KAMLOOPS — Eight teams began play today in the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament.
Longtime supporters of the tournament like the Seattle Studs and Everett Merchants are back again.
So are the Alaska Goldpanners from Fairbanks.
The Goldpanners were the first winners of the tournament in 1973, and won in each of the first five years of the International.
2019 is a special year for Goldpanners baseball.
“I pulled into Fairbanks, the city was a boom.”
Fairbanks was popularized in a 1959 tune by Johnny Horton.
It did’nt end well for the character in Horton’s song —- a goldpanning prospector who met his demise in Fairbanks Red Dog saloon at the business end of a knife after messing with another prospectors woman.
These days Fairbanks is known for a couple of more honorary things —– it’s baseball team and the midnight sun game.
The Goldpanners are celebrating their 60th season in 2019.
Since 1960 the team from the 49th state has sent more than 200 players to Major League Baseball —- some big names like Barry Bonds, Tom Seaver and Dave Winfield.
The Goldpanners are recognized as one of the top summer programs for college baseball players.
“Well the history of it started 60 years ago.” says Goldpanners general manager John Lohrke. “So we really got off the ground floor faster than most semi pro baseball leagues in the country. We were the first, and when you’re looking at the pinnacle of college players at that time, in the 60’s and 70’s, the Alaska league (summer) was the top league in the country. Colton Parayko who just won the Stanley Cup, went to the University of Fairbanks and he’ll be at one of our home games on the 17th of July to throw out the first pitch — we’re going to have a hockey night at the ballpark.”
College players from all over the U.S. have gone to Fairbanks every year to play summer ball.
Gavin Sonnier is a Goldpanners pitcher from Kinder, Louisianna.
He says it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
“I’ll tell you what, the sun doesn’t go down there,” says Sonnier. “That’s one thing that’s definately different.”
The first Midnight Sun game in Fairbanks was played in 1906 —- since 1960 it’s been hosted on June 21, the longest day of the year, by the Alaska Goldpanners —- this year the opponent was the Seattle Studs.
The game usually starts at about 10:30pm and ends well past midnight.
“Obviously our big feature thing is the midnight sun game.” says Lohrke. “That’s our big deal — we attract over 3000 fans to that game. People from all over the world, and that really helps us to be able to make these kind of trips.”
The Alaska Goldpanners have a long list of championships in their 60 seasons —– most recently last weekends Grand Forks International Tournament.
Come this Sunday the Goldpanners hope to once again be the champions of the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament.
