accustomed to getting beaten up donning the tools of ignorance, remained in the game. Playing the percentages, Lucas issued a free pass to pinch-hitter Wattie Holm, setting up a play at the plate or a potential double play. Reinhart, a dangerous hitter with a career .321 batting average on 52 hits entering the game, grounded to High Pockets Kelly, who had replaced Wally Pipp at first base to start the ninth. Kelly, the one-time star on the New York Giants’ four consecutive pennant winners (1921-24), fired a strike to catcher Picinich, erasing the slow-footed O’Farrell at the plate. Douthit, in search of his fourth hit of the game, fanned. Lucas escaped the bases-loaded, no-out jam by fielding High’s tapper back to the mound and firing to Kelly. Had there been high-fives and chest-pumping at the time, this would have been a perfect time for theatrics.

The controversy over Moran’s interference ruling two innings earlier erupted again in the bottom of the 14th, when Maranville replaced Thevenow at short. Hendricks protested vehemently, yet Moran turned a deaf ear. The Enquirer noted that Hendricks would have surely lodged a formal protest with the NL President John Heydler had his club lost the game.10

After all 12 batters went down quietly in the 15th and 16th innings, the game entered its crescendo. Lucas, noticeably laboring, issued a one-out walk to Douthit. With a solid thud of the bat, High sent a screeching liner to second baseman Critz, who made a leaping catch to rob High of a hit, and then fired to Kelly to double up Douthit and end the inning. Critz’s fourth putout and fourth assist of the game more than atoned for his miscue in the third, the only error by either team in a well-played defensive effort.

The Reds came to bat just “just as darkness was settling over the field,” reported the Enquirer.11 Reinhart, who had tossed nine shutout innings, yielding just two hits, still looked strong. He had logged more than nine innings twice before, 10- and 10⅓-inning route-going affairs three years earlier. Walker led off with a single, his third safety of the game, and moved to second on Zitzmann’s sacrifice bunt. The game “appeared to be all over,” opined the Enquirer, when Dressen followed with a chop single to right field, but a charging Roettger took the ball on the hop and a strike to O’Farrell at the plate to cut down Walker while Dressen advanced to second.12 With two outs, Picinich launched a hard liner just out of Roettger’s reach to drive in Dressen for a dramatic victory, 5-4, in 2 hours and 59 minutes.

Lucas “earned all the glory,” gushed Gillespie.13 It was by any standard a yeoman’s effort. He faced 65 batters, yielded 12 hits, fanned seven, and walked three; he was also aided by two double plays and sound, if not spectacular, defense throughout the contest. Reinhart, the tough-luck loser in one of the best performances in his career, surrendered five hits, walked a pair and punched out one.

Lucas’s 17-inning complete game was the longest in the majors in 1928. It was also the third of 15 times that he hurled at least 10 innings in a game. He twice tossed 15-inning complete games, blanking the New York Giants on nine hits on July 16, 1933, at Redland Field, and losing to the Chicago Cubs, 4-3, on September 18, 1932, also in the Queen City.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, the SABR Minor Leagues Database, SABR.org, and The Sporting News archive via Paper of Record.

A play-by-play account of the game available the day of the game in the late edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. See W.J. McGoogan, “Reinhart Shines as Relief Pitcher,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 25, 1928: 13.

Notes

1 Jack Ryder, “Batting Bee in Seventeenth Puts Over Glorious Victory,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 26, 1928: 13.

2 Ray J. Gillespie, “McKechnie to Send Haines Against Cubs in Opener of Series,” St. Louis Star and Times, April 26, 1928: 26

3 Gillespie.

4 Ryder.

5 Ryder.

6 Gillespie.

7 Ryder.

8 Ryder.

9 W.J. McGoogan, “Reinhart Shines as Relief Pitcher,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 25, 1928: 13.

10 “Notes of the Game,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 26, 1928: 13.

11 Ryder.

12 Ryder.

13 Gillespie.