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Elendil · 04-21-2007, 10:52 PM

The First Few Weeks

The Alaskan League's schedule makers wanted to start the season out with some rivalry matchups, so the year began with exclusively intradivisional play among geographic competitors. The Bucs and the Glacier Pilots, who actually both play in the same stadium, faced off for a 3-game set. North Pole and Fairbanks duelled in a battle for the fans of the northernmost city in the league. The two southernmost teams of the panhandle, Sitka and Ketchikan, also squared off. The Peninsula Oilers of Kenai traveled to the nearby isle of Kodiak to face the Grizzlies. The Jets-Miners opener has already been described, and the Senators and Vortex were the final matchup.

The opening series were financial successes, with all of them selling out. To accentuate the rivalry aspects of the first series, and to carry over the excitement of the opening games into the weeknight games, the second series all completed a "home-and-home" switch for the same rivals who played in the first series of the season. The Monday night games all sold out as well, because these were home openers.

On Tuesday attendance faded in those cities with either rain or a cold snap: Anchorage and Fairbanks particularly. In Fairbanks, the game time temperature was 39 degrees, and only 700 showed up, in a park that could fit 3000. The midweek games did not do so well, mostly drawing fewer than a thousand, but on Friday night things picked up again, and the second weekend was almost as good as the first. The fine weather, excepting the panhandle, certainly helped.

Financially, the league appeared to be over its first big hump. Most of the teams were still projecting year-end profits after three weeks, and Commissioner Paul Fulfer declared that the league was healthy enough to continue through the entire 96-game schedule. However, the long-term health of the league remained in doubt, as one would expect for any new league, but particularly one with franchises in some very small markets.

The league really needed some superstars to come out of the woodwork and capture the imagination of the fans. Enter Tom Robbins.

The Alabama Slammer

Tom Robbins was a 33-year-old employee at a fish cannery in Anchorage when he read about tryouts for the new league in the newspaper. He'd played some college ball but couldn't pursue it when his father had died, and he had had to take care of his mother and younger siblings. After she had died and they had grown up, three years before, he'd moved up to Alaska, lured by the high seasonal wages.

So he went down to Mulcahy in March to give it a shot. It was actually a Bucs tryout, run by Wes MacArtney, the Buc manager. Word got out pretty quickly about the thin man from Alabama who had hit seven of ten pitches over the snowed-over fence. MacArtney offered him a $30,000 contract, but Tom told him that was far less than he was making at the cannery, and he wouldn't take less than $45,000.

He was about to sign the papers for $45,000 when he picked up the paper and read about the salary the Bucs had given 34-year-old Bob Horton, a friend of Ron Bishop's (he who would make $154,000). Well, it turned out that Horton was given almost exactly the same contract as Bishop.

Robbins knew he was worth more than $45,000. So he went down to the offices of the Glacier Pilots and met with Joe Daye, who also happened to be black. Daye had heard about Robbins' feats at the tryout. After he repeated them in front of Daye, they sat down to make a deal. "You're going to be this league's Babe Ruth," Daye reportedly told Robbins.

The 4-year, $186,000 per year contract dominated headlines across Alaska the next day.

Robbins started slow in May. "I don't hit well in the cold," he explained ironically to laughing reporters when they questioned his big contract. But in June, he would rapidly become the face of the league, as he put up almost legendary numbers: .327 batting average, 12 homeruns in 104 at-bats, .740 slugging percentage, 1.144 OPS, 27 runs scored, 30 RBI. The Glacier Pilots were first in their division, and it was clear who was responsible. His blue-collar background only made him a bigger story. Soon the league was running TV ads all over Alaska featuring "The Alabama Slammer." His visage even appeared on the intro page of the travelalaska.com website set up by the state government.

The league passes the critical stage

With Tom Robbins front and center in their ad campaign, the league marketing itself successfully to tourists from the Lower 48, and some local rivalries developed, the league passed the critical midseason stage and entered July in vigorous health. Some teams in smaller markets would perhaps make some losses, but the real reason was that they had overspent during the March and April spring fever.

Only a few trades were made before the July 1 midnight trade deadline, but there were two fairly significant deals.

