Softball players set world record for longest game

The continuation of a yearlong series

The city of Gardner saw a world record being set in its midst on Labor Day weekend 1981, when 18 local softball players set their sights on the Guinness Book of World Records.

Their quest was to play the longest softball game ever.

And, when the weekend came to an end – 56 hours and 10 minutes later – the Polish American Citizen’s Club “nipped” Girardi’s, 357-319, in a game at Bickford Playground that spanned 274 innings.

When you put the innings back to back, it was the equivalent of more than 39 seven-inning softball games. Truly amazing!

What was even more amazing was that the Gardner softball players bettered the old mark by a mere six minutes.

Ted Ayer was the local organizer who planned the event as a benefit for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation, the pet charity of comedian Jerry Lewis who for decades held his annual telethon during that weekend.

It all began bright and early at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, 1981, with a crew of fresh ballplayers, only to end at 3:10 p.m. the following Monday, Sept. 7.

The exhausted marathoners, their hands and feet blistered, decided not to press on to their goal of 60 hours.

They had passed the mark set a month and a half earlier in July by a group of Fitchburg softball players (56 hours, 4 minutes), but some of the Gardner marathon players became a bit disoriented and the tournament was stopped.

Those players who made up the winning team were Steve Shetrawski, Dana Shetrawski, Mike Stewart, Joe Sabulis, Bill Casavant, Bob Ruuska, Dave Wislocki, Doug McKean and Kevin Godin.

On the Girardi team were Mike O’Rourke, Dave Winter, Russ Brooks, Ricky Paul, Rick Patch, Cisco Herrera, Dan Caisse, Earl Morgan and Ayer.

“You had to finish with the same 18 men you started with in order to set the record,” Ayer noted when looking back on the marathon. “There were many times during the marathon where we didn’t think we’d be able to finish it.”

The first setback came in the first afternoon when Ricky Paul separated his shoulder while diving for a fly ball. He simply wrapped his arm in a makeshift sling and proceeded to hit one-handed for the next 46 hours, incredibly carrying with him a .415 batting average.

As the hours wore on, players complained about seeing more than one ball coming at them. Others would lose track of time or see the ground move in front of them.

“On the third day, I remember walking out onto the field and it went lopsided on me,” Ayer recalled. “I literally could not find my way out to first base.”

Casavant remembered, “When we first started out, everyone was running onto the field, off the field, hitting the ball and going for extra bases,” he said. “By the second day, we’d run off the field for our five-minute break and collapse.”

Casavant also recalled spicing up the action in the early going by turning cartwheels in the outfield, and once walked on his hands all the way down the first base line after rapping out a hit.

However, it was not all fun and games for all the players. One of the marathoners became disoriented, locked himself into one of the outhouses at the field and wouldn’t come out.

“We had to break the door down and get him back out there,” Ayer said. “We found him just sitting there, spacing out.”

Gardner’s quest for the spot in the record book came after a Fitchburg team made an attempt in 1980 but messed up on their break time.

“You’re supposed to play for one hour and then take a five-minute break,” Ayer noted. “Instead, they played 55 minutes and took a five-minute break, and Guinness wouldn’t accept their record.”

With that in mind, Ayer decided to pursue it the following summer, unbeknownst to him that another Fitchburg team would be making an attempt that same summer. Fitchburg’s BIC Marathon team played during Independence Day weekend, withstanding a driving rainstorm to set the mark of 56 hours and 4 minutes.

However, since Ayer had already made plans for Gardner to take its shot, they did so on Labor Day weekend.

The event received tremendous support from area softball fans; a crew of some 15 umpires donated their services, while nurses and several EMTs also spent many volunteer hours caring for the exhausted players. In addition, game announcers Jim Racette and Dave Poliks persevered throughout the marathon.

“We had to have a nurse out in the outfield with some of our players just to stay awake, have them recite the ABCs or ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb.’ It was almost scary,” Casavant said.

“Early Sunday morning, it was so foggy the outfielders had to play right behind the infielders, because you couldn’t see,” said Ayer. “Then Monday morning it was damp and cold and pretty rough for the first couple of hours.”

After the final out, a brief celebration was held on the pitcher’s mound at Bickford Playground, before the players quickly dispersed to their homes. Several had to report to work the next day.

“I just went home, cranked up the electric blanket and slept for 16 hours,” Casavant recalled. “I was lightheaded for two weeks afterward.”

Then, several weeks after the softball “hangover” subsided, Ayer received official word from Guinness that their record was official.

“It was the greatest feeling in the world,” he said.

The Gardner record lasted for two years until a team from an Air Force base in Japan played for 60 hours.

According to the present Guinness Book, Gardner’s attempt at the record has since been dwarfed by a game of softball played at Waskatenau, Alberta, Canada, between June 30 and July 5, 2009, over 115 hours and 3 minutes. Team Stollery beat Team Cross 876-766. Some 40 men competed in the attempt, playing 721 innings and raising more than $90,000 for Stollery Children’s Hospital and the Cross Cancer Institute.

Next week: Gardner High grad Samantha Arsenault wins Olympic gold (September 2000).

Comments and suggestions can be sent to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing to Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Road, Sandwich, MA 02563.