Matsu Miners Baseball

Entering the Alaska State Fairgrounds in the minutes prior to the call "Play Ball", you can almost hear the voice of the late John Chancellor booming from the public address speakers as if he were still narrating "Ken Burns: Baseball"...in Alaska, they rooted for the Anchorage Bucs, the Fairbanks Alaska Goldpanners, the Peninsula Oilers, the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, and the Matsu Miners...for the Miners enjoy an almost mythic existence here in the Matanuska-Susitana Valley.

Owned and operated as a non-profit organization by the community, the Miners play ball at Hermon Brothers Field where a game has the feel of a bygone era. The diamond might as well be a field of dreams, carved from a thicket of pine trees with mountains serving as a backdrop. Dotting the land surrounding the white lines are dotted with wooden equipment sheds housing balls and bats while the locker rooms provide very similar accommodations for the players. The concessions are manned by grandmothers and teens alike, both allowing commerce to take a back seat to conversations with the patrons. The whole operation would resemble a high school operation in other parts of the country if not for the high quality baseball being played on the field.

The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) is comprised of some of the best baseball players the collegiate ranks have to offer. The six teams in the ABL compete for the league championship and a place in the National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series. The Miners are the defending ABL champs and winners of the NBC World Series in both 1987 and 1997. Currently the Miners are a half game back in the standings behind the Fairbanks Alaska Goldpanners.