June 12

1967 Topps #178 - John Buzhardt

On this day in 1967, the Chicago White Sox and the Washington Senators played a twenty-two inning game at D.C. Stadium which brought about change to the American League.

With one out in the bottom of the fourteenth, John Buzhardt replaced Hoyt Wilhelm on the mound for the White Sox.He immediately got Cap Peterson to line into an inning ending double play. Little did Buzhardt know that he would making the trip out to the mound eight more times. John breezed through the Washington lineup until the twenty-second inning.  Things started off fine with Fred Valentine grounding out, but a walk to Hank Allen, a single for Cap Peterson and an intentional walk to Mike Epstein, set up Paul Casanova to single home the winning run to left field, scoring Hank Allen.

The game took six hours and thirty-eight minutes to play. The length of play of this game led the American League to institute a curfew that no inning can start after 1 AM. This new curfew would directly affect the Sox in 1984, when the Pale Hose and the Milwaukee Brewers played a twenty-five inning game that had to be concluded the next day before the regularly scheduled game.