On May 22nd, the Ketchikan King Salmon finalized a deal with the Fairbanks Goldpanners for the services of 27-year-old starting pitcher John Lynn. In exchange, the Goldpanners received 27-year-old right fielder Jimmy Williams. They had very comparable salaries, but Ketchikan needed the pitching. Lynn would end up with a respectable 3.52 ERA in 136 innings and an 8-8 record (5 HR, 45 BB, 93 K). Williams would be more than respectable, though, hitting .297/.373/.543 with 21 HR in 350 AB. He turned it on late in the year and actually missed the All-Star Team in a Seward Division that was loaded with outfielders.

A trade that turned out to be much more unbalanced was that on May 28 between the Eagle River-Chugiak Jets, who gave up 28-year-old right fielder Doug Beard, and the Juneau Senators, who gave up 25-year-old SP Alan St. George. Now, to be fair, this was a bit of a salary dump for the overextended Jets, and St. George is still young. But while St. George would finish 2007 with a 5.12 ERA in 123 IP, Doug Beard would end up with a .320/.411/.535 line and 14 HR in 284 AB. He did make the July 5th All-Star Game for the Denali Division.

The Alaskan League All-Star Game

The game was played on June 8th, and the starters at each position were selected by the fans, while most of the pitchers and the backups were selected by a secret ballot of general managers.

The game would be played in Kenai, where the Oilers were among the laggards of the Seward Division. The league was very concerned that fans of the last-place teams would lose interest in the league, and for that reason had arranged the amateur draft so that last-place teams got to pick first. (Valdez had therefore gotten the first pick. Some of the youngsters taken in the draft had already come up for "big league" action. The league rightly guessed that fans would want to come out to see local high school stars debut on a statewide stage.) The siting of the All-Star Game was fortunate as well, in that it kept baseball interest high on the Kenai Peninsula. Furthermore, because there were only six teams in each division, and each team had 23 players, every team had multiple representatives on the field at the game.

It ended up being a thrilling game, with the Sewards clinging to a 6-5 victory over the Denalis despite a two-run eighth-inning rally. Bob Horton of the Anchorage Bucs (mentioned in the Tom Robbins story above) was named All-Star MVP after going 3-for-4 with a homer. Robbins himself doubled and went 1-for-3. The Denali Division managed to use every player on their roster except one pitcher, held back in case of extra innings. Over two thousand fans came out to see the game.

