Four decades later, it is still one of the wildest, wackiest games in Atlanta Braves history.
The weather in Atlanta for this year’s July 4th home game looks to be dang-near perfect weather for baseball. With a high temperatures around the 90-degree mark and humidity in the tolerable level for Summer in the South, the chance of rain is fairly low as the Atlanta Braves and the Baltimore Orioles take the field on Independence Day 2025.
That wasn’t the case 40 years ago today when the Braves hosted the New York Mets at old Atlanta-Fulton Country Stadium. A marathon extra-inning game – marred with rain delays – set-up one of the most legendary regular season moments since the Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966.
Before we get to that moment, let’s set the stage a little bit.
In 1985, the Atlanta Braves were coming off of the best three-year stretch since the team started calling Atlanta home. After winning the National League West in 1982, they had back-to-back second place finishes in 1983 and 1984, but after finishing 80-82 in 1984, Atlanta opted to move on from manager Joe Torre.
Despite returning the majority of the every-day line-up and pitching staff, under manager Eddie Haas the Braves took a sharp downturn in 1985 and Haas was ousted before the end of the year. The team didn’t see the .500 mark after May 1 and finished June with a marathon 12-game road trip where the team actually finished 7-5 after dropping the the final game of the road trip on July 2 against the San Francisco Giants.
After a day off, the Braves and Mets kicked-off a four-game series on July 4th. If you are too young to have lived through the Fulco era of Braves baseball, 1985 was the beginning of one of the darkest stretches of Braves baseball at the MLB-level – but the results of the season brought back former manager Bobby Cox from Toronto as the General Manager and under his stewardship, the Braves began rebuilding the organization from the ground-up, leading to the legendary run of the 1990s.
But, back to July 4, 1985.
The Braves welcomed almost 45,000 fans to the game, largely due to the post-game July 4th fireworks show. That was their largest home crowd of the season to-date, other than Opening Day, and while not a sell-out at the cavernous stadium, it was a massive up-tick from the barely 10,000 fans the team averaged in the series prior to hitting the road.
The start of the game was delayed until just after 9PM due to rain, with Braves’ bell-cow starter Rick Mahler taking the mound for Atlanta.
What followed was one of the most insane regular season games in MLB history. If you want a complete break-down of the game action and delays, check-out this article from 2018 that chronicles all the details: here.
If you don’t want to take that deep of a dive, here’s the summary:
Six hours and 10 minutes after the game started – and 19 innings later – the Braves lost to the Mets. Playing a 19 inning game, even in the pre-ghost-runner era was incredibly rare, but how the team got to the 19th inning – and what followed – is the legendary part.
This is the game that Rick Camp had his signature moment of his career.
Camp spent his entire nine-year MLB-career with Atlanta as a starter and reliever. Debuting at age 21 in 1976, he saw action in every season until 1985 other than 1979. He appeared in 414 career games – including 65 starts, most of which occurred during the 1982 to 1984 seasons. He also saved 57 games in his career and picked-up 5.5 fWAR for his work on the mound.
Camp had a solid career as a pitcher, what Camp wasn’t was a good hitting pitcher. In more than 180 plate appearances heading into the 1985 season he only had four extra-base hits – all doubles – and 10 hits total. He had scored only five runs and driving in only five. During that span he drew only three walks and struck out a whopping 80 times.
Not a good hitting pitcher. At. All.
More on that in a few minutes.
Back to the game, the Braves entered the bottom of the eighth inning trailing the Mets 7-4. After closing the gap to 7-5, Dale Murphy put the Braves ahead 8-7 with a bases-loaded double that cleared the bases.
In the top of the ninth, the Braves called on closer Bruce Sutter, the Hall of Fame pitcher who was not only largely ineffective while with the Braves but signed a massive free agent deal with Atlanta prior to the ‘85 campaign that included deferments that paid him more than $1M per year through 2022 – a contract that was arguably worse than the Mets’ Bobby Bonilla deferred contract that is more renown.
Sutter blew the save in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extra innings.
The contest remained tied 8-8 until the 13th inning with the Mets’ Howard Johnson hit a two-run home run in the top of the inning but the Braves tied it up when Douglasville, Ga.-native Terry Harper his a two-run home run of his own to send the game to the 14th.
By the 17th, the game was still tied 10-10, and Camp entered the game for Atlanta after three scoreless innings from Braves legendary reliever Gene Garber.
After a scoreless 17th, the Mets broke through with an unearned run in top of the 18th inning against Camp.
In the bottom of the inning, Mets’ reliever Tom Gorman retired Gerald Perry and Harper without the ball leaving the infield, bringing Camp to the plate.
With no position players left – and only other three pitchers available – Atlanta left Camp in the game to take the at-bat despite his lack of career success at the plate.
Then this happened. (If you are reading this on Apple News, switch to a browser to watch the video below.)
Yes, that is former Braves broadcaster John Sterling with Braves Hall of Famer Ernie Johnson, Sr on the call. Leading into Camp’s at-bat, Sterling comments on how if Camp homered it would be the nuttiest game in history of baseball.
With the Mets’ outfield called in, and with an 0-2 count, Camp did the unthinkable – the improbable – and laced a game-tying home run over the left field wall to tie the game. Everyone remaining in the stadium – only a few thousand at the most, the players, the announcers, were all shocked.
As Sterling said after the homer, it was the, “wackiest, wildest, most improbable game in history.”
In the top of the 19th, Camp remained in the game and gave up five runs. With the Braves down 16-11, they clawed back when Harper singled with the bases loaded and two out, driving in two runs, to close the gap to 13-16.
With runners at first and third, who strode to the plate but Camp. Camp wasn’t able to find lighting in a bottle twice and struck out to end the game.
But his home run – the only one of his career – is a phenomenal reminder how in baseball, you never can tell what about what is going to happen.
While Camp’s homer doesn’t top Hank Aaron’s 715 home run and probably slots somewhere below Garber striking out Pete Rose to end Rose’s hitting streak, Otis Nixon’s catch and maybe Chipper Jones’ walk-off home run against the Phillies that was the last career, there’s no doubt that Camp’s home run is a keystone of Atlanta Braves lore.
As a side note, the Braves opted to have their Fourth of July fireworks celebration despite it being well into the 3AM hour – leading to numerous calls with people thinking that Atlanta was under attack.
Camp, who was from Trion, Ga. and passed away back in 2013, ended his career after the 1985 season. If he had played in one more season with Atlanta he would have joined only three other Braves players to have played in 10 seasons in MLB, all with Atlanta. (Camp’s teammates, catchers Biff Pocoroba and Bruce Benedict join Chipper Jones in that exclusive list.)
If you’re older than 45 and have been a Braves lifer, there’s no doubt that you probably have fond memories of this game.
If you’re too young to remember, this moment was sort of in-line with Brooks Conrad’s “is it a home run or isn’t it?” walk-off grand slam against the Reds 15 years ago – but if Conrad was a pitcher and it was 3AM and the game had been going on for six hours.
Baseball and the Braves have a funny way of having personal connections with people, and Camp and his homer is no different with me. Personally, that adds a little more joy to the memory of a game that truly was unbelievable.
Baseball really is the best.
Happy Fourth of July, Braves fans.