40th Anniversary Redux: The Rick Camp Game (Braves vs Mets)

[selmaborntidefan]

It was a simple and unremarkable regular season baseball game between a pennant contender going somewhere (the New York Mets) and one going in the opposite direction (the Atlanta Braves). Despite the Braves clearly being on a downhill slide and exiting contention, nearly 45,000 fans showed up to see the July 4 game with fireworks afterward. Although they were hardly favorites to win the NL West, the Braves WERE expected to contend in 1985. Plus, Braves fans entered the season delighted that Eddie Haas, who had spent 14 years in the Atlanta system developing players and finishing first with Richmond, was finally getting a chance to manager at the major league level. He had put in the time and plus, he had a new ace in the hole when Atlanta signed free agent pitcher Bruce Sutter to an absolutely ridiculous contract that would cripple the franchise for years.

In 1982, the Braves had won the division title in one of the most topsy-turvy years in baseball history. The following year, they put a better team on the field but got less from their pitching and wound up losing out to the Dodgers in the final week. In 1984, the San Diego Padres lapped the field in the NL West and got little credit for it because the Tigers were even more impressive in the American League. The Braves did finish second, but nobody noticed. But a new manager with a new closer and the prime years of Dale Murphy and a fully healthy Bob Horner. The Braves opened with a 6-0 win over the Phillies and their fading ace, Steve Carlton, and Philly's new manager John Felske, on a team just 18 months removed from playing in the World Series. But after a 4-1 start, the Braves lost 9 of their next 13 games to fall to 8-10, although since nobody was moving forward in the West, Atlanta was only 2 games out. But in all honesty, the turning point for the Braves in 1985 probably began on May 7, when they took at 11-13 (2 GB) record to Shea Stadium and played the Mets, who were tied for first in the NL East with the Cubs, still living off their 1984 glory.

MAY 7, 1985: SETTING THE STAGE, PART 1
For seven innings, future Cy Young winner (1987) Steve Bedrosian and Yale's major leaguer Ron Darling fired an old-fashioned pitcher's duel, each starter giving up only one run. Bedrosian scattered four hits but gave way to pinch-hitter Chris Chambliss with a runner on in the top of the 7th. Jeff Dedmon and Zane Smith navigated a troublesome 7th, but there was no score when the Mets came to bat against Smith in the bottom of the 8th. Mookie Wilson pinch-hit for Darling and drew a walk. Wally Backman then lay down a bunt to put Wilson at second and wound up at first when Smith threw wildly in the effort to get Backman out. Howard Johnson followed up with a sacrifice bunt that put runners at second and third with one out. Haas summoned Sutter and intentionally walked Keith Hernandez to load the bases for Gary Carter, who was in the first year of a $1.8 million free agent contract as the Mets catcher after several stellar years in Montreal. After taking ball one, Carter drilled the first pitch Sutter put into the strike zone into the bleachers for a grand slam home run and a 5-1 lead for the Mets. The Braves put together five hits in the ninth and, in fact, closed the game to 5-3 with the bases loaded, one out, and Dale Murphy at the plate against Jesse Orosco, who at the time wasn't even known that well. Orosco struck out the two-time MVP and then got pedestrian shortstop Paul Zuvella to line out to short and seal a win for the Mets. Sutter, of course, escaped unscathed. Zane Smith got the loss, but if Sutter had merely managed to keep Carter in the ballpark with a sacrifice fly or something less than a grand slam, he would have been the winning pitcher. The simple fact was that Atlanta's closer had failed spectacularly. It was the start of a career downhill slide for both Sutter and Atlanta Manager Eddie Haas.

THE SHUTOUT STREAK
It is probably unfair to question Eddie Haas' decision to put all his chips in Sutter. Closers are not paid $1M per year to sit on the bench when they can contribute. And this little failure might have been forgotten except for what occurred over the next four games: the Atlanta Braves did not score a single run. After loading the bases with one out and sending their best long ball hitter to the plate against Orosco, the Braves did not score another run for an unbelievable - even at the major league level - THIRTY-EIGHT INNINGS. Four straight shutout losses - one to the Mets and three to the Expos, all on the road - cranked up the innuendoes that maybe, just maybe, Eddie Haas wasn't ready to be a big league manager. Even the win that ended the shutout streak was a mundane 1-0 victory over (would you believe it?) the Mets, and the Braves only scored one run in their next loss, too. 2 runs in 56 innings of major league baseball. The Braves won 5 of 7 but then went on another five-game losing streak that included a 14-0 basting by the St Louis Cardinals. On June 8 and 9, the Braves seemed to have righted the ship as they defeated the Dodgers' two best pitchers, Orel Hershiser (his first loss of 1985 - he only had 3) and Fernando Valenzuela. But the second warning that set the stage for July 4 occurred in Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium on June 11, against a San Francisco Giants team that would lose 100 games and fire their manager.

