He was traded to the Mets in February 1973, and remained with Triple-A Tidewater for all of that campaign and most of 1974. Cram finally returned to the major leagues in August 1974 when he was added to the Mets' bullpen corps. Again, he lost his only decision (on August 28 to the Houston Astros), but on September 11, he performed admirably in what would become the second-longest game in MLB history, a 25-inning contest against the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium.[2] Cram threw eight shutout innings (the 17th through the 24th), allowing seven hits, and left for a pinch hitter with the game still tied, three-all. The Cardinals broke through to win in the 25th frame.[3]
Cram compiled a 1.61 ERA in ten appearances and 221⁄3 innings pitched for the 1974 Mets, and then made the 1975 club's early-season roster, but he was ineffective in two of his four appearances and was returned to Tidewater for the rest of the year. In January 1976, he was dealt back to Kansas City. Back with Omaha, he earned American Association All-Star honors in 1976, then capped his MLB career with four late-season mound stints with the American League Royals. All told, he dropped all of his three MLB decisions, but posted a solid 2.98 ERA in 481⁄3 innings of work, allowing 52 hits and 13 bases on balls, with 22 strikeouts.
He continued to pitch in professional baseball into 1981 with Triple-A Omaha as a playing coach, and overall won 107 games in a 15-year, 473-game minor league career. He turned to coaching full-time in 1982, and remained in the Royals' minor league system for 16 seasons, through 1997. He joined the Colorado Rockies' organization for three seasons (1998–2000), then spent 17 more years as a minor-league pitching coach for the San Francisco Giants' organization before his 2017 retirement, working with pitchers such as Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner who would play key roles in the Giants' three World Series championships (2010, 2012 and 2014).
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