"They've got a
players' wing [in the Hall of Fame]," Giannoulas said. "They've got
a broadcasters' wing. And I hope one day they'll have a chicken
wing."
6/29/9:
Panners knock off Bucs for third straight ABL victory The
Goldpanners scored two runs in the second inning to take a 2-1 lead, and
never trailed after that. They added a run in the third, two more in the
four, another in the sixth and a pair in the seventh.
Thank you Jarod! 10 RBI in 11 Games
Good luck in 2010
Jarod Berggren Hitting
Statistics
avg
gs
ab
r
h
2b
3b
hr
rbi
tb
slg%
bb
hbp
so
ob%
fld%
.325
11-
40
7
13
3
1
1
10
21
.525
6
1
10
.426
1.000
6/26/9:
All you ever wanted to know about Tom Seaver in Fairbanks ("The
reincarnation of Christy Mathewson")
"The impossible seemed to have
occurred. Seavers 11-2 record at Fresno City College earned the
recruiting attention of Rod Dedeaux. He was a legitimate fastball
artist. Dedeaux called him the phee-nom from San Joaquin.
But Dedeaux needed to know for sure that he could compete for the
Trojans. I only have five scholarships to give out, the coach told
him. Before the ride would be offered, Seaver would have to prove
himself with the Fairbanks, Alaska Goldpanners.
Today, collegiate summer baseball is a well-known commodity. Many
scouts place more credence on a players performance in one of these
leagues than they do on their college seasons. The Cape Cod League
uses only wooden bats, which proves to be a great equalizer for
pitchers and a shock for aluminum-bat sluggers who find themselves
batting .250 on the Cape. Summer ball has a long tradition in
Canada, where American collegians test themselves in such exotic
locales as Red Deer, Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton. The Kamloops
International Tournament in British Columbia has attracted some of
the fastest baseball for decades. The Jayhawk League, consisting of
teams from Boulder, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, plus Kansas and Iowa,
was once a leading destination for college players. The California
Collegiate Summer League, consisting of teams from the Humboldt
Crabs in the north to the San Diego Aztecs in the south, has
produced many stars in its various forms over the years.
But
the Alaskan Summer Collegiate League is the most legendary. Over
time, the league became the Alaska-Hawaii League, with teams flying
in for extended road trips on the islands and the land of the
midnight sun.
The team was put together by a man named Red Boucher, said former
Met pitcher Danny Frisella, who was a teammate of Seavers in
Fairbanks. Boucher was the Mayor of Fairbanks. He got all the best
young ball players up there. Andy Messersmith of the University of
California became a 20-game winner with the California Angels. Mike
Paul pitched for Cleveland. Graig Nettles played for Minnesota. USC
quarterback Steve Sogge, a baseball catcher, played on that team.
Rick Monday was an All-American at Arizona State, where he was a
teammate of Reggie Jackson and Sal Bando in a program that captured
the 1965 National Championship (also producing Mets pitcher Gary
Gentry). In the very first amateur draft ever held in 1965, Monday
became the first player chosen, by the Kansas City As.
Monday was there the year I was and he couldnt even make our
team, said Frisella. I think 13 guys were signed off that team. It
was semi-pro ball, and we played eight games a week. We didnt get
paid. Not for playing ball. But I earned $650 a month for pulling a
lever on a dump truck. And I didnt have to pull the lever too
often.
"Let's put it this way," Lee answered. "On June
21st of last year, I won the 103rd Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks,
Ala., after losing the 62nd Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks, Ala., on
June 21st in 1967. So, 41 years, three wives, four children and five
grandchildren later, I go back and beat the kids who are supposed to
be the next generation of big-league ballplayers. As Casey Stengel
said, you can look it up."
I did, and it was true. Before a roaring crowed
of 4,900, Lee went six-plus innings, allowing four runs on seven
hits while striking out three to earn the win in the Alaska
Goldpanners' 10-6 victory over the Southern California Running
Birds. And never mind, as he said, that those young Birds could have
caught his fastball with their teeth.
