June 24, 1962 - The Yankees and Tigers battled for 7 hours today, a major league record, before Ralph Houk’s Yanks won, 9-7, in 22 innings. With the score 7-7, Jack Reed (left), a utility outfielder who had entered the game in the 13th for defensive purposes, hit his first major league homer. The blow was struck off Phil Regan, Bob Scheffing’s seventh pitcher of the game, following Roger Maris’s walk. The Tigers strove to fight their way back in the last of the 22nd. But Jim Bouton, the young righty who had blanked them from the sixteenth inning on, held firm despite Rocky Colavito’s seventh hit. Colavito, with 10 official at-bats, raised his season batting average today from .268 to .285. In all, 43 players were used — 21 by the Yanks. The American League’s longest previous time game was 4 hours, 58 minutes, and the National League record was 5 hours, 19 minutes. The longest previous Yankee game was 19 innings, on May 24, 1918, when the Bombers bowed to the Indians, 3-2. The only other major league game that exceeded today’s in innings was a 23-inning, 2-2 tie between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves in 1939.
