All-Time Midnight Sun Game Team: GOLDPANNERS

When, in 1960, the Pan Alaska Gold Panners hosted the midnight sun game, nobody (not even Red Boucher) could have guessed that the arrangement would last for exactly 60 years.  With 2020 marking the 115th playing of the solstice event, over half of all games have been hosted by the Goldpanners; This year will be different.

In an attempt to frame the previous 114 seasons of midnight sun baseball as clearly as possible, three divisions have been employed to categorize all players who saw game time in the classic contest’s history:

1. 1. All-Time Team: Panners
   2. All-Time Team: Opposition
   3. All-Time Team: Fairbanksans

STATISTICS

The realm of statistics, in particular relation to the midnight sun game, is without boundaries.  Even though every solstice match-up since 2001 has been broadcast and archived on the Internet, there are an additional 96 years of data to organize.   Unfortunately, the information is scarce.  Newspaper and magazine reporting has proven to be the most reliable source of information but the amount of content delivered thereby varies widely from season to season.  The decades of the 1920s and 1930s are particularly under-reported, often yielding no more than the date, location, teams involved, and final score.

Therefore, without the ability to pinpoint every last piece of action throughout the decades, the organizational sifter was thrown wide open.  What this means is that every known data point (such as a player’s subsequent career) is under consideration.  Listed below is a growing archive of discussion points on the reasons why certain players were lifted above all others in their position.  Listed positions are based upon actual game locations.

ALL-TIME MSG TEAM: PANNERS

The information below is being organized as a “study archive” for the midnight sun game.  The all-time team will be considered, player by player, with links to relevant data (under construction through 2020).   The method of investigation will begin with starting pitchers, and then work down the page starting with the left fielder.  All position information is accurate according to the archives.

LHP: BILL LEE (1967-2008)

Bill (“The Spaceman”) Lee pitched for the Panners in 1966, though he did not see any time in the midnight sun game.  In 1967, however, Bill started the game against the Japanese Kumagai-Gumi club in front of 5,000 fans.  The game was a laffer, with Lee and his relief pitcher Brent Strom issuing 10 walks, which resulted in a 10-3 loss.  In 2008, Lee returned to the mound to avenge his loss from four decades prior, marking one of the finest moments in the history of the game of baseball.

RHP: TOM SEAVER (1965)

Like Bill Lee, MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver did not see time in the midnight sun game during his first season as a Panner. The pitchers in 1964 were Herbst, Rossin, Reed, and Blackwell.  In 1965, however, Tom started the game against his own collegiate squad, the USC Trojans.  During the contest, Seaver was struck by a line drive and had to be taken to the hospital with a gaping wound to his pitching hand.

LF: GRAIG NETTLES (1964-65)

Graig Nettles is a hall of fame caliber player.  Like Bill Lee and others on this list, Graig has all the credentials needed for Cooperstown.   If Nettles were to find himself represented there, it would be as a third baseman.  During the 1964 midnight game he went 2-for-4, with two runs scored. In the 1965 Midnight Sun Game previously mentioned, however, he roamed left field.  In the eighth inning of the 1965 contest, “[w]ith only one out and the go-ahead run on second, Graig Nettles was given the hit-away sign by manager Red Boucher and drilled a line double between the outfielders to send Maxwell home with the go-ahead run. ”  Graig is reported to have had a walk in the 1964 game, but his position is unmentioned and a box score is not available.

CF: RICK MONDAY

Rick Monday is another Cooperstown whiff.  The first player ever drafted followed up his amateur success with a solid career in Major League Baseball, including decades as a communications specialist for the Dodgers.  Prior to all that, Rick found himself in Alaska playing in the fabled (but under-reported) 1964 Midnight Sun Game against the Grand Junction Eagles.   The local paper (the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner) reports Monday as having grounded out, but no other information is available.  Though he started the season at first base awaiting the arrival of Joe Austin, Rick moved to center field.  The paper noted that “Monday has appeared more relaxed since moving to the outer pastures.”  Seeing as how his role as the center fielder was one of the anchors of the 1964 club from mid-June forward, it is doubted that he played elsewhere here.

