July 2, 1993: Phillies salvage doubleheader split on Mitch Williams’s walk-off hit

Heading into the 1993 season, the July 2 game between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres at Veterans Stadium seemed like an unexciting item. The Phillies had finished last in the National League East Division in 1992, 26 games out; the Padres were third in the NL West, 16 games out. The Phillies promotions group scheduled the “Mellon PSFS Fireworks Spectacular I” for that Friday night, hoping to draw a crowd. Expectations were modest, given that the Padres’ six 1992 appearances in Philadelphia had averaged just about 21,000 fans per game.

However, it turned out to be a remarkable night, with a massive crowd, during an improbable season – and none of those fireworks even ended up leaving their launchers.

The 1993 Phillies came out of the gate fast. They were in first place in the NL East when the Padres visited Philadelphia for a three-game series in April. The Phillies won the first game on April 20, 4-3 in 14 innings, on first baseman John Kruk’s walk-off home run at 12:06 A.M. The next night’s game was rained out and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on July 2, during San Diego’s next visit.1

When the Padres returned to the Vet in July, the Phillies’ lead had grown to 5½ games over the St. Louis Cardinals. San Diego was mired in sixth place in the NL West, 22½ games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants, and ahead of only the expansion Colorado Rockies. The Padres’ 29-49 record was the third worst in the major leagues, and their 297 runs scored were last among all 28 teams.

In 1992 the Phillies had just two home crowds exceeding 50,000 after their home opener. The crowd of 54,617 paid – of a capacity of 62,6232 – for the July 2 doubleheader was already their seventh of 50,000 or more since the 1993 opener.3 Lured by the Phillies’ resurgence and promised fireworks display,4 most of the fans were in their seats at or near the first pitch of the opener, even though 18 scheduled innings of baseball lay ahead before the first fireworks launch.

The day started off dry, with a temperature around 72 degrees, but around 3:00 P.M. a rain system moved in.5 The first game was scheduled for 4:35 P.M., but with the tarp on the field for the afternoon and rain in the air, it was pushed back to 5:45.6

As a result of the storm, the game was interrupted by three rain delays, combining for 5 hours and 54 minutes of down time.7 The Phillies never announced why they continued with the doubleheader, but it was the Padres’ last visit to of the season to Philadelphia and rescheduling the games would have required accommodating 54,617 rain check-holding fans at future dates.

Action was delayed, then started and stopped, restarted and stopped, and finally restarted again, with the result a 5-2 Padres win in a mere 2 hours and 34 minutes of playing time – albeit ending at 1:02 A.M. on July 3.

Immediately after the final out, longtime Phillies PA announcer Dan Baker came on the speaker to say, “Attention fans, the second game will start at 1:26 A.M.”8 Cheers went up from the few thousand fans still in attendance. On WOGL-AM’s radio broadcast in Philadelphia, Richie Ashburn turned to Harry Kalas and said, “This would be a bad hour for most folks, Harry. This is the shank of the evening for you. I expect a real great ballgame out of you.”9

Well before the first game had ended, the side scoreboards flashed a message stating, “Last SEPTA train leaves in 15 minutes.” That announcement led to a large outflow of fans. Stadium security requested that all fans in the upper deck move to the lower level so they could close the top half of the bowl.10 The food and concession stands had closed during the first game, so the only available nourishment was provided by water fountains original to the 1971 stadium.

An announcement had gone out at 10:30 P.M. that the fireworks show was postponed three days, to Monday, July 5.11 As to why the second game was even started, Chris Wheeler on Philadelphia’s PRISM cable broadcast noted that there was no precedent for the umpires to halt a game when playing conditions were right,12 so even though the Phillies reportedly had offered to postpone,13 the umpires declined.14

The continuation of play surprised even some of the participants. Believing the second game was canceled, Phillies left fielder Pete Incaviglia had undressed. He was set to step into the shower when coach John Vukovich told him that he had to play another game.15

The Phillies were hoping to break their three-game losing streak in front of the small but boisterous crowd. José DeLeón, normally a dependable set-up man for the Phils, was making a spot start, just his second of the season, against the Padres’ ace, Andy Benes. At 1:28 A.M. the game (the “morningcap,” as the San Diego Union-Tribune called it16) started, and the first two innings went by hitless, with two Phillies reaching on errors but being left stranded.