JUNE 11, 1985: SETTING THE STAGE, PART 2
The Giants brought the worst offense in baseball into Atlanta for a series between the two teams bringing up the rear in the NL West. The Braves were 9.5 games out while the Giants were down 12. Of course, it wasn't the surprise for the Giants that it was for the Braves. Bob Horner socked a three-run homer in the first, and the Braves took a 4-0 lead into the 7th inning of a (so far) ho-hum game. With starter Steve Bedrosian nursing a shutout and due up to bat in the 7th, Haas decided to leave him in for one more inning, a reasonable decision. But when Bedrock gave up singles to Dan Gladden and Manny Trillo and brought the tying run to the plate, Haas called on his closer...in the 7th inning. It was the type of decision that made you wonder if Haas kept up with how anything was done in the major leagues.

Herman Franks, who managed the Giants in the 60s and then was Sutter's manager with the Cubs in the late 1970s, is the one who invented the modern concept of the one-inning save. And he invented it because of the shortcomings of Bruce Sutter himself. In 1977, Sutter appeared 37 times before June 28, pitched 67 innings, and had recorded 21 saves. Keep in mind that entering the 1977 season, the MLB record for saves in a season was John Hiller's 38 in 1972 for the division winning Detroit Tigers. On his way to obliterating that record, Sutter went on the DL in August. The following year, Sutter again tore out of the gate with 14 saves by July 9 and an ERA around 1.00. He made the All-Star team and kept pitching, but he ended with 27 saves and his ERA TRIPLED (to 3.19). He lost 7 games in a one-month span, and his late season collapses in both 1977 and 1978 pushed Franks into a decision that changed the game: from now on, Sutter would ONLY pitch in "save situations." He would no longer come into tie games and be expected to pitch until the end. In the first season of this experiment, Sutter saved 37 games with a 2.22 ERA (on a 79-win team) and won the Cy Young Award. Franks resigned and never managed again, but his strategy was adopted by the rest of baseball and is now standard.

So when Eddie Haas brought Sutter into the 7th inning of a save situation, it could be viewed as a save situation, but it also suggested he didn't trust the rest of his bullpen. In his last three seasons as the ace of the Cardinals, Sutter had pitched 3 innings only ten times - and virtually never in a save situation. And when Sutter walked the next two batters and then gave up an RBI single to Jeffrey Leonard and a ground out to Bob Brenly, the Giants took the field now down only 4-3. In the 8th, Sutter gave up a leadoff single to Joel Youngblood in the 8th, and he moved to second when Terry Harper's error - he fell down trying to field it - enabled him to advance. He then moved to third on a bunt and scored on a single. Sutter had blown a 4-0 lead, and only the fact Leonard was caught stealing second prevented him from losing the game in the 9th.

And the game went on. And on. And on.

Until long after Bruce Sutter had given back all of a 4-0 lead, the Braves lost in the 18th inning when Gene Garber - who had lost his job to Sutter as the closer - went out for his 4th inning and gave up two singles and a walk. Sutter was almost singlehandedly (on the Braves' pitching staff) responsible for the game's outcome, but he didn't get a loss, the guy who lost his job and who actually pitched longer and better did.

Two botch jobs by Bruce Sutter.
Two Braves losses, one to the Mets and one in extras.

So that on July 4, 1985, it all came together in a game that is a microcosm of both the season and the Braves' tenure in Atlanta.
.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

There was one other important ingredient in the infamous Rick Camp game, and I will cover it towards the bottom of this post. But the game cannot be told without the problems caused by Bruce Sutter and Eddie Haas. Sutter was 32 years old in 1985, the year when most ballplayers who aren't on steroids or who don't discover the fountain of youth via EPO or HGH begin the downhill swing towards the Old Folks home.

1) THE SUTTER CONTRACT
The Sutter contract would later serve as a guideline for "Professional Baseball Contracts for Dummies" and be exceeded by even more preposterous contracts awarded to players like Bobby Bonilla. The contract money-wise read thusly:
- six-years, $9.6 million DEFERRED contract
- 100% GUARANTEED (every penny)
- $750K base salary
- annual deferred payments of AT LEAST $1.12 million per year (more if interest rates hiked, which they did not) through 2022
- a total contract value of around $45 million, every penny to Sutter

The contract was so preposterous that Sutter's final payment was received not long before he died in October 2022. But a close look at how poorly the man pitched in 1985 was a warning that his best days were behind him. For all this money, the Braves got a record of 10-11 with 40 saves, a 4.55 ERA by surrendering 77 runs in only 156.1 IP, four losing records that included 2 last place finishes, a missed season due to shoulder surgery, and countless blown saves and bad pitching performances. Indeed, coming into the July 4th game against the Mets, Sutter had blown five saves and pitched poorly in nine of his 34 appearances, a record of 4-3 with 15 saves, 4 blown saves, and an ERA of 3.44 as a CLOSER.