RF: DAN PASTORINI

The right field position on the 2020 All-Time Midnight Sun Game Team: Panners opens up the imagination for the journey ahead.  Though there are a host of worthy candidates to fill this position, none seem to so thrive in the electric environment afforded by the annual solstice contest.  Perhaps no other player in the all-time roster provides such deep mystery.  Dan, after all, left baseball for the sport of American Football.  It was a wise choice.  He excelled as a Quarterback in the National Football League.  Yet, there is no doubt that he would have been a formidable player of baseball.  His talent in the sport could be described as “refined and raw.”  Though his athletic movements were flawless, his baseball instinct reverted to the “caveman mentality” perfected by Steve Kemp during the following decade.   In the 1968 contest, Dan hit a screaming double to score a key run, and was later driven in by a prodigious blast by Bill Seinsoth, the runner-up for the third base position.

SS: DAVID FLETCHER

David Fletcher may be the greatest shortstop the game of baseball has ever seen.  Big words, no doubt, but the only other player to approach his rising aptitude in the game (as seen in Fairbanks) was John Olerud, my historical standard for greatness. There is nothing raw about David’s game. Fletcher is currently in the major leagues with the Angels.  Follow his career.

2B: MICHAEL YOUNG

Mike is in the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, and he deserves to be in Cooperstown soon.  Though the 1996 game is poorly covered, Young finds himself noted yet again.   One of the most underrated, pure, infielders in the history of the game (during a tumultuous time, no less), Michael Young is an honor to host on the 2020 Midnight Sun Game All-Time Team: Panners.

3B: JASON GIAMBI

Can you imagine Jason Giambi as major league third baseman?  Mike Schmidt can, I’d bet.  During his Panner career Jason played at third primarily.  During the summer of 1990, Jason hit a lusty .377, making no mistake about his being destined for greatness in The Show. As to the solstice, the paper reported that “Giambi came into the game without a hit in five at-bats but awoke to go 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. He had no trouble seeing the ball but staying awake, on the other hand, was tough.”

1B: ALVIN DAVIS

The immediate runner-up for this position was Tim Wallach.   As fine a human being as is Wallach, Alvin Davis stands alone as the greatest of the Fairbanks baseball players “with feeling”.  At least, he does to me.  Alvin played in two solstice events, scoring three runs in 1979, and then using walks to produce runs in 1980.  Alvin won the MLB (AL) Rookie of the Year award in 1984.  He is still popularly known as “Mr. Mariner”.

C: BRUCE ROBINSON

Bruce Robinson was not a Cooperstown whiff.  You will find Bruce represented in the history of the game through various inventions, including the “Robby Rocker.”  The, later, protege of Mickey Mantle played various roles in the midnight sun game.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that “manager” was one of them.  This Field General transcends all manner of description.

1972: Robinson (PH), 0-for-1
1973: Robinson (C), 2-for-3, RBI, R, 3B, SB
1974: Robinson (C), 1-for-4 (2B)
1975: Robinson (RF)

RP: GEORGE MIES

When Tom Seaver had his hand split by a line drive off the bat of John Herbst (of all people!), George was there to fill in.  As a six-year veteran of the Panner club – including as a player in the very first Panner midnight game – Mies was rough and ready for anything.  During his pinnacled years, George was not to be outdueled.  In 1965, when it looked certain that the USC Trojans would use the premature departure of Tom f’n Seaver to command the field, Mies used the strikeout to effortlessly protect his staff mate.

PH: DAVE WINFIELD

Dave is the second Major League Baseball Hall of Fame member on this list.  Though both a pitcher and and outfielder in Fairbanks, his MLB career was made in the outfield. There are apocryphal reports of Dave pitching in the midnight sun game but it is not so.  In both 1971 and 1972, Winfield appeared as a pinch-hitter with one at-bat.  In 1971, the result was a hit to score Rod Laub in a 12-3 win over the Stanford University Indians.  Is there any other “all-time” team that has had such a tremendous pinch hitter?  I think not.