With two outs in the third, DeLeón hit Benes with a pitch; Benes moved to second on a wild pitch and to third when Jeff Gardner reached on an error by shortstop Kim Batiste, bringing up Craig Shipley. Right after the first pitch to Shipley, stadium organist Paul Richardson played two chimes loudly, signaling that it was 2:00 A.M., and the fans let out a cheer. Seconds later, DeLeón threw a fastball down the middle that Shipley deposited over the left-field fence to give the Padres three unearned runs and a 3-0 lead.17

In the fourth, doubles by future Hall of Famer Fred McGriff and Phil Plantier led to one run, and a single by rookie catcher Kevin Higgins, combined with an error by first baseman Ricky Jordan, made it 5-0.

As the game progressed, the crowd size actually began to grow.18 Fans in nearby bars decided to keep the party going at the Vet after closing time at 2 A.M.19

They arrived just in time, because the Phillies’ comeback was on. In the bottom of the fourth, Jim Eisenreich brought in Jordan with a single. In the fifth, a walk to Milt Thompson, pinch-hitting for DeLeón, and a double by Mickey Morandini set the table for Jordan, who hit a hanging fastball for a line-drive three-run home run to left-center field, cutting the Padres’ lead to 5-4.

At this point in the TV broadcast, the crowd noise was deafening. During Derek Bell’s at-bat in the top of the sixth, three chimes rang just before a pitch, signaling that it was now 3 A.M., and home-plate umpire Larry Poncino granted Bell’s request for time to deal with the distraction; Bell popped out on the next pitch. At 3:18, during the seventh-inning stretch, Richardson, the stadium organist, continued his star turn, playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” with its well-known line “I don’t care if I never get back,” for the second time that morning, the first being at 12:13 A.M.20

Relievers David West and Larry Andersen kept the Padres in check through the eighth inning, but not without a threat. In the top of the eighth, Bell batted with two out and a potential insurance run at third. With fans loudly chanting “Der-rek, Der-rek, Der-rek,” Andersen struck out Bell on three pitches to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, San Diego’s Roger Mason walked two batters before being relieved by Gene Harris.21 Darren Daulton, pinch-hitting for backup catcher Todd Pratt, singled off Harris to drive in Dave Hollins and tie the game.

The Phillies nearly won in the ninth after future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman allowed a leadoff double by Mariano Duncan. Pitcher Tommy Greene ran for Duncan, and Morandini was intentionally walked. Hoffman retired Jordan and Hollins, then threw a wild pitch with Incaviglia batting, putting runners on second and third. Two pitches later – with the scoreboard showing 2 balls, 2 strikes, 2 outs, and number 22 at bat – another pitch got away from Higgins, who quickly recovered the ball and threw to Hoffman for the tag on Greene at the plate.

Philadelphia closer Mitch Williams retired the Padres one-two-three in the 10th inning. In the bottom of the 10th, Incaviglia led off with a walk, and Eisenreich followed with a single. Hoffman struck out Daulton, leading to pitcher Williams batting because no position players were left to hit for him.

It was Williams’s only at-bat of the 1993 season.22 On this most improbable night, Williams did the most improbable of all, on an 0-and-1 count, by connecting on a Hoffman fastball and hitting it over the shortstop’s head. The ball hit the wet turf and scooted past left fielder Phil Clark, allowing Incaviglia to score the winning run.

On radio, Kalas screamed, “And the pitch. Swing and a base hit to left-center field! Incaviglia’s going to score! This game is over! On an RBI hit by Mitchie-Poo! The Phils have won it 6 to 5 on the Wild Thing’s RBI hit! Can you believe it?”

