The Main Event

  • September 4, 1968 – The Reading Phillies (AA) need 19 innings and five hours, 15 minutes to beat Binghamton, 8-7.

On September 4, 1968, the Double-A Reading Phillies and the Binghamton Triplets played a game that neither team’s fans could have watched from start to finish without losing a full workday to it. It took 19 innings and covered five hours and fifteen minutes for Reading to finally put Binghamton away, 8-7, in an Eastern League slugfest that stretched more than double the length of a normal nine-inning contest. By the time it ended, both bullpens were empty, both lineups had been picked apart by fatigue, and a Reading Phillies team that would go on to become one of the more talent rich rosters in the franchise’s history had proven it could win the ugly ones as well as the pretty ones.

The 1968 Reading Phillies were only in their second season as Philadelphia’s Double-A affiliate, but they were already becoming something special. Under manager Frank Lucchesi, Reading went 81-59 that year, good for second place in the Eastern League, and the club was built around a young double-play combination that would eventually anchor a major league infield: shortstop Larry Bowa and second baseman Denny Doyle. Both were everyday players that season, with Bowa appearing in 133 games and Doyle in 125, meaning both were in the lineup for the marathon against Binghamton that September evening.

The roster around them was a mix of prospects and journeymen typical of Double-A ball in that era. Ron Allen, brother of Phillies slugger Dick Allen, anchored the lineup and led the team with 61 RBI. Joe Christopher, an original member of the 1962 New York Mets, was winding down a long professional career by mentoring in Reading’s clubhouse. Gene Rounsaville led the pitching staff with 14 wins. It was not a team overflowing with big league certainty, but it had two players who would go on to genuinely notable careers, and both of them cut their teeth in games exactly like this one.

Bowa’s Long, Sour Summer

Larry Bowa’s 1968 season is remembered less for what he did on the field than for how close he came to being written off entirely. Bowa was hitting around .140 in June, a slump severe enough that he feared Lucchesi would ship him back down a level. Instead, his manager sat him down and delivered a vote of confidence that Bowa would credit for years afterward. “He tends to get sour on himself,” Lucchesi said of his shortstop. “He was hitting something like .140 in June and was afraid he was going to be sent out. I sat him down and told him the things that were going to get him to the big leagues were his legs, his glove, his arm, and his hustle. I told him he was my shortstop for the season, no matter what he hit.”

Bowa finished 1968 at a modest .242, but Lucchesi’s faith in his glove and his makeup proved prophetic. The following year both player and manager moved up together to Triple-A Eugene, where Bowa learned to switch-hit and blossomed into a top prospect. By 1970 he was the Phillies’ Opening Day shortstop, and by the time his playing career ended in 1985 he had collected 2,191 hits, won two Gold Gloves, made five All-Star teams, and helped the Phillies win their first World Series championship in 1980. He later managed the Phillies, Padres, and Cubs, and remains one of the most recognizable figures in franchise history. The kid who was “sour on himself” in a Reading dugout in June 1968 became, in Lucchesi’s words, “one hell of a shortstop.”

Denny Doyle’s Detour to Fenway

Denny Doyle arrived in Reading in 1968 as a 24-year-old with two young children and a career that had stalled somewhere between promise and doubt. He had led his league in hits at Class-A Spartanburg two years earlier, playing alongside Bowa for the first time, but a strong spring training in 1968 hadn’t translated into confidence that he was still on track for the majors. Doyle later recalled going to Lucchesi for reassurance. “I had a good spring training in 1968, but I wasn’t sure if I was on track for the big leagues,” Doyle said. “I talked to my manager, Frank Lucchesi, and he told me to hang in there. He said I was headed to Triple-A the next season and the next stop was the big leagues.” Lucchesi’s promise held. Doyle joined Bowa in Eugene in 1969, won Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year and MVP honors, and reached Philadelphia in 1970 as the club’s regular second baseman, reuniting the double-play partnership that had first formed at Spartanburg.

Doyle’s career eventually carried him well beyond Reading and Philadelphia. Traded to the California Angels after the 1973 season, he was later dealt to the Boston Red Sox in June 1975 and became an unlikely catalyst for one of the most celebrated pennant races in franchise history, batting a career-high .298 and reeling off a 22-game hitting streak. He is remembered by Red Sox fans for a different reason too: in Game Six of the 1975 World Series, Doyle tagged up from third on a fly ball in the ninth inning and was thrown out at the plate, setting the stage for Carlton Fisk‘s iconic extra-inning home run moments later. “You ought to thank me,” Doyle liked to tell Fisk afterward. “If I had scored the winning run, you wouldn’t be nearly as famous.”

