This is going to sound like legend. A fairy tale. Mythology. But it's all true. Swear.
It's from a time when baseball games didn't require three hours (or four hours in the postseason) to play.
It was before a hitter ambled to the plate listening to his walkup song and stepped out of the batter's box after each pitch to adjust his batting gloves, helmet, belt and cup.
It was before pitchers took their sweet time on the mound between pitches.
And it was before TV broadcasts were so prevalent that each half inning was interrupted for two minutes for a few words from each sponsor.
It was a game between the Padres and the Phillies, with left-handers Randy Jones and Jim Kaat opposing each other at San Diego Stadium. The Padres' 4-1 win came on a Wednesday night in front of 10,021 fans.
It took only 1:29 to complete.
Eighty-nine minutes!
The date was May 4, 1977. Forty years ago.
It was the fastest nine-inning game in Padres history and, in fact, the second-fastest major league game over the past half century.
Let's see the Padres try doing that the next time they have one of their "Way back Wednesday" promotions.