As Incaviglia scored, on TV Wheeler reported it was 4:40 A.M., making it the latest-starting and latest-finishing game in American or National League history.23 Several participants24 and even some fans25 returned home with the sun rising.26

Not everyone agreed the second game should have been played that night. Hall of Fame-bound Padre Tony Gwynn, who played the first game but sat out game two with a strained abdomen, said, “[W]e didn’t feel we should have been out there after the long rain delay. We should have had one win and playing two today.”27 His teammate Plantier’s perspective was a little different: “You know when you’re a little kid and you talk about playing baseball all night long? You just want to play until the sun comes up. Well now that I’ve done it, I don’t ever want to do it again.”28

In an interview after the season, Philadelphia manager Jim Fregosi said, “When that game was over, you knew that this was going to be a special season for the Phillies.”29 Five days later, Philadelphia, with the exact same lineup except for newly called-up Kevin Stocker at shortstop, played a 20-inning, 6 hour and 10 minute game at the Vet against the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Lenny Dykstra hitting a ground-rule double to win the game at 1:47 A.M. (approximately the time of the second inning on the early morning of July 3).

The Phillies went worst-to-first in 1993, winning their first division title and NL pennant in 10 seasons. They are one of the most beloved teams in franchise history, despite losing the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays on Joe Carter’s walk-off home run in Game Six. The second game of their July 2 doubleheader is routinely ranked among the best games in Phillies history for its late-night start and early-morning end time, exciting finish, and the feeling that it took the team to a higher level.30

Author’s Note

The author attended 41 Phillies games in 1993, including this doubleheader. He arrived in the first inning of game one with a dozen work colleagues and left, with just a single other hardy soul, after Mitch Williams’s walk-off hit in game two. In between, he changed seats from the bottom of the Vet’s infamous 700 level to the top, where a small roof provided cover from the recurrent rain; to a “Super Box” into which he was sneaked by a friend; to the lower level, where a drunken fan entertained the crowd during a rain delay with his dancing; and finally – with the final work colleague standing – to the two seats direct center in the front row behind home plate. The author has also written about his personal experience at the doubleheader in much more depth. See Rich Wolfe, For Phillies Fans Only! (Phoenix: Lone Wolfe Press, 2010), 51-55.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Joseph Wancho and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Mitch Williams, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes and his personal memories of the game, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI199307022.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1993/B07022PHI1993.htm

Much of the PRISM TV broadcasts, featuring broadcasters Chris Wheeler and Jay Johnstone, of game one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4X65mdRzw) and all of game two (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ETW8-ROAnM) are available to watch on the internet. Unfortunately, the much more interesting radio broadcasts featuring Phillies broadcast legends Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, and Andy Musser do not seem to be available for listening.

Notes

1 The April 22 series finale went to the Padres, 2-1.

2 “Ballparks: 1883-Present,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/phillies/history/ballparks. Accessed July 5, 2024. The internet cites various figures for the capacity of Veterans Stadium in its configuration for baseball, from its 1971 figure of 56,371 to the actual attendance of 67,064 in Game Five of the 1983 World Series, seemingly the only baseball game in Philadelphia that over 67,000 fans attended. Larry Shenk, “Veterans Stadium, 1971-2003,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/phillies-alumni-veterans-stadium-1971-2003. Accessed July 5, 2024.

3 In 1993 the NL began reporting attendance in tickets sold, instead of actual gate, but increased enthusiasm was regarded as the most significant factor in the Phillies drawing a then-franchise-record 3.1 million fans during that season, an increase of 1.2 million over 1992. (Through the 2023 season, Philadelphia’s franchise record for attendance is 3.7 million, set at Citizens Bank Park in 2010.) Robyn Goldwyn, “1 Million Fair Weather Fans: By Winning, Phils Boost Ticket Sales,” Philadelphia Daily News, August 27, 1993: 13.

4 In Philadelphia in 1993, as it remained in 2024, when a game was rescheduled as part of a later doubleheader, the fans who held tickets from the originally scheduled game (i.e., July 2) would have the right to sit in their ticketed seats for the entire doubleheader, while the fans who were at the rained-out game (i.e., April 21) instead trade in their tickets for any game with available seats; they do not need to choose the rescheduled one. So it is likely that the vast majority of those in attendance had bought their tickets with the plan of seeing the fireworks show after the game, not necessarily looking for 18 innings of baseball. As it happened, an even larger crowd of 57,521 came to Veterans Stadium a night later for the July 3 game, again with a scheduled fireworks display.

5 “Essington, PA Weather History, Philadelphia International Airport Station,” https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/pa/essington/KPHL/date/1993-7-2. Accessed July 5, 2024.