You see, he won. And he won the old-fashioned
way."
Alaska
Goldpanners of Fairbanks head coach Tim Gloyd announced Wednesday that
Sacramento State pitcher Jesse Darrah will take the mound Sunday night,
when the Goldpanners host the Lake Erie Monarchs in the 104th
edition of the Midnight Sun Game.
The game is set
for a 10:30 p.m. Fairbanks start time, and- as it has for the past
century - will be played without the use of any artificial light. The
date of June 21st has been chosen annually as it is the
summer solstice, and the day of the year with the most sunlight.
As one Goldpanners player left the theater, he
looked at another, both still in uniform, and said, That was like
my story.
Boucher's Vision Changed Baseball in Alaska - We had a
remarkable relationship from the moment I met him in 1964, Dennis
said. He was one of those guys that when you met him you knew you
would never forget him. There are so few who genuinely stand out
that way.
His family said Boucher earned his lifelong
nickname after President Franklin Roosevelt met the red-haired
boy and said, They ought to call you Red. The family said he
ended up in Alaska after campaigning for a young senator from
Massachusetts by the name of John F. Kennedy, who told him there
was great potential in the far north territory.
..Pic from 6/20/9...lights on in Anchorage from the beginning...
"It took Anchorage more than a century to catch
on, but this weekend the city will take a page from its neighbor to the
north and host a late-night, summer solstice baseball game -- 103 years
after Fairbanks first tried it."
"Unlike the Midnight Sun game in Fairbanks -- which has gained
considerable national and even worldwide attention -- the Pilots won't go
into the game with a strict lights-out policy."
6/17/9: Evan Simonitsch
- by Aaron Torres
6/17/9:
Alaska Goldpanners rout Fairbanks Adult All-Stars
- Three Alaska Goldpanners pitchers combined on
a two-hitter to pave the way for a 17-0 win over the Fairbanks Adult
All-Stars in Tuesday nights exhibition baseball game at Growden
Memorial Park.
2009 Picture Page
Heroes of the Game : Derrick Chung (HR) ; Sean Timmons (W#34)
6/14/9:
Film Crew Captures Essence of Midnight Sun Four Massachusetts
filmmakers spent two years following the teams in the Alaska League.
They sent me an advance copy of the DVD, and it is about as in-depth
a look at the world of Alaska baseball that we might ever see.
6/11/9:
Shorthanded Goldpanners Open ABL Season
Whether were ready or not, were going to put a team on the
field, Dennis said with a chuckle earlier this week. Usually
the Panners open the season with a series of exhibition games
against teams from Outside, then begin the ABL season. Since the
ABL expanded from 35 to 45 league games this season, the
exhibition games are intermingled with the regular season
action."
No. 286 Jon Pokorny (08), Brewers
No. 428: Seqouyah Stonecipher (07), Marlins
No. 486 Ryan Robowski (08-09R), Diamondbacks
No. 492 Dakota Watts (07), Twins
No. 531 Jeremy Gillan (08), Angels
No. 564 Chris Tremblay (07 MVP), Padres
No. 571 Dustin Garneau (08), Rockies
No. 826 Ryan Platt (07), Milwaukee
No. 861 Carson Andrew (07)
6/9/09 FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS MINER / 25 YEARS AGO
June 9, 1984 Theyve all played here before.
In 24 years, the likes of Dave Winfield, Craig
Nettles, Tom Seaver, Tim Wallach and Steve Kemp have graced the
hallowed walls of Growden Memorial Park in the baseball uniforms of
the Alaska Goldpanners.
Now, its the Page Odles, the Kevin Basts, the
Troy Evers et al who are the new boys of summer.
Tonight, the 25th edition of Fairbanks
non-professional baseball club, the Goldpanners, renews its annual
romance with the Golden Heart City.
