Longest at-bat

There is some uncertainty regarding what was the longest at-bat in Major League Baseball history. Before pitching play-by-play data was officially recorded, Luke Appling purportedly once had a 24-pitch at-bat. This would have required a range of between 18 and 21 foul balls (since we know he ran the count full) before the at-bat had a result. The problem with knowing how many pitches Appling actually faced is that, at the time, fouls were not tabulated until the count had run full (referring to the number of fouls he had on two strikes before the third ball had happened), and so it is unknown how many fouls he hit in his at-bat prior to the count running full. What is apparently officially recorded is the 10 consecutive fouls once the count had run full (3 balls, 2 strikes), or so the story goes.

On June 26, 1998, playing for the Houston Astros in an interleague game against the Cleveland Indians, Ricky Gutierrez was involved in a 20-pitch at-bat against Bartolo Colón before striking out swinging. At the time, Gutierrez's at-bat was the longest at-bat that has official pitching data. Brandon Belt was retired on the 21st pitch thrown by Jaime Barria, lining out to right field, on April 22, 2018, making Belt the holder of the longest at-bat with official data.

The longest at-bat in terms of time at the plate in the 2012 season, and perhaps the longest at-bat in terms of time at the plate on record, is held by Miguel Cabrera against Jake Peavy and the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on April 13, 2012.  In this case, much of the time was involved with re-chalking the batter's box in the 1st inning. Cabrera flied out to right field on the first pitch.