Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The baseball newsletter that covers the coolest, craziest, and kookiest things that have ever happened in our game.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about one of the wildest games in history.

It was America’s Birthday — July 4, 1985 — and the Braves were hosting the Mets at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

The game was a dogfight from the beginning.

Here’s a quick recap:

• Both teams scored in the first

• The Braves went up 3-1 in the third

• Mets scored 4 in the fourth; making the score 5-3

• By the eighth inning, the score was 7-4 with the Mets in the lead

• The Braves rallied back with a four spot and gave the ball to Bruce Sutter with an 8-7 lead

But Sutter blew the save and they went into extras.

By this time, it was past midnight.

There was three scoreless frames, and then Keith Hernandez hit a single, which completed his cycle for the day.

Howard Johnson hit a two-run home run to make it 10-8, but then the Braves answered back.

The score was 10-10 when Rick Camp entered in relief for the top of the 17th.

Davey Johnson and Darryl Strawberry both got tossed for arguing balls and strikes that inning.

Umpire Terry Tata was famously quoted saying:

“There aren’t any bad calls at 3 a.m.”

The next inning, the Mets took the lead again, and it was looking like the game would finally come to an end.

With two outs, and the Braves completely out of position players, they sent Camp to the plate to hit for himself; he was a career .060 hitter.

All hope was pretty much lost at this point; tough way to end the game after fighting for 18 innings.

The catcher waved all of the outfielders to move in in the most disrespectful way possible, and Rick fouled off the first pitch.

Right afterwards, John Sterling said:

“Ernie, if he hits a home run to tie this game, this game will be certified as absolutely the nuttiest in the history of baseball.”

Then the impossible happened.

Rick Camp went yard and the entire stadium was in complete shock.

Unfortunately, his moment of glory was short-lived when he got shelled in top of the 19th.

The Mets put up a 5-spot and went up 16-11.

Of course, Atlanta put up a fight in the bottom of the 19th, rallying back to score another two runs, but it wasn’t enough.

Camp struck out to end the game just before 4 a.m.

The most badass part?

The Braves still put on the scheduled fire works display after the game.

Only in America, baby.

As for Rick — he ended up going to federal prison for two years when he tried to steal more than $2 million from a mental health facility in Georgia.

But that’s a story for another day.

RIDICULOUS STATS

BASEBALL TRIVIA

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Cal McLish served in the 3rd Infantry Division in Europe, earning two battle stars, before the Germans surrendered in May 1945.

His career numbers weren’t anything extraordinary, but he won 92 games in the big leagues, which is nothing to sneeze at.

In '81 McLish was Rollie Fingers' pitching coach when he won the Cy Young.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Turkey: Traded for a live animal

• The Seagull: Dave Winfield gets arrested

• The Wheelie: Jeff Kent’s ridiculous injury

• The Clown: One of baseball’s greatest entertainers

• The Parachuter: Rogue fans skydives onto the field during the World Series