Some examples of Sutter's 1985 ineptitude:
- Sutter entered a 1-1 game with the Mets on May 7 and promptly gave up a grand slam to Gary Carter.
- He also earned a save against the Mets on May 13 giving up 2 hits in 2 innings.
- Blown save on May 17 when he gave up four runs to the Cubs in the top of the 9th.
- May 18 entered a 4-2 game and got the save in a 4-3 final.
- On May 26, Sutter entered a game versus the 104-loss Pirates trailing 2-0 and left trailing 3-0, the Braves won in the 10th.
- On June 11, Sutter entered in the 7th with a 4-0 lead and two runners on - and gave up 3 runs in the 7th and one in the 8th and Atlanta lost in the 18th.
- He entered a 6-3 contest with the Reds on June 14 and gave up 2 straight doubles, bringing the tying run to the plate with nobody out of a 6-4 contest and then escaped.
- Two days later, he came on in the 8th of a 5-3 game and first gave up the lead, with a 2-run 9th, and then lost the game with a solo shot by Nick Esasky in the 10th.
- On June 18, he came on with a 2-1 lead in the 8th and the second batter, Bill Doran, tied the game with a homer. Atlanta won with a run in the bottom of the 8th and Sutter, after pitching poorly, got the win.
-On June 21, in the second game of a doubleheader, Sutter came on in the 8th with Atlanta leading, 5-2, and four of the nine batters he faced got hits, two scored, and Atlanta escaped, 5-4, Sutter getting a save despite poor pitching.
- He then came on in the 8th of a 2-0 lead over the Reds (June 23) and got the save with a 2-1 Braves win.
- On June 30, he came on in a 3-2 Braves lead and gave up a 2-run game-losing home run to Pedro Guererro, the hottest slugger in the NL at the time (Pedro's homer tied the then record for the most HRs in the month of June as he was hitting .344 despite 15 walks).

By the time the Braves took the field, Sutter blowing saves had come as natural to Atlanta baseball as a losing record, overpriced frankfurters, and mosquitos outnumbering fans most nights.

2) SuperStation WTBS and MLB Exclusivity

In 1984, crony capitalist Peter Ueberroth became the Commissioner of Baseball. Almost immediately, he made a complete fool of himself, saying that the national telecasts of the Atlanta Braves (WTBS), Chicago Cubs (WGN), and New York Yankees (WOR) are unfair competition and rob the local teams of revenue and (wait for it) cause lower attendance at MLB stadiums.

Nobody with a brain is quite sure where he's getting these ideas. In 1977, the first year baseball had 26 teams (with the addition of Seattle and Toronto), the total major league attendance was 38.7 million people. Save for the midseason strike year of 1981, attendance had gone up every year in stadiums. The year after the strike, MLB set a (then) record of over 45 million fans attending a game. In 1984, there was a slight regression of about 340 fans per game, nothing noticeable. But major league teams somehow were persuading themselves that if fans could watch the game on TV, it would hurt attendance at the box office.

The argument, of course, is the same ludicrous argument we've heard since the invention of TV. In fact, the Braves themselves proved otherwise. What caused attendance to increase was not "keeping fans from watching it on TV," it was "putting a competitive team on the field.

ATLANTA BRAVES HOME ATTENDANCE:
1977 (101 losses) - 10,771 per game
1980 (above .500) - 13,105 per game
1982 (1st place) - 22,247 per game
1983 (led most of year) - 26,499 per game.

Of the 6.3 million MORE fans watching games in person in 1984, the BRAVES THEMSELVES accounted for 2.54 million or nearly 40%. If ever anything proved the fallacy of "people won't go to the stadium if it's on TV", it was the Atlanta Braves. But to shut up the whining owners, Uncle Ted decided to fork over $6 million to be divided by the other teams for the telecasts he put on nationally. And MLB instituted a rule forbidding teams from showing games in the "national window" on Saturday afternoon and Monday night.

In other words, if the Mets and Braves had been scheduled to play their famous July 4 game on SATURDAY AFTERNOON, nobody outside the stadium would have seen it. But thanks to Ted's foresight on satellite, it was available to any fan who wanted to watch what turned out to be quite a memorable regular season game.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The start of the Braves-Mets game on July 4, 1985 was delayed a good 90 minutes due to one of those many summer washings famous throughout the south. Indeed, the field was practically flooded in spots, but after multiple episodes of such fare as "This Week In Baseball" and "The Andy Griffith Show," the umpires and teams took the field for the first pitch at 9:04 EDT, delivered by Rick Mahler to rookie Lenny Dykstra, who after a coffee cup in May had just been recalled back to the big leagues on June 19. In fact, his last appearance before going back down to Tidewater had been in the May 7 game where Sutter gave up the grand slam to Gary Carter. Lenny had gone into that game as a pinch-runner for George Foster, stolen second, and was left on base. He finished the game as the centerfielder but never got a chance to hit.

