Here’s a boxscore from this year with the home team winning in 10 innings by a score of 7-3.
My 13th birthday! (completely irrelevant, I know)
Thanks for correcting me on my “can only win by 1 run” gaffe. I wasn’t posting while drunk, just exhausted.
Plus, I was going by 1920 scoring rules, of course 
Also, consider if the visiting team has scored in their half-inning. The home team would then have the opportunity to score as many as the visiting team to tie the score and 1 (or more with a home run) more to win the game.
That was an amazing game. As it happens I was in Chicago during the month of May, 1979 (and saw two games at Wrigley while there). On the day in question, I listened to the first inning that ended at 7-6, each team batting 10 players when the Phillies pitcher hit a HR and the Cubs pitcher hit a triple. As I had things to do that afternoon, I turned the radio off and went out thinking, wouldn’t it be funny if the Phils won by that one run. I came back in time to hear the wrap and the announcer started out by saying, “In 1923 (or whatever) the Cubs beat the Phillies 26-23; this afternoon, the Phillies finally got their revenge.”
Until I read the story quoted above, I never knew it was an extra-inning game. Since the 49 runs is still the record, I would be surprised if there were ever more than 45 in an extra-inning game.
If the score is tied in the bottom of the ninth or later, would a ground rule double with the bases loaded result in two runs scoring?
Interesting question. I wasn’t sure of the answer to this myself and I had to look it up. I think this is the relevant rule, although it doesn’t mention walk off GRD’s specifically, I think they are covered under the wording of the rule.
If the ball lands in the playing field the winning run ends the game. GRD’s land in the playing field so only the winning run would count (that’s my interpretation anyway).
No. A home run is the only mechanism by which the home team can win a walk-off game by more than one run. A ball which bounces into the stands, with the winning run on third base, is scored as a single.
Of course, you still have to round the bases to get the home run. Not like Robin Ventura in 1999.
That reminds me of the “Grand Slam Double” hit by Luis Sojo in the Seattle Mariners win over the California Angels in their 1995 one-game playoff for the division championship. In that case, though, all four runs scored. Sojo hit a double with the bases loaded, and eventually scored himself after a series of errors and misplays by the Angels.
The “seven-run-inning” strategy seems to be working well for the Indians.
And the “let’s wait until the other team scores a bunch of runs, then we’ll start hitting” strategy is going just swimmingly for the Sox.
grumble
I can’t remember where I read it, but when they changed the rule to allow for a home run to count in extra innings for it’s full complement it was quite contentious. The argument of course was once the winning run touched home plate the game was over, it shouldn’t matter if you hit a 10 foot squibber or a 450 ft homer.
In the earliest days, this wasn’t an issue because the home team would finish out its at bat even if they were ahead! It must have been as exciting as watching kneel-downs at the end of a football game.
By the 1870’s, I believe, the custom of truncating the last at-bat was established, and from that time until 1920, any walk-off hit by the home team ended the game as soon as the first run scored. There seemed little reason to treat home runs differently–parks were huge, hitters were small, and the ball was dead and discolored. There weren’t that many balls hit out of the park for “automatic” home runs that would warrant special treatment.
In 1920, that was beginning to change, and the rules makers instituted the current rule which allows multiple-run home wins on walk-off balls hit out of the park. I’ve never read that there was any argument, but any change in baseball tends to be controversial, so I wouldn’t doubt it.
The controversy that I do know about occurred in 1968, when the compilers of the original Baseball Encyclopedia decided that they would apply the 1920 change retroactively, and credit batters with home runs on walk-off balls hit out of the park (according to newspapers) before that time. This would have resulted in Babe Ruth gaining an additional home run (from 1918) at a time when he was being chased by Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
By 1969 sanity had prevailed and the compilers realized that you don’t play yesterday’s games under today’s rules.
Were they also going to credit them with the additional RBI’s?
And runs scored, and runs charged to the pitcher? I don’t know.
I just dug out my musty first-edition Baseball Encyclopedia, but it doesn’t say. The decision to revert to the original playing rule on “Sudden Death Home Runs” (as walk-offs were then called) hit between 1880 (when last at-bats were truncated) and 1919 (after which the rule was changed) was taken by an ad hoc Special Baseball Records Committee on May 5, 1969. Before that time, the Committee had identified 37 truncated would-be home runs during the 40 relevant seasons–a rate of fewer than one per season! As noted, out-of-the-park home runs weren’t that common.
The Committee notes that eight of the 37 (including the Babe’s) were converted back to singles, doubles, or triples in time for the first printing of the Encyclopedia, with the other 29 left to be corrected later. However, they are silent as to whether runs scored, RBI’s, or runs allowed were similarly changed and then changed back. Logically, if you change one, you should change them all. But given the somewhat primitive state of data processing at the time, this may not have happened.