A Rematch That Mattered

The marathon against Binghamton in September carried extra weight because the two clubs were not finished with each other. Weeks later, Reading and the Triplets – who are now known as the Rumble Ponies – met again, this time in the Eastern League playoffs, and Reading swept the series in two games before going on to beat Pittsfield for the league championship. The 19-inning war of attrition in early September was a preview of a rivalry that would be settled, more mercifully, in October.

For a franchise that has sent dozens of players to the major leagues over the decades, that single game stands as a small but telling artifact: a five-hour grind, played out by a rebuilding organization’s future stars long before anyone in the stands knew their names.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for September 4

  • September 4, 1902 – Rube Waddell wins his 17th game as the Philadelphia Athletics rout the Detroit Tigers 13-4 at Bennett Park.
  • September 4, 1923 – Yankees pitcher Sam Jones no-hits the Athletics 2-0 at Shibe Park, beating Bob Hasty; Babe Ruth‘s strikeout is the game’s only one, a feat unmatched until Ken Holtzman‘s 1969 no-hitter.
  • September 4, 1962 – In their final meeting of the season, the Houston Colt .45s finally beat the Phillies, who had won all their previous matchups against the expansion club that year.
  • September 4, 1966 – Chris Short shuts out New York 5-0, the fifth straight complete-game win for Phillies pitchers.
  • September 4, 1990 – The Phillies send Victor Rosario to Atlanta, completing the August 3, 1990 trade for Dale Murphy.
  • September 4, 1996 – The Phillies acquire Calvin Maduro and Garrett Stephenson from Baltimore, completing the August 29, 1996 deal for Pete Incaviglia and Todd Zeile.
  • September 4, 1997 – Bobby Estalella becomes the first rookie to hit three home runs in a game, leading the Phillies to a 6-4 win over Montreal.
  • September 4, 1999 – The Phillies fall 22-3 to the visiting Reds, who set an NL record with nine home runs; Cliff Politte allows six runs while recording just one out.
  • September 4, 2011 – Hunter Pence‘s apparent home run in Miami is reversed to fan interference on replay review; manager Charlie Manuel is ejected arguing the call, the first Phillies manager tossed for arguing a replay decision.
  • September 4, 2012 – Jimmy Rollins doubles down the right-field line against Cincinnati for career hit number 2,000.

ICYMI

Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for September 4

  • Tillie Walker (born 1887) – An outfielder for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1918-1923, Walker tied Babe Ruth for the AL home run lead in 1918 and hit 37 homers in 1922, making him only the third player ever to reach 30 in a season.
  • Eddie Waitkus (born 1919) – A two-time All-Star first baseman for the Phillies (1949-1953, 1955), Waitkus survived being shot by an obsessed fan in 1949 and returned in 1950 to lead off for the pennant-winning “Whiz Kids,” earning Comeback Player of the Year honors.
  • Rod Booker (born 1958) – A utility infielder who played shortstop, second, and third base for the Phillies in 1990-1991 after three seasons with St. Louis.
  • Aaron Fultz (born 1973) – A left-handed relief pitcher for the Phillies in 2005-2006, part of a seven-season, five-team MLB career as a bullpen arm.
  • Pat Neshek (born 1980) – A sidearm-throwing reliever who made his lone All-Star team as a Phillie in 2017, posting a 3-2 record with a 1.12 ERA and a league-best walk rate that season.
  • David Herndon (born 1985) – A right-handed pitcher who spent his entire three-year MLB career (2010-2012) with the Phillies, working mostly as a reliever.
  • Michael Stutes (born 1986) – A relief pitcher for the Phillies from 2011-2013, converted from a starter role after being drafted out of Oregon State in 2008.

Please scroll down to comment on this story or to give it a rating. We appreciate your feedback!

PBN Logo

Disclaimer: Some of the products featured or linked on this website may generate income for Philly Baseball News through affiliate commissions, sponsorships, or direct sales. We only promote items we believe in, but please assume that PBN may earn a cut from qualifying purchases that you make using a link on this site.

Privacy Policy | Contact us

© 2026 LV Sports Media. All rights reserved.