Dykstra attempted to bunt Rick Mahler's first pitch and was thrown out at first to get the game under way 94 minutes late. Wally Backman then worked a 3-2 count and took a full cut, hitting a squibber slowly back to Mahler, who couldn't throw him out, so Backman became the game's first baserunner with one out. What became clear early on is that home plate umpire Terry Tata was going to give the pitcher's the inside corner strike. Mahler hit two quick strikes to Keith Hernandez, who looked miffed on both of them in his first time at bat. Mahler then began attempting to pick off Backman - and after multiple attempts, succeeded, if you believe umpire Jerry Crawford. The call was close, but even Atlanta announcer Skip Caray thought Backman was safe. Hernandez then doubled into the gap, and Pete Van Wieren noted that what he was already calling "the Fifth of July fireworks" would follow the game. Carter then singled through the middle, scoring Hernandez to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. The ball squirted to a stop in front of centerfielder Dale Murphy, proof of how saturated the field was. It would provide more issues as the game wore on. Darryl Strawberry, recently returned from injury, lined a 2-1 Mahler delivery into center, and Carter stopped at second. George Foster, the 1977 home run king who had come closest to Roger Maris since his *61 homer season, drew a walk, and the Mets had the bases loaded in hopes of a big innings. But despite four hits in the inning and reliever Rick Camp getting up in the bullpen with just two outs in the first inning, Mahler got out of the jam by striking out Ray Knight. All of the decisions being made by the Braves' manager proceeded from the reality that they were facing the best pitcher in baseball thus far in 1985, Dwight Gooden. The 20-year-old phenom, on his way to a Cy Young Award, entered the game with a record of 11-3 and a dazzling 1.65 ERA. Runs would be hard for Atlanta to come by under normal circumstances, but as this particular game would show, this was an unusual night.

A key fact lost in the aftermath of the game was the fact this was the first time Gooden was ever pitching in his brief career on only three day's rest. The decision was motivated by a desire to have Gooden (not yet known as "Doc") to pitch three times before the upcoming All-Star game in Minneapolis. The wisdom (or not) of this decision was show immediately when rail thin outfielder Claudell Washington smoked a Gooden delivery into right field and, taking advantage of both the mislay and laziness of Strawberry, raced to third with a triple. He scored moments later on an infield ground out by Rafael Ramirez to tie the game. After nearly hitting Murphy on his second pitch, Gooden walked the slugger on four straight and followed by walking Bob Horner after missing the strike zone with 8 straight deliveries. Finding his equilibrium, Gooden struck out Terry Harper, but he walked Ken Oberkfell to load the bases. Rick Cerone then hit a hard shot to Hernandez at first, but the Gold Glover devoured it and threw out the slow-footed catcher at first to keep the score tied at one. Nothing of note happened in the 2nd, but in the third inning, offense and Mother Nature intervened.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Bob Horner singled with one out in the bottom of the third, but the rains came again and another delay ensued, this one of 41 minutes. This delay was sufficient to remove Gooden from the game in favor of Roger McDowell, so he inherited Horner at first when the game resumed, the Mets playing under protest. With a clear hour to play without projected rain, the decision was made to continue.

Terry Harper lofted a fly to short centerfield, and Dykstra benefited when the ball practically stopped upon landing in the puddle of water. Dykstra's shoes, no doubt, were heavy due to the flooding. With two on and one out, Oberkfell lifted a double to the wall in right, scoring both runners and giving Atlanta a 3-1 lead. Glenn Hubbard hit a hard shot back to the mound, but McDowell collared it and threw him out to end the inning. Despite a great 1985, Gooden was now on the hook to be the losing pitcher unless the Mets could rally. It wouldn't take long for that rally to happen, either. With a long delay, Rick Mahler returned to the mound.

Rafael Santana led off the fourth with a hard shot at Oberkfell, a play the sure-handed third sacker normally would make. But sprawling into the water, the ball bounced away, and Santana was safe with an infield hit. Clint Hurdle pinch-hit for McDowell and flied out to right. After Lenny Dykstra singled to put two on, Eddie Haas decided Mahler had been out there long enough and brought in someone he would normally not use in this situation, reliever Jeff Dedmon. Dedmon promptly ran into trouble. Backman, who had been picked off with a questionable out call in his first at bat, singled as the ball dropped into a puddle and stopped immediately. Santana scored to cut the Atlanta to 3-2. Hernandez then hit a sinking liner - literally - into a puddle and Washington slipped in right, a misplay that gave Hernandez a triple and scored both Santana and Backman, getting Gooden off the hook and giving the Mets a lead. Carter's single scored Hernandez, but Dedmon bore down and retired Strawberry and Foster to keep the game manageable, 5-3. Terry Leach replaced McDowell, and the game remained scoreless until Atlanta batted in the bottom of the fifth.

