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THE JOURNAL - AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION BY THE ALASKA MINERS ASSOCIATION
JUNE 2026 | WWW.ALASKAMINERS.ORG
Alaska Baseball League, Mat-Su Miners carry on summer tradition on diamond BY LEE LESCHPER
T here are many sounds of summer in Alaska. Eagle cries. Salmon splashing into a net. Friends laughing around a campfire. And the crack of a baseball, leaving the bat to soar through brilliant blue Arctic sky against a skyline of mountains. Almost as long as there has been mining in Alaska, there’s been baseball. According to the Department of Natural Resources, the first known game was on Hershel Island, on the Arctic Ocean, where icebound whalers spread ashes on sea ice to form a baseball diamond — where they played at 40-below to pass the time. Seven clubs were organized and formed into a league called the “Arctic Whalemen’s Pennant.” Games continued all winter until the ships left for summer whaling in July. Early gold mining camps often would break the monotony of brutal, hard work with a pickup game. Especially on the summer holidays like July 4, there
would be pickup games in many gold camps. In Anchorage, renowned artist Sydney Lawrence photo- graphed a baseball game on July 4, 1915, the railroad town's founding. More than 100 spectators lined up from first base to third. Behind the perfect diamond and the spacious outfield stood a tent city, and beyond that, the seemly impenetrable Alaska wilderness. Fast forward through another century, and baseball still has a sacred spot during Alaska’s amazing sum- mers, specifically the Alaska Baseball League. For 50 years, the Mat-Su Miners have represented far more than summer baseball in Alaska. Since their found- ing in 1976, the Miners have become a symbol of com- munity pride, perseverance and athletic excellence in the Mat-Su Valley, and throughout the state. What began as a small collegiate summer team has grown into one of the most respected programs in the historic ABL. Originally known as the Valley Green Giants, the fran- chise joined the ABL during a period when baseball in Alaska was expanding rapidly. In 1980, the team adopt- ed the Mat-Su Miners name, embracing the identity and hardworking spirit of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley. During the past five decades, the Miners have built a championship tradition. The club has captured multiple league titles and twice won the prestigious National Baseball Congress World Series, in 1987 and 1997. Those victories placed the Miners on the nation- al stage and proved that a team from Alaska could compete with the best collegiate summer programs in the country.
Alaska Baseball League alumni include numerous future MLB superstars such as pitcher Randy Johnson and sluggers Mark McGwire and Aaron Judge.
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