Fifty-six people took a swing at playing the world’s longest baseball game east of Edmonton this weekend to raise money for Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute and after finishing their over-100-hour game on Sunday, the event’s organizer says he is sure the record attempt will hit another home run when it comes to reaching its fundraising goal.
As of 4:26 p.m. on Sunday, the “World’s Longest Baseball Game” had raised $280,131 of its $300,000 goal.
“I know we’ll make that, which is awesome,” said organizer Brent Saik, who also played in the game which was held at Saiker’s Acres. “Our community has never ever let us down.
“Every time we’ve asked for a certain dollar value, we’ve got it.”
Saik said the money raised from the game will go towards the purchase and installation of an MR-Sim at the Cross Cancer Institute. The tool offers high-resolution images of cancerous areas so that doctors can see tumours, and more clearly than with a CT scan.
Saik has been passionate about raising money for cancer research ever since his father died of cancer 30 years ago. He later also lost his wife, Susan, to cancer. Since then he has organized major fundraising events, including previous incarnations of the “World’s Longest Baseball Game” and multiple editions of the “World’s Longest Hockey Game.”
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The epic baseball game that wrapped up Sunday got underway on Aug. 29. In the end, 13,560 pitches were thrown and 2,531 hits were recorded as Team Hope and Team Cure put together a staggering 1,409 runs over 383 innings.
Anyone interested in donating can visit the event’s website.
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