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By Ron Coderre
THOMPSON — An individual who never played for the Boston Red Sox but who is certainly in the team’s history was the guest speaker at the Tri-Town American Legion Baseball post-season banquet. Dave Koza, a former Pawtucket Red Sox player whose name will always be synonymous with the longest game in professional baseball history, was at American Legion Post #67 to share his story with the audience of approximately 100.
Dave Koza played 10 seasons in professional baseball, all in the minor leagues with the Boston Red Sox organization. Although he never achieved his childhood dream of playing in the Major leagues, he did spend seven successful years in AAA with the Pawtucket Red Sox. He also had seasons in Elmira, Winter Haven and Bristol before arriving in Pawtucket.
Koza’s most memorable moment in baseball started on Saturday, April 18, 1981. The game, which is the longest game ever recorded in baseball history, was suspended eight hours later around 4 a.m. in the 31st inning ‘on Easter Sunday. The game, which pitted the hometown PawSox versus the Rochester Red Wings, ended mercifully on June 23.
The game, played in typically cold New England weather, started with more than 700 fans in the stands. When it ended only 17 hardy fans, including Bob Brex the executive director of NECASA, were on hand. Ben Mondor, the very philanthropic owner of the team, rewarded those loyal fans with season’s passes for staying through the cold and arduously long night.
After playing for more than eight hours, it took only 18 minutes to complete the historic contest thanks to Dave Koza. When the teams resumed play a little more than a month later, it was Koza’s bloop single, on a 2 and 2 slider, over the head of Rochester third baseman Cal Ripken Jr. that ended the contest.
Koza’s hit, which drove home future Red Sox star second baseman Marty Barrett with the winning run, ensured a place in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for all the players who were part of the action. For the record, Koza was 5 for 14 including a pair of doubles in the game. The game’s eye-popping statistics included a total of 219 at bats and 60 strikeouts.
The Rochester team featured Cal Ripken Jr. who is enshrined in the Hall of Fame and who holds the baseball record of 2,632 consecutive games played. The Pawtucket team featured future Major League stars Wade Boggs, also in the Hall of Fame; Marty Barrett and Rich Gedman. Roger LaFrancois, who played American Legion baseball in Zone VI caught 26 innings of that game, going 2 for 8 at bat.
Koza was born in Norfolk, Va. He grew up in Torrington, Wyo., where he starred in football, basketball and track. He never played high school baseball because it wasn’t offered at the school. His love of baseball started when he attended baseball camps as a youngster. He developed his game playing American Legion baseball. Koza played in more than 1000 minor league games, posting a career .263 batting average in more than 3800 at bats.
Today Koza continues living in Pawtucket. The story of Koza’s life on and off the baseball diamond and his exploits in the “longest game in professional baseball history,” are chronicled in Dan Barry’s book titled “BOTTOM of the 33rd.”