Pittsburgh Pirates at Philadelphia Phillies - June 8, 1989.
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After the Pirates took a 10-0 lead in the first inning, their radio broadcaster, Jim Rooker, declared that if Pittsburgh blew this seemingly insurmountable advantage he would walk home from Philly.
As you saw in the box score, the Phillies rallied to a 15-11 victory.
Taking it all in stride, Rooker did participate in a journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, though it was done after the '89 season.
Rather than brushing off his pledge to walk back to Pittsburgh as merely a throwaway line played for laughs, Rooker, 46 at the time, stayed true to his word, even making some public good out of it by turning the trek into a walk for charity.
The event was dubbed "Rook's Unintentional Walk," with a sporting goods company donating hiking gear and four corporate sponsors underwriting the trip. Rooker and a friend took their first steps from Philadelphia on Oct. 5 and walked through the center field gate at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh at 12:52 p.m. on Oct. 17 — a walk of 327 miles. The pair averaged more than 24 miles a day, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"I'm OK from the ankles up, but from the ankles down I feel like I've been stabbed with ice picks," he told Sporting News after the walk.
There was good news, though: Rooker's many steps ultimately raised around $100,000 for charity by some estimates, with money going to Children's Hospitals of Pittsburgh and Bob Prince Charities. Still, it was an ordeal.
"It's something I would never do again," he told SN later, "but the response of the people was absolutely tremendous."
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