On July 4th, 1985, one of the greatest, strangest, longest games in baseball history happened right here in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets began the game late because of a rain delay, but most fans weren’t discouraged by the late start.
The teams were tied by the end of the ninth inning, so the game went into extra innings. Long-time Braves fan Herman Rolader and his family were determined to stay for the Independence Day fireworks, but, he said, the game “just kept going and going.”
The crowd thinned after the clock struck midnight. Franklin Green, who had been at the game with his two children, left in the 18th inning.
“All the service people left,” Green remembered. “You couldn’t buy a hot dog or a drink or anything after midnight.”
But as the Green family walked toward their car in the parking lot, they heard a roar erupt from the still-lit stadium.
John Sterling, now the radio announcer for the New York Yankees, was calling Braves games at the time. He recalled that by the 18th inning, the Braves were in rough shape.
It was 3:30 a.m., the Mets had scored, the Braves had two outs, and the next batter to the plate was pitcher Rick Camp, whom Sterling said was “widely known as the worst hitting pitcher in baseball.”
After Camp had two strikes against him, Sterling said he recalled telling his radio colleague, “If he hits a home run to tie this game, this game will be certified as absolutely the nuttiest in the history of baseball.”
Camp swung a third time and made contact. The sleep-deprived crowd erupted.
The home run would be the first and last of Camp’s career, and it tied the game at 11-11.
The game continued until around 4 a.m., with the Mets winning 16-13 in 19 innings. The stadium lit up its promised fireworks display at the end, waking up and terrifying neighbors with the late-night explosives.
Although Camp was the losing pitcher, the game has gone down in history as the “Rick Camp” game.
After his playing career, Camp served time in federal prison for his conviction in a scheme to defraud a community mental health center. He died in 2013 at the age of 60 at his home in Bartow County.
