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. Seaver’s 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 player’s 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 Seaver’s 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 A’s.
“Monday was there the year I was and he couldn’t 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 didn’t get
paid. Not for playing ball. But I earned $650 a month for pulling a
lever on a dump truck. And I didn’t have to pull the lever too
often.”