Not only was the weather an issue, but the game itself was plodding and slow. When Harper batted in the fifth, Braves announcer John Sterling noted that the game was already nearing the two-hour mark in terms of time played - and was still early in the bottom of the fifth. Keep in mind that the average length of a major league game in 1985 was 2 hours and 44 minutes, meaning that an average contest would be nearing the middle of the sixth. So the rain delay had indeed slowed things, but it wasn't proceeding much better in playing time, either. Oberkfell hit a sharp grounder that appeared it was going into right field, but Backman dove and fielded the ball, throwing out Oberkfell at first but allowing Harper to advance to second. It turned out to be a productive out, particularly when the slow-footed and light-hitting Cerone, who had just returned from a stint on the disabled list, singled slowly into right. Perhaps a dry field would have allowed a play at the plate, but the slowed baseball allowed the speedy Harper to score from second, and Atlanta was now trailing by one, 5-4. Hubbard struck out, ending the fifth inning and marking the contest official if rains returned. Then in the sixth, the Mets nearly put it away. Dedmon returned with the charge to keep it close since Atlanta might need to score quickly to clinch a win, but he failed in that effort.

Backman opened up the inning with a single and quickly stole second. Hernandez lined out to center, and Backman had to retreat on a liner through the middle by Carter before he advanced to third on the single. This was enough for Haas, who saw Dedmon getting hit hard and decided that since the pitcher was due up in the next half inning, he'd go with the double replacement. Steve Shields came on to replace Hubbard while Paul Zuvella came on for Dedmon. Strawberry lined a single through the right of the infield, scoring Backman and lifting the Mets lead to 6-4, the run charged to Dedmon. Foster, his longball days long behind him, took ball one while Strawberry stole second in an effort to eliminate the double play option. In response, the Braves walked Foster to load the bases with one out with Knight due. The third baseman, best known at the time for his marriage to golfer Nancy Lopez and for replacing Pete Rose at third with the Big Red Machine, bounced into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play, keeping the gap at two runs. Atlanta failed to close the gap, however, when Hernandez strode to the plate leading off the 8th.

Falling behind a pitch from Shields, who had pitched well, Hernandez caught enough of his delivery to hit a line drive towards right that just cleared the fence and gave the Mets a 7-4 lead. Shields recovered to strike out Carter before surrendering a single to Strawberry. But a 6-4-3 double play saved the day, and the Braves came to bat in the 8th down three. Mets skipper Davey Johnson put in the call for his lefty closer, Jesse Orosco.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Oberkfell led off the 8th with a single and then moved to second on a passed ball by Carter. Cerone drew a walk and just like that, Atlanta had the tying run at the plate with Shields due to hit. Clearly, Shields was going to give way to a pinch-hitter, and Eddie Haas sent one of the most hyped minor leaguers in a generation to the plate as the game's tying run.

Brad Komminsk, Atlanta's first round pick (4th overall) in the 1979 draft, had been hyped as the next Dale Murphy by no less than club Vice-President Hank Aaron. Touted as a five-tool player out of Lima, Ohio, Komminsk graced the cover of Baseball America in both 1981 and 1983, and the Braves were so high on the outfielder (and former all-state football linebacker and basketball star) that they rejected an overture from the Boston Red Sox in 1984 to trade future Hall of Famer Jim Rice even-up for Komminsk. He had torn up minor league pitching for a few years, but he was hobbled by two (then) unknown problems at the time: 1) he had asthma; 2) hitting coaches in the majors were toying with his swing and messing him up severely. At the time of this game, Komminsk was not yet regarded as a draft bust, but he was well on his way to that designation. His 1985 average entering the game was .229, and his career average was .213, with 8 HRs and 50 RBIs in 507 career at bats. He'd also made five errors in the outfield despite playing only 97 complete games in the field. And he'd struck out 119 times.

Make it 120, as Orosco got Komminsk again. Zuvella flied out to center, advancing Oberkfell to third, and Washington walked, loading the bases and bringing Ramirez to bat as the potential winning run. Ramirez drew a walk, narrowing the Mets lead to only 7-5, bringing Doug Sisk in relief of Orosco, and the most feared hitter in the National League, Dale Murphy to the plate. To make it even better, the rain began to fall lightly yet again. And just in case they needed him, Bruce Sutter was up in the Atlanta bullpen. And it isn't like Sisk was a great pitcher; he was 2-6 with a 6.91 ERA, and he had to face Murphy. It didn't take long to learn his fate.

