1964 PRESSBOX

• 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.”

• Tom Seaver hits grand slam in Panners win

• June 19, 1964:  Sec Taylor, Sittin' In With the Athletes

First Game Ever Played in Alaska Under Artificial Lights

Jimy Williams

Butch Thompson

At Wichita

Top row, from left: u/k, Buddy Hollowell, John Herbst, Graig Nettles (SDSU), Rick Monday (ASU), u/k, u/k, Bob Maxwell. Bottom row, from left: Tom Seaver (USC), u/k, u/k, manager 'Red' Boucher, u/k, Emmitt Wilson, Gary Sutherland

1964 NBC TOURNAMENT:

PLAYERS TO MLB
Rick Monday, of-1b, Curt Motton, of, Graig Nettles, of, Mike Paul, p, Tom Seaver, p, Gary Sutherland, 2b, Jimy Williams, ss

MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS

POSITION: BUDDY HOLLOWELL
PITCHER: JOHN HERBST

MIDNIGHT SUN GAME
10-5 Loss vs. Grand Junction, CO, Eagles

1964 BOARD OF DIRECTORS & PERSONNEL