The Knights celebrated long in their clubhouse, then went out to the French Quarter and partied even longer.

The next day they showed up for the season finale bleary-eyed and toasted. The fans gave them a long, sustained standing ovation when they took the field. Goodman rested most of his regulars as did Lasorda. The Dodgers won the battle of benches 7-0 to draw within 1 game of the Knights at the end. The 16 inning victory the night before had been crucial. The Knights would have...

Tommy Lasorda, meanwhile, tipped his cap to the Knights. “They just flat out beat us” he said. “We wanted it. We wanted it bad. I thought we were comin’ into tomorrow tied for first after the Big Fella went deep in the 16th. But we couldn’t hold it.”

Orel Hershiser was glum. “The record is great, and I’m happy that the fans cheered for me when I got it” he said. “But I would have gladly given up nine runs in the first if we had come back to win 10-9. I would gladly given up a run and...

The crowd erupted into a deafening roar as the ball hit the ground. Gwynn raced to get it, but he never had a chance. He picked up the ball, turned around and watched helplessly as Lee raced across the plate with the winning run. The crowd roared and fireworks exploded as the Knights team joyously pummeled each other in celebration. The roar continued on loudly and the players jumped around for several minutes while the Dodgers walked off the field, their dreams of pulling off the miracle comeback...

The Knights, for once, refused to die:
The first batter of the inning, leadoff man Dave Hawkins, stepped up to the plate to polite applause. The crowd went silent as he took the first pitch and popped out to Gibson, who pumped his fist after catching it. The fans were all but ready to give up. Most were already talking about what chances the Knights had against the Dodgers’ scheduled pitcher for Sunday’s game. Bill Daley broke the silence with a sharp base hit. The crowd responded politely,...

The next night, Orel Hershiser and Tom Schmidt battled to a 10 inning, 0-0 standstill. The game was knotted at that score in the top of the 16th:

The top of the 16th began with the Knights fourth pitcher of the night, spot closer Dick Dralle, taking the mound. It was now very close to midnight, but a huge crowd still remained, still aching to see the historic clincher that was so far failing to happen.

Dralle started the inning by inducing pinch hitter Mickey Hatcher...