On August 30, 1916, Winston-Salem and Asheville of the North Carolina League played one of the strangest baseball games on record. It was also the fastest.
When the teams arrived at the Asheville ballpark, Charles Clancy, the Winston-Salem manager, asked a favor of Asheville manager Jack Corbett.
“The last train for Winston-Salem leaves a little after three o’clock in the afternoon,” Clancy said. “If we don’t catch that train, we’ll have to stay over in Asheville until tomorrow. Can you help us out?”
It was Asheville’s last home game of the season. Neither team was in the thick of the pennant fight, so the game really didn’t mean much. Corbett agreed that the game time could be moved up. Instead of starting at 2:00 P.M., the first pitch was delivered at 1:28.
Both teams hustled like mad. Every batter swung at the first pitch, which was always right over the plate. No sooner was the last out made in an inning than both teams were running to change sides. Sometimes that led to confusion. Once the Asheville pitcher delivered to the plate before his teammates could take the field. It was a clean single, but the Winston-Salem center fielder grabbed the ball and threw his own teammate out at second base. Whenever a player got a hit, he usually managed to get himself trapped between the bases and tagged out.
The game turned out to be something of a farce, but Winston-Salem did win over the regulation nine innings. The final score was 2-1.
At 1:59 the final out was made, leaving Winston-Salem ample time to make their train. It was the shortest game ever played, lasting exactly 31 minutes. Some fans who came to the game on time were surprised to find that it was already over.
Mr. L.L. Jenkins, the president of the Asheville team, gave a refund to anyone who wanted it.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
A couple more fun facts about this game. Both teams needed to catch a train–the Asheville team was actually located in Raleigh and their train left earlier–so it benefited both teams. Also, the only points scored in the game were home runs. Every other hitter simply ran until they were tagged out.