Sisk, whose control was a problem, threw the first pitch high for ball one. The next pitch was out over the plate, and Murphy hit a soft liner - by his standards - into left centerfield. All three runners on base ahead of the two-time MVP raced around to score on the double, and the crowd went bonkers. Murphy's league-leading RBI total was now at 58 in game 76 of the season. The Braves were now ahead, 8-7, and only three outs from a delayed fireworks show. With the slugger Horner next, Atlanta might put it away here. Horner hit the ball right on the button, but he also hit it right at Backman at second. The inning ended with Atlanta leading, 8-7, and their closer on the mound. After striking out Knight for the first out, Sutter's 1985 troubles continued.

Howard Johnson, hitting .194 looped a 1-1 Sutter delivery into left field, bringing Danny Heep to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. Heep lined Sutter's first pitch into centerfield, moving Johnson to third, and the crowd erupted in prolonged boos towards Sutter, who was failing again. The failure was complete when Dykstra hit a a bouncer to the left of Horner, who caught it on the successful dive. The only play was to first, but Sutter was slow and Dykstra was fast, and he beat Horner's desperate throw while Johnson crossed the plate with the tying run, another blown save for the $45 million reliever. The Mets had runners at first and second and only one out. Backman bounced a ball too slow for a double play to Zuvella at second, but he nailed a sliding Dykstra for the second out, Heep moving to third. Hernandez popped up to short left field, ending the inning, but the game was tied at 8. Although Rick Cerone reached on an error and Albert Hall pinch ran for him, the Braves did not score, sending the game into extra innings.

In fact, nobody scored.
Not in the 10th.
Not in the 11th.
Not in the 12th.

Harper did double with one out in the 11th, but Bruce Benedict bounced into an inning-ending double play. Terry Forster, the obese pitcher with an ongoing feud with NBC's David Letterman, who had referred to the portly reliever as a "fat tub of goo," pitched through three innings in relief of Sutter and wasn't threatened. But then in the 13th as he began his fourth inning on the mound, Forster found trouble.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Hernandez hit a harmless single in the 12th that resulted in nothing important - except it did make the accomplished first baseman only the fourth Met in history to hit for the cycle. Sure, it took an extra at bat, but you didn't see anyone else hitting for it in this game. Forster led off the bottom of the 12th, in large part because the Braves didn't have anyone left but Paul Runge as a pinch-hitter. And given Runge was hitting .125 mostly as a pinch-hitter/late replacement, it's not like Forster was much worse. But Forster also rarely pitched more than 3 innings, and his fourth would not be to his liking, particularly with the power area of the Mets' lineup due up.

Forster got the 13th going well by striking out Strawberry, and when Kelvin Chapman hit in place of Doug Sisk, he got an out to the shortstop. One out from four successful innings pitched, Forster weakened. Knight singled and Johnson, whose single and run had tied the game in the 9th, drilled a two-run home run that gave the Mets a 10-8 lead. Tom Gorman came on and needed only three outs to get the save. He got his three outs, but he didn't get the save.

THE FORGOTTEN HOME RUN: TERRY HARPER
Rafael Ramirez led off the 13th with a single, bringing up Murphy. The deflated and departing crowd got a bit louder, knowing a homer would tie the game. But Murphy and Gerald Perry struck out, leaving the Mets one out away from a comeback win. Atlanta's hopes were resting on the shoulders of Terry Harper, who strode to the plate with a career total of 14 home runs, not exactly a longball threat. Gorman got two quick strikes over on Harper, who fouled off the third pitch to stay alive. Harper then turned on Gorman's second 0-2 delivery and lifted a high fly down the left field line. "If it's fair! If it's fair! It's FAIR!" shouted Braves announcer Ernie Johnson. The ball bounced off the foul pole for a two-run home run, and with one swing of the bat, the Braves and Mets were tied at ten, and the Braves now had the winning run swinging the bat in the person of Ken Oberkfell. It was at this point that John Sterling observed what had happened with the ball, saying, "This might be the wackiest game of all-time." Oberkfell fouled out to the catcher, but the game continued.

And for the next three innings, nothing of consequence happened. Gene Garber came on in relief of Forster, but nothing happened, although Dykstra's at bat leading off against Garber was his 7th of the game, a truly amazing feat given he had only 33 career major league at bats entering the night. But in the 17th, Atlanta's seventh pitcher, Rick Camp, came on to relieve, and Davey Johnson apparently decided he'd seen all he wanted to see.

