Gallagher: A special team in my hometown 55 years ago in September 1965

John McEachen was the mainstay of many Douglas teams over the years, including the one in 1965. Submitted photo.

September 5, 2020

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

It was one of the most intense, pressure-packed series in the history of senior baseball in Renfrew County.

We're talking 55 years ago in 1965.

Barry's Bay led the best-of-seven South Renfrew Senior Baseball League final series 3-2 over my hometown Douglas team and seemingly was in command late in Game 6 on Aug. 29 with a 6-3 lead.

But the wheels reversed quickly because Douglas, coached by my cousin Tom Gallagher, came back to win a 10-6 thriller and won the championship with a 6-5 verdict that took 13 innings in Douglas on Sept 5 of the Labour Day weekend.

My brother Jim Gallagher stroked a walk-off double off of Mike Murray in the bottom of the 13th inning to score John Gallagher with the winning run in the championship game which gave Douglas, located 60 miles northwest of Ottawa, its fourth consecutive league title, continuing its dizzying dynasty.

It was a game marred by controversy. John O'Neill of Douglas was called out by umpire Alfie Brace after Barry's Bay appealed a play because it was apparently noticed that O'Neill didn't touch home plate after hitting a home run over the rink boards out by the outhouse in right-centre field early on.

Douglas argued to no avail. Even Father Tom Hunt, the parish priest at St. Michael's Church in Douglas, expressed his opinion to Brace from behind the screen.

Like they did in Game 6 back at home, Barry's Bay led Game 7 for a good portion of the way. With the Bay leading 5-3 in the sixth, Jim Gallagher stroked a double into the gap in right-centre to score a run to make it 5-4. Then he stole third and scored on Don Shean's sacrifice fly to right near the outdoor toilets to tie the game 5-5.

The scored remained deadlocked at 5-5 until the 13th. As the scoreboard operator, I was running out of space.

John Gallagher led off the bottom of the 13th with a double off Murray, who pitched all 13 innings. Then up came Jim Gallagher, who slammed a ball over the head of centre fielder Howie Etmanski and the game was over. 

"I knew I had hit it well and I ran as fast as I could,'' Jim said. "I was rounding third base still running like a deer when I realized that John had scored and I could finally stop as the Douglas players surrounded me.

"I remember it was a sudden and stunning end to the game. I was kind of speechless before it sunk in. I remember Bruce Beanish of Barry's Bay coming to shake my hand at the bench and he was so shaken and dazed that he could not say anything. Neither could I. We just shook hands and that was it.''

Jim contributed two doubles and a single, drove in two runs, scored two runs and stole three bases. He was clearly the star of the game.

John McEachen, who pitched the last 10 innings, set down Barry’s Bay in the bottom of the 13th to clinch the victory.

Game 6 was some game in the Bay. With nobody out in the top of the ninth inning, my brother Bernard (Bo) Gallagher, who had just turned 16 a month earlier, was sent up as a pinch hitter with men on second and third with Barry's Bay leading 6-3. 

Bo was also called Bun by one reporter but anyway, he stroked a two-run single to score John McEachen and Don Shean to get Douglas within a run at 6-5. Nobody seems to know the details but Bo scored the tying run, probably on a fielder's choice, after the next two men went out. 

Then as one newspaper article said, Michael Moriarty and my cousin Michael Gallagher got on base. At that point, Barry's Bay coach Jack Conway decided to have pitcher Mike Murray issue an intentional base on balls to my brother Lawrence Gallagher to load the bases.

Boy, that was crunch time. I was only 14 at the time and too young to play but I was a keen observer that day. Stepping up to the plate was John Gallagher, who worked the count to 2-2.

What did John Gallagher do? He hit an inside-the-park grand slam deep into the right field corner at the fenceless Barry's Bay park. The Douglas bench went into an uproar. McEachen, on the mound for Douglas, shut Barry's Bay down in the bottom of the ninth to send the game back to Douglas for Game 7. McEachen had taken over from John O’Neill in the third inning.

McEachen was the winning pitcher in both Game 6 and Game 7, a backbone of many Douglas teams over the years and one of the greatest players ever in the Ottawa Valley.

John and Bo Gallagher were certainly the heroes in Game 6. For most of the 1965 season, Bo was only 15 until he turned 16 in July, but he made the best of his opportunities as a part-time player, hitting a splendid .481 (9-for-19).

"I don't remember who I was pinch hitting for,'' Bo told me about his big hit. "I hit the ball over the third baseman's head into left field. The fielder at third base was fairly close to the foul line. He was keeping track of our runner on third. The ball landed maybe 4-6 feet inside the foul line.''

All in all, a tremendous series, never to be forgotten.

It was an amazing effort by Douglas, considering many of its players were school-aged kids such as my brothers Lawrence, Jim and Bo, cousin Michael, Jim Welsh and John O’Neill. Mesh in older players like John Gallagher, McEachen, Moriarty and Shean, all between 20 and 25, and this team was special.

Danny Gallagher's new Expos book Always Remembered is available on Amazon and Indigo.