6 William C. Kashatus, Macho Row: The 1993 Phillies and Baseball’s Unwritten Code (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 2017), 158. Kashatus writes: “The first game was scheduled to start at 4:35 p.m. but because of a sudden shower, it was 5:45 p.m. when Terry Mulholland finally took the mound. A second rain delay occurred in the bottom of the fourth at 6:29 p.m. and lasted almost two hours. Play resumed at 8:25 p.m., but not for long. A torrential downpour halted the game again in the bottom of the fifth inning. The wind and rain were so fierce that the outfield fence was barely visible from home plate. It was midnight by the time the rain stopped and the tarpaulins removed from the infield.”

7 Per Phillies TV broadcaster Chris Wheeler, the 5 hours and 54 minutes of rain delays were broken down as follows: 1:10 before the game, 1:56 after third inning, and 2:48 after the fifth inning. “July 2, 1993 – Padres vs Phillies (Game 1 of the Double Header), YouTube Video (ClassicPhilliesTV), 1:20:07, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4X65mdRzw. (Wheeler’s summary is approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds into the video.) Accessed July 5, 2024. The longest rain delay in major-league history was 7 hours and 23 minutes, on August 12, 1990, with the Texas Rangers at the Chicago White Sox. The game never even started that day, and the few remaining fans were sent home. Ryan S. Stuprich, “Longest Rain Delays in MLB History,” SportsMockery.com, August 22, 2014, https://www.sportsmockery.com/trending/longest-rain-delays-mlb-history/; Paul Sullivan, “Sox, Rangers Can’t Beat Rain: Game Called After 7½ Hours,” Chicago Tribune, August 13, 1990: Section 3, 1.

8 Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life, directed by Dan Stephenson, 2008 (available on DVD from Arts Alliance America). At that time, the American League had a rule prohibiting any inning from starting after 12:59 A.M., but the NL had no curfew provision. After the 1993 season, the NL changed its rules as well, at least as to how late a game can start, so no game can ever start as late as that July 2 game started.

9 Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life.

10 “The stadium ushers were released somewhere around midnight. About 20 supervisors stayed behind, enforcing minimal rules. No drinking, smoking or fighting. Sit wherever you want.” Gwen Knapp, “‘Let’s Play Two’: Phillies Flirt with Daybreak,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 4, 1993, https://www.inquirer.com/archive/phillies-padres-doubleheader-july-3-1993-19930704.html.

11 Robert Gordon and Tom Burgoyne, More Than Beards, Bellies and Biceps: The Story of the 1993 Phillies (And the Phillie Phanatic Too) (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing LLC, 2002), 134.

12 “July 2, 1993 – Padres vs Phillies (Game 2),” YouTube Video (ClassicPhilliesTV), 3:16:36, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ETW8-ROAnM. (Wheeler’s comment is approximately 2 minutes and 50 seconds into the video.) Accessed July 5, 2024.

13 “Paul Hagen, “Up All Night in Philadelphia,” MLB.com, July 2, 2013, https://www.mlb.com/news/the-20th-anniversary-of-the-philadelphia-phillies-and-san-diego-padres-game-that-ended-later-than-any-other-game-in-major-league-history/c-52443502.

14 Said umpire Dana DeMuth after the game, “There are no curfews. It was scheduled as a doubleheader, and our job was to get in the doubleheader. There are no rules or guidelines for canceling because it’s late, just for bad weather. We played that first game, and the rain was stopped, so you’ve got to roll into the second game.” Knapp, “‘Let’s Play Two.’”

15 Knapp, “‘Let’s Play Two.’”

16 Kevin Kernan, “Padres Finally Saw Daylight: Dawn,” San Diego Union-Tribune, July 4, 1993: C-1.

17 Padres beat writer Kevin Kernan cleverly noted that for Australian native Shipley, his home run occurred at midday in his home country, as did his fellow Australian Mark Ettles’ game-one win. Kevin Kernan, “Padres Get a Wet Split in the Wee Hours,” San Diego Union-Tribune, July 3, 1993: D-1, D-5. In those pre-internet days, nearly all of the newspaper stories about the doubleheader were dated July 4 because of the late-ending time, but the Union-Tribune, created a year earlier by the merger of the morning San Diego Union and the afternoon San Diego Tribune, published both morning and afternoon editions. Hilmer Anderson, “San Diego Tribune to Merge with Union,” September 11, 1991, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/09/11/San-Diego-Tribune-to-merge-with-Union/1531684561600/.

