JUNE 27, 1967 8:00PM – 1:00AM

Sports Heritage Designation: Event

It was Centennial Year, which was fitting, considering that Canadian fastball history was made at Lincoln Park in a game pitting the host Galt Slees and the visiting Kitchener Forwell Super Vees.

Early on the evening of June 27. 1967. the Galt Slees took to the field for their 10th game of the season. Their opponent that night, the Super Vees, had tarted off strongly that season.

And as the early innings unfolded at Lincoln Park that night, with a large crowd in attendance, neither team seemed to have an advantage.

Long after regulation time came and went, the two teams were deadlocked through 25 innings, until 1 a.m. when the Slees scored the winning (and only) run to earn a 1-0 victory.

The “moonlight marathon” outdistanced the previous Canadian record of22 innings, a mark set in the 1959 championship game when the Waterloo Hahns downed the Guelph Wellingtons.

Galt’s Bob Eccles earned the win on the mound for the Slees, while Super Vees’ pitcher Wes Martin took the loss. Together the two right-handers recorded 106 strikeouts, including 58 by Eccles.

Eccles walked tow, hit two batters and never allowed a base runner to reach third. His teammates played errorless ball through the entire game. Kitchener was almost as flawless, they had just one error, which paved the way for Galt’s winning run. Eccles recorded strikeouts in every inning except the 25th, retiring the side in nine innings.

“I’ve never heard of a long game played in Canada.” said Galt coach Bob Cunningham.

The game at Lincoln Park was a night for the record books.