Monday, September 28, 2015

Van Landingham vs. Isringhausen

Here's something I'll bet you didn't know. According to Wikipedia a major league baseball record was tied on May 29, 1996 when William Van Landingham of the Giants faced off against Jason Isringhausen. The record?  Longest combined names of starting pitchers in a game.

1997 Topps


This record is actually mentioned on the back of Van Landingham's 1997 Topps card only it says the game was on April 13, 1996. It also mentions the pitchers in the previous record game, Pittsburgh's Fritz Ostermueller vs. the Phillies' Ken Raffensberger in 1944.  Remember those guys? This looks like it was a game for the ages. The game was on 9/29/44. Raffensberger who finished that season 13-20 with the 61-91 Phillies beat Ostermueller (13-8) for the 62-90 Pirates. There were 1,000 people packing Shibe Stadium to see this game. At least it was short, only 1:43 long. 

1995 Collector's Choice Special Edition Silver


I don't own Isringhausen's 1997 Topps card (or any 1997 Isringhausen's) but checking an image on-line I see that this important record is not mentioned on his 1997 Topps card.

So when was this game, 4/13/96 like Topps says or 5/29/96 like Wikipedia says?  Wikipedia has it right.

Van Landingham pitched 7 innings to get the 4-2 win over the Mets at Shea Stadium. Rod Beck got the save. 

Both starters gave up all the runs. After the game, Van Landingham was 3-7, and Isringhausen at 2-7. Not exactly a game of pitching titans.

1 comment:

Jason Presley said...

It's a pity Kirk Dressendorfer didn't last long enough to face either of them!