04-21-2007, 10:52 PM	#22
Elendil Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: the dynasty forum Posts: 2,318	The Inaugural Season The First Few Weeks The Alaskan League's schedule makers wanted to start the season out with some rivalry matchups, so the year began with exclusively intradivisional play among geographic competitors. The Bucs and the Glacier Pilots, who actually both play in the same stadium, faced off for a 3-game set. North Pole and Fairbanks duelled in a battle for the fans of the northernmost city in the league. The two southernmost teams of the panhandle, Sitka and Ketchikan, also squared off. The Peninsula Oilers of Kenai traveled to the nearby isle of Kodiak to face the Grizzlies. The Jets-Miners opener has already been described, and the Senators and Vortex were the final matchup. The opening series were financial successes, with all of them selling out. To accentuate the rivalry aspects of the first series, and to carry over the excitement of the opening games into the weeknight games, the second series all completed a "home-and-home" switch for the same rivals who played in the first series of the season. The Monday night games all sold out as well, because these were home openers. On Tuesday attendance faded in those cities with either rain or a cold snap: Anchorage and Fairbanks particularly. In Fairbanks, the game time temperature was 39 degrees, and only 700 showed up, in a park that could fit 3000. The midweek games did not do so well, mostly drawing fewer than a thousand, but on Friday night things picked up again, and the second weekend was almost as good as the first. The fine weather, excepting the panhandle, certainly helped. Financially, the league appeared to be over its first big hump. Most of the teams were still projecting year-end profits after three weeks, and Commissioner Paul Fulfer declared that the league was healthy enough to continue through the entire 96-game schedule. However, the long-term health of the league remained in doubt, as one would expect for any new league, but particularly one with franchises in some very small markets. The league really needed some superstars to come out of the woodwork and capture the imagination of the fans. Enter Tom Robbins. The Alabama Slammer Tom Robbins was a 33-year-old employee at a fish cannery in Anchorage when he read about tryouts for the new league in the newspaper. He'd played some college ball but couldn't pursue it when his father had died, and he had had to take care of his mother and younger siblings. After she had died and they had grown up, three years before, he'd moved up to Alaska, lured by the high seasonal wages. So he went down to Mulcahy in March to give it a shot. It was actually a Bucs tryout, run by Wes MacArtney, the Buc manager. Word got out pretty quickly about the thin man from Alabama who had hit seven of ten pitches over the snowed-over fence. MacArtney offered him a $30,000 contract, but Tom told him that was far less than he was making at the cannery, and he wouldn't take less than $45,000. He was about to sign the papers for $45,000 when he picked up the paper and read about the salary the Bucs had given 34-year-old Bob Horton, a friend of Ron Bishop's (he who would make $154,000). Well, it turned out that Horton was given almost exactly the same contract as Bishop. Robbins knew he was worth more than $45,000. So he went down to the offices of the Glacier Pilots and met with Joe Daye, who also happened to be black. Daye had heard about Robbins' feats at the tryout. After he repeated them in front of Daye, they sat down to make a deal. "You're going to be this league's Babe Ruth," Daye reportedly told Robbins. The 4-year, $186,000 per year contract dominated headlines across Alaska the next day. Robbins started slow in May. "I don't hit well in the cold," he explained ironically to laughing reporters when they questioned his big contract. But in June, he would rapidly become the face of the league, as he put up almost legendary numbers: .327 batting average, 12 homeruns in 104 at-bats, .740 slugging percentage, 1.144 OPS, 27 runs scored, 30 RBI. The Glacier Pilots were first in their division, and it was clear who was responsible. His blue-collar background only made him a bigger story. Soon the league was running TV ads all over Alaska featuring "The Alabama Slammer." His visage even appeared on the intro page of the travelalaska.com website set up by the state government. The league passes the critical stage With Tom Robbins front and center in their ad campaign, the league marketing itself successfully to tourists from the Lower 48, and some local rivalries developed, the league passed the critical midseason stage and entered July in vigorous health. Some teams in smaller markets would perhaps make some losses, but the real reason was that they had overspent during the March and April spring fever. Only a few trades were made before the July 1 midnight trade deadline, but there were two fairly significant deals. On May 22nd, the Ketchikan King Salmon finalized a deal with the Fairbanks Goldpanners for the services of 27-year-old starting pitcher John Lynn. In exchange, the Goldpanners received 27-year-old right fielder Jimmy Williams. They had very comparable salaries, but Ketchikan needed the pitching. Lynn would end up with a respectable 3.52 ERA in 136 innings and an 8-8 record (5 HR, 45 BB, 93 K). Williams would be more than respectable, though, hitting .297/.373/.543 with 21 HR in 350 AB. He turned it on late in the year and actually missed the All-Star Team in a Seward Division that was loaded with outfielders. A trade that turned out to be much more unbalanced was that on May 28 between the Eagle River-Chugiak Jets, who gave up 28-year-old right fielder Doug Beard, and the Juneau Senators, who gave up 25-year-old SP Alan St. George. Now, to be fair, this was a bit of a salary dump for the overextended Jets, and St. George is still young. But while St. George would finish 2007 with a 5.12 ERA in 123 IP, Doug Beard would end up with a .320/.411/.535 line and 14 HR in 284 AB. He did make the July 5th All-Star Game for the Denali Division. The Alaskan League All-Star Game The game was played on June 8th, and the starters at each position were selected by the fans, while most of the pitchers and the backups were selected by a secret ballot of general managers. The game would be played in Kenai, where the Oilers were among the laggards of the Seward Division. The league was very concerned that fans of the last-place teams would lose interest in the league, and for that reason had arranged the amateur draft so that last-place teams got to pick first. (Valdez had therefore gotten the first pick. Some of the youngsters taken in the draft had already come up for "big league" action. The league rightly guessed that fans would want to come out to see local high school stars debut on a statewide stage.) The siting of the All-Star Game was fortunate as well, in that it kept baseball interest high on the Kenai Peninsula. Furthermore, because there were only six teams in each division, and each team had 23 players, every team had multiple representatives on the field at the game. It ended up being a thrilling game, with the Sewards clinging to a 6-5 victory over the Denalis despite a two-run eighth-inning rally. Bob Horton of the Anchorage Bucs (mentioned in the Tom Robbins story above) was named All-Star MVP after going 3-for-4 with a homer. Robbins himself doubled and went 1-for-3. The Denali Division managed to use every player on their roster except one pitcher, held back in case of extra innings. Over two thousand fans came out to see the game. __________________ Heaven is kicking back with a double Talisker and a churchwarden stuffed with latakia. Last edited by Elendil; 04-23-2007 at 03:16 PM.