Gary Carter greeted Camp with a single, bringing up the dangerous Strawberry with a man on. Camp threw a 3-2 full count slider that caught the corner, and Tata called it for strike three. Strawberry began arguing with Tata and got tossed, and Johnson followed him to the shower when he, too, was tossed. Fatigue may explain it as the ejection occurred at 2:55am. It was probably a wrong call, but it didn't matter. Johnson played the managerial game of hiding behind players but continuing to manage, and Camp retired Gorman and Knight both to end the top of the 17th. Ramirez hit a harmless single, but the Braves failed to score, either. Then in the 18th, Howard Johnson handed down judgement on the Atlanta Braves for the third time in the game.


Howard Johnson, the .194 hitter who had singled and scored the tying run and then followed with a two-run shot, came to bat at 3:10 am and led off the top of the 18th with a single. Could Atlanta not get this guy out? His single set a Mets record for hits in a game with 24. Heep then bunted, and Camp fielded the ball perfectly. A perfect throw would have nailed Johnson at second, but he rushed the throw and it hit in front of second and skeeted into centerfield. Johnson raced to third, and the Mets had runners at the corners with nobody out. Dykstra popped out to Murphy in center, scoring Johnson and giving the Mets and 11-10 lead. As Wally Backman batted, John Sterling first made a blunder by saying the game was in the 17th, correcting himself moments later. Sterling then observed that Camp was going to have to hit for himself in the bottom of the 18th because there was nobody to pinch-hit for him. "Well, Zane Smith," Sterling said. Backman hit into a fielder's choice that forced Heep at second, and Hernandez flied out to center. Once again, the Mets needed just three outs to win the game.

Upon returning to the dugout, Camp frustratedly threw his glove into the dugout. He was seriously on the hook now, about to become the losing pitcher and deservedly so after his throwing error had enabled the winning run to score. But maybe the Braves could rally. Harper had already homered, and he was due up. Maybe Camp would get to bat with runners at first and second and be able to bunt the winning run into scoring position. What must have been in the mind of Rick Camp when the game tottered into the bottom of the 18th.

"The Braves have Gerald Perry, Terry Harper, and then a thorny question" said John Sterling as the TV broadcast returned on WTBS. "In all deference to our buddy, Rick, he could go on in and represent the final out of the game." Sterling then pointed out the Braves had only two guys left on the bench and both were pitchers with less experience with the bat than Camp, Steve Bedrosian and Zane Smith. Sterling's out loud thinking continued as he noted that if the Braves did manage to tie the ballgame - but not win it or lose it - who exactly was going to pitch the 19th inning? Perry lined a hard shot up the middle that Gorman fielded for the first out, and Harper bounced to Hernandez unassisted for the second out at 3:20 am.

What must have been in the mind of Rick Camp when he strode to the plate as Atlanta's last hope when Gorman induced Perry and Harper to ground into infield outs and leave the Braves one out away from the loss?

Let's just say the last thought on anyone's mind was the idea Rick Camp could tie the game with a home run.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

RICK CAMP'S ENTRY INTO BASEBALL HISTORY

"Well, this is why you always save a player." Those were the words of John Sterling as Camp, with a sheepish grin, adjusted his batting helmet while chatting with Gary Carter as he took his place in the batter's box. The Mets stopped the game long enough to wave in their outfielders so that Camp did not reach base on a cheap hit. In 1985, Camp was 0-for-5 with an RBI. For his career, Camp was 10-for-167 (.059) with four doubles and 6 RBIs. Gorman's first delivery was right down the middle of the plate at number level, and Camp took a hard slice at the pitch, fouling it back with what Sterling noted was "a home run cut." But Sterling's next words would live infamy:

"Ernie, if he hits a home run to tie this game.....(Johnson can be heard chuckling)....this game will be certified as absolutely the nuttiest in the history of baseball."

Gorman's second delivery, for all the world, looked slightly outside, but Tata called it "strike two." Maybe he was just tired and wanted to go home. Maybe he needed a bathroom break. Gorman then wound up with what he surely figured was going to be his last pitch of the night.

But Camp got out in front of it.

"And he hits it to deep left.....Heep goes back....it is....(pause)....GONE! Holy cow! Oh my goodness! I don't believe it! Rick CAMP! Rick CAMP! I don't believe it."

Sterling continued raving about the unbelievability of it all. Nobody, probably including Camp, could believe it. But it happened. After making the error that was about to cost the Braves the game, Camp had tied it with perhaps the most improbable home run in major league history.

Lost in the aftermath is the fact that .195 hitting Bruce Benedict drew a walk when he hit after Camp's improbable homer. This brought Paul Runge to the plate with the winning run at first, but he bounced the first pitch to Knight at third, ending the 18th. Camp took the mound for the 19th inning with an ear-to-ear grin on his face as the remaining crowd gave him a standing ovation.


