Midnight Sun Baseball Classic - The Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks

In the entire baseball world, there is no team that has more natural a promotion than the Alaska Goldpanners and their celebrated Midnight Sun Game.
Since the Goldpanners are the farthest north baseball club on the face of the earth, where in summer the sun rarely stops shining, the team annually takes advantage of its unique geographic location by staging the patented Midnight Sun Baseball Game.

With Fairbanks a mere 160 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the sun is just beginning to set in the north as the game gets under way and, at its conclusion some three hours later, the sun begins to rise again - also in the north.

It is a phenomenon ever so rare.

Each June 20, 21, 22, each equal in time as the longest day of the year (with a full 24 hours of daylight in the vast Tanana Valley), the Panners begin their widely acclaimed contest at 10:30 p.m. The game continues straight through the hour of midnight and often lasts as late as 2 a.m.

Never once has artificial lighting been used for this unique event, and never has the game been postponed or delayed because of darkness.

The "high noon at midnight" classic, as best can be determined, originated in Fairbanks in 1906. Every year since it has become a ritual to play the game on the solstice.

The tradition was adopted by the Panners in 1960, their first season of operation. Through 1962, the Panners met the North of the Range All-Stars but, since 1963, a different opponent - usually from out of state - has been invited each year to participate in the symbolic event.

One of the most dramatic classics ever came in 1991 when the Panners' Brett Backlund drilled a bottom of the 9th inning home run to provide a come-from-behind win over the South Lake Tahoe, Ca, Stars.

In the 2000 Midnight Sun Game, the Goldpanners defeated the Santa Barbara Foresters in one of the most exciting midnight contests ever. Former Goldpanners Most Valuable Pitcher Dan Grimm (71-72-73) was on hand to throw out the first pitch.

Sadly, midnight saw the final performance of the Alaska Flag Song by Nancy DeLeon.

The 2000, 2001 and 2002 games were all won by the Goldpanners in their final at-bat.

The 102nd playing of the MSG will be on June 21, in 2007. As always, play will be stopped at the half-inning nearest midnight for the traditional singing of the Alaska Flag Song.

1964 Midnight Sun Game Pregame

Emmitt Wilson, Eskimo Dancer, Sam Suplizio, Red Boucher

Eight stars of gold on a field of blue -
Alaska's flag. May it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flow'rs nearby;
The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The "Bear" - the "Dipper" - and, shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Over land and sea a beacon bright.
Alaska's flag - to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.