This Date in Baseball History - Who Needs a Pitch Clock?

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In the fastest professional baseball nine-inning game ever played, the visiting Winston-Salem Twins beat the Tourists, 2-1, in an astounding thirty-one minutes. The 200 fans at Oates Park, unaware of the agreement to speed up the NC State League contest because both teams had trains to catch, are so upset with the brief game that Asheville owner L.L. Jenkins assures the angry patrons he will refund their price of admission.

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it was one of the last days of the season so nobody really cared who won (the Twins ended up taking it, 2-1). The two teams had also decided to start more than half an hour early because the Twins had a train to catch out of town. The game went so quickly that some fans who thought they were arriving early barely got there for the end.

The pitchers lobbed throws in so batters could hit and get their at-bats over with. And if they did hit the ball, they just kept running until they were either tagged out or reached home. Fielders also started to creep off the field before there were three outs to get things moving. It was like a bunch of five-year-olds playing tee-ball in their backyard.

But one of the best anecdotes from the game was found by CBS' Dayn Perry in the book "A History of Professional Baseball in Asheville."

"The most unusual play of the game took place in the top half of the third inning. Asheville pitcher Doc Lowe delivered the ball before his catcher was behind the plate. The Winston-Salem batter singled to center field and tried to advance to second base when the outfielder's throw headed to the visitors' dugout. Frank Nesser, the Twins' on-deck hitter, snagged the ball and threw out his teammate with a perfect peg to the keystone sack."

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