QUINCY, MASS. (WHDH) - Baseball players from across Massachusetts gathered in Quincy on Saturday for a marathon game, raising money to fight ALS.
“It is literally a 100-inning-long game,” Brett Rudy, of Boston Men’s Baseball League, said. “We start Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and we wrap up whenever 100 innings ends. It’s typically Sunday afternoon, late sometime around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.”
They are playing nonstop, all to raise money for The Angel Fund for ALS Research, a foundation that works to find a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“Through the years, we’ve raised over $700,000, that has all been contributed by the players who’ve participated in the game,” Rudy said.
Many of the players, like Jay Hussey, say it’s a cause that hits close to home.
“My cousin was diagnosed last year, so a bunch of the guys I play baseball with decided this year that we’re going to raise money in his name,” Hussey said.
Many have been playing for years. One veteran player, Kevin O’Leary, will play his 1,000th inning during this year’s game.
“We call ourselves a band of brothers,” O’Leary said. “It’s torture, it’s 35 hours in a row, so you get pretty close to the guys sitting next to you.”
It’s a tough two days, but the players say they will rally for the cause.
“Just to show support, raise money for a terrible disease, try to fight it and get a cure,” Hussey said.
This is the 15th year for the game and organizers say it inspired Pete Frates to start the viral ice bucket challenge.
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