April 18, 1981: The longest professional baseball game begins.

Thirty-two innings were played over the course of the 18th and 19th, and the final inning was played two months later, on June 23. (The Pawtucket Red Sox won 3-2.) There's lots more information at the Wikipedia page, as well as lots of links pointing to various accounts of it, etc. Pretty cool story, right?

It makes me want to re-read W.P. Kinsella's The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, because IT IS AWESOME and it deals with a baseball game that lasts for over 2,000 innings. (At least, that's how I remember it. It's been a while.)

Anyway, as I've never written about that one, I shall point you back to my post about Brian Meehl's Out of Patience, which deals with baseball, toilets, a mythical plunger, a tornado, and any number of other things:

Over a hundred years ago, Jake's great-great-great grandfather installed the first flush toilet west of the Mississippi. One thing lead to another, and a fire-and-brimstone-type named Anders Cass called down a curse on the town—when the Plunger of Destiny returns, the final destruction will begin!

Other baseball books that I love: Shoeless Joe, Gold Dust, Last Days of Summer, My Most Excellent Year, Wait Till Next Year, The Aurora County All-Stars... you?