But as is typical of Atlanta sports, Camp's homer would be the bright moment of a dark event.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

THE END OF THE GAME

Gary Carter singled to start the 19th and moved to second on a bunt by John Christenson, the outfielder who had replaced Strawberry upon his ejection. Ron Darling, due to start a few days later, got up in the bullpen to come on in case it went much longer. Mets legend Rusty Staub came to the plate with Carter on second and one out, and the Braves opted to walk him. Ray Knight hit a double to the gap in right center, scoring Carter and giving the Mets a 12-11 lead. With the damage he had inflicted upon the Braves this night, Johnson was walked intentionally, loading the bases. Moments later, all three scored on a base hit by Heep and then Claudell Washington threw the ball wide of the plate, and Benedict was kicked by the passing baserunner trying to retrieve the errant toss. Heep scored on a single by Backman, and the Mets were ahead, 16-11, a five-run lead that assured Camp was going to lose the game.

Or was he? We'd thought that once before. And lost in the recollections is the fact the Braves did not go quietly in the bottom of the 19th. Ron Darling, in fact, wound up finding the ending of the game a little too close for his own comfort.

Claudell Washington got to second with a shot that Hernandez made into an error with one out. With two outs, Dale Murphy came to the plate, but who cared with the Braves down by five? Nevertheless, he worked a walk from Gorman, and so did Perry, loading the bases with two out. Suddenly, the game was - once again - quite interesting because the next two batters to the plate were the two guys who had socked home runs with the Braves down to their last out. And when Terry Harper hit a two-run single, the game was in its most improbable outcome: Rick Camp at the plate for a second time with a chance to tie the game with another home run. The Braves were down, 16-13, but Camp had two men on base in front of him. Surely this couldn't happen again, right?

It didn't. Ron Darling wasn't Tom Gorman.

Excitement gripped the crowd as Camp came back to the plate. If nothing else, the fans wanted him to know their appreciation for a guy who was a Georgia-born pitcher and who had been doing whatever the Braves wanted on the mound for nine years. Darling's first pitch was right down the middle for a strike, lower than his home run zone. Camp took another home run cut at a pitch low and outside and fouled it off for strike two. Perhaps hoping to fool Camp, Darling's next pitch was in the opposite batter's box for ball one. Darling then delivered one right at shoulder level and Camp swung through for strike three. After six hours and ten minutes,19 innings, 46 hits, 2 ejections, and 29 runs, the Mets had shown on this day to be one hit better than the Braves. The crowd - those who remained for the fireworks show anyway - gave both teams a hand for a game nobody who played or saw would ever forget.

Camp, of all people, was the losing pitcher while Gorman, who gave up the dinger to Camp was the winning pitcher. With the game ending after 4am, the Braves' organization still felt they owed the fans a fireworks show, so they gave it to them. They also wound up having several calls to emergency services (such as they existed in 1985) expressing fear the city of Atlanta was under attack from bombs or bullets. The memorable story initially was the panic that seized the area of Atlanta closest to the stadium with fireworks going off about an hour before folks would wake up to head to work on Friday morning (four-day July 4th holidays weren't a thing 40 years ago - at least not most places).

EPILOGUE
Rick Camp's career did not have long left in Atlanta. He made 38 more appearances given his status as a middle reliever, and he went 2-2 the rest of the way. His final appearance came on the final Saturday of the baseball season in game 161. Camp faced four batters in the 8th inning of a 7-1 Braves loss to the San Francisco Giants and Vida Blue. Bob Brenly, famous for later winning the 2001 World Series as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, got the last base hit off of Rick Camp in his career, a single with two outs. The last batter Camp retired was Dan Driessen.

Most of the Mets who were in Atlanta that night won a World Series ring the very next year. The Mets, who came close in 1985, got rid of George Foster and put Lenny Dykstra in center while moving Mookie Wilson to replace Foster in left. They added Bob Ojeda in 1986 in a blockbuster trade that sent Calvin Schiraldi to the Red Sox, where he would lose both Games Six and Seven to New York in the World Series. One of the members of the Braves, Steve Bedrosian, would get a ring when Atlanta finally broke through and won the 1995 World Series, but he was no longer on the team when they made it to the postseason, although he did win a ring as a participant with the Minnesota Twins against Atlanta in 1991. Camp's bullpen coach, Brian Snitker, would later become Atlanta's manager and guide the team to a World Series win almost as improbable as Camp's homer in 2021.

As for Camp, he later spent 3 years in federal prison for conspiring to defraud a mental health agency. He died in 2013 at the age of 59 from natural causes. But in his obituary, his solitary home run received prominent mention while very few mentioned his incarceration. Which is probably for the best.