18 Gordon and Burgoyne, 135.

19 Knapp, “‘Let’s Play Two.’”

20 Kernan, “Padres Get a Wet Split in the Wee Hours,” D-5. Kernan, a keen observer, also noted a scoreboard announcement at 1:45 A.M. stating, “Lehigh Valley Hospital Report to Your Bus” – presumably in the first or second inning of Game Two.

21 Hours after the game ended, Mason was traded by the Padres to the Phillies for pitcher Tim Mauser. Mason wanted to pitch in the July 3 game to become the first pitcher to play in three games for two separate teams in the same calendar day, but having pitched in both ends of the doubleheader after midnight, the Phillies thought he was too tired and denied his request. Gordon and Burgoyne, 136.

22 It also turned out to be the final plate appearance of Williams’s career. He came into the at-bat with a .133 career batting average (2-for-15 with a homer and 3 RBIs). His first major-league hit was a three-run homer against Don Aase of the Mets on September 18, 1989, when he was with the Cubs.

23 The first time the cameras showed the stadium clock, precisely 15 seconds later, it showed 4:41 A.M. Both times are regularly stated as the end time of the game. In any event, it is undisputed that the game is the latest starting game in major-league history (at 1:28 A.M.) and finishing game (4:40 or 4:41 A.M.). Nearly eight years to the day earlier, on July 4, 1985, the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves finished their rain-delayed, 19-inning game at 3:50 A.M., which was previously the latest finish.

24 Mariano Duncan told this story: “My wife and I were going through some things that year. She wasn’t real happy with the hours I was keeping hanging out in the clubhouse after the games. I got home at six o’clock, and my wife started asking me where I had been. And I said, ‘I was playing in a game until 4:45 in the morning. We just got finished playing the game.’ She didn’t believe me.” Gordon and Burgoyne, 137.

25 Writer Anthony SanFilippo cited Kalas’s radio call as the eighth best call in Phillies’ history, with a personal memory: “As for me, by the time we finished celebrating the victory, cleaned up my friends’ basement, and I got in the car and drove home, it was 5:30 A.M. And there was my father, with an expression that I had never seen on his face before. ‘Where the hell were you?’ he asked. ‘I told you, at John’s watching the game,’ I said. ‘You said you’d be home as soon as the game ended. That was six hours ago,’ he yelled. I said, ‘Wait, wait … you didn’t see what happened? The game JUST ended!’ He didn’t believe me. In an era before cell phones and the internet, I had to wait almost an entire day to be vindicated.” Anthony SanFilippo, “50 in 50: The Best Phillies TV and Radio Calls of the Last Half Century (1-10),” CrossingBroad.com, https://www.crossingbroad.com/2022/06/50-in-50-the-best-phillies-tv-and-radio-calls-of-the-last-half-century-1-10.html. Accessed July 5, 2024.

26 Another example: “Sometime after 3 A.M., manager Jim Fregosi’s wife, Joni, woke up and realized her husband wasn’t home. Concerned, she called the clubhouse and was told that he couldn’t come to the phone because he was in the dugout and the game was still going on. She didn’t fully believe it until she turned on the television to see for herself.” Hagen, “Up All Night in Philadelphia.” Chris Wheeler reported a similar story at an event attended by this writer in 2013 at Citizens Bank Park.

27 Kernan, “Padres Finally Saw Daylight: Dawn,” C-1.

28 Kernan, “Padres Finally Saw Daylight: Dawn,” C-1.

29 Phillies Memories: The Greatest Moments in Philadelphia Phillies History, 2009 DVD published by Major League Properties, Inc., at 1:04:30 mark of program.

30 As to why the game is labeled as a July 2 game and not a July 3 game, considering that it began on the latter date, one can only speculate. The author asked Dave Smith, founder of Retrosheet, that question, and he replied, “Game 1 and game 2 of a doubleheader are always listed as the same date, no matter if the second one was after midnight. I cannot reference a specific MLB document, but I know they have been consistent in this.” Email exchange with Dave Smith, July 6, 2024. It is the writer’s view that in all likelihood the present game is the only major-league game to start the day after it was scheduled without a postponement being the reason.