100 Inning Game

The 100 Inning Game is an annual charity fundraising event, founded by the Boston Men's Baseball League from Boston, Massachusetts, the largest amateur baseball league in New England, in 2004 to raise funds through sponsorship to support "Curt's Pitch for ALS", a charitable organization started by Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, that supports the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This game holds the current world record for the longest baseball game ever played.

Each year, over one hundred players from the BMBL and other teams from the surrounding area get together in the spring to play a full 100 consecutive innings of baseball, often taking as much as, and sometimes even more than, 36 hours to complete. Schilling's wife makes an annual appearance at the charity event, even playing a few innings on occasion, and Curt Schilling personally receives the check each year.

History

The Beginning

The 100 Inning Game was first conceived in February 2004 by Brett Rudy and Mike Lembo, both members of the Boston Men's Baseball League. Through e-mail communication, the two developed the idea behind the charity event, which was to create a game that would coincide with the arrival of the newly acquired Boston Red Sox pitcher, Curt Schilling, and which would support his charitable organization, Curt's Pitch for ALS.

A meeting between Brett and Mike and "...the ALS Association MA Chapter ensued and a deal was quickly struck to get things underway. After some...convincing to the City of Boston's Department of Conservation and Recreation a permit was issued to use Kelly Field in Hyde Park for the inaugural game - marking the first time the City of Boston had ever granted permission for an all night event to take place. A date of April 17th and 18th was decided upon, appropriately enough on 'Marathon Weekend'." [http://www.100innings.com/innings/about/ 1]

That first year, the players had raised over $112,000. The game was played by 180 players and took over 36 hours to complete. A check was presented by the game organizers to Curt Schilling on the field at Fenway Park later that year.

Since 2005

The 2005 edition of the 100 Inning Game was played at the Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Massachusetts and was hosted by the Brockton Rox. This year, the event collected even larger funds, with over $113,000 raised and presented to the charity by years end.

Most recently, the 2006 edition of the event was played at the Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field stadium, located at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, the home of the Can-Am professional league Worcester Tornadoes. This year brought in an additional $85,000 to the charity, making the 3 year total of the 100 Inning Game $310,000 donated to Curt's Pitch for ALS.

The 2008 game will be held on August 30 and 31 at Adams Field in Ouincy, marking a change in date. The game also removes the "Dirty Dozen" the 12 people who could participate all 100 Innings.

Also of note, the 2006 game was umpired by Walter Bentson, a sufferer of the disease ALS. Despite extreme difficulties incured by the disease on his ability to umpire, he managed to remain on the crew for the duration of the game.

See also

* Boston Men's Baseball League
* ALS
* Curt Schilling

Links

* [http://www.100innings.com/innings/Default.asp 100 Inning Game Homepage]
* [http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050415&content_id=1016583&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bo MLB.com 2005 Coverage]
* [http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2005/04/18/news/sports/sports01.txt Brockton Enterprise 2005 Coverage]
* [http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/8885091/detail.html Channel 5 News 2006 Coverage of ALS suffering umpire]