A world-famous tradition, hosted annually in Fairbanks, is the Midnight Sun Baseball game. It has put the local amateur baseball team, the Alaska Goldpanners, on the novelty radar for solstice weekend, because it starts at 10 tonight and is played without lights.
But the Goldpanners have another claim to fame – as of last year, 212 of them have travelled the pipeline to Major League Baseball teams.
And some of them have been selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
One of those is Dave Winfield. That’s who dozens of young ballplayers from Mustang, Bronco, and Pony teams were waiting for, at Fairbanks International Airport on Thursday. When he and his family appeared, local coaches crowded the kids in for a picture.
“One, two, three, baseball!”
Cousins Nolan and MJ Hayes are on Bronco teams
“I thought it would be cool to meet a 22 year Major League Baseball player,” Nolan Hayes said.
“You know, I just thought it would be really cool to meet a Hall of Famer and just get some tips from him,” MJ Hayes said.
MJ Hayes may be able to do that tonight. The reason Dave Winfield and his family are in town is to see the unveiling of an 8-foot high bronze statue of him, near Growden Park where he had a career-changing season as an 18-year old Goldpanner.
David Winfield played in Fairbanks in 1971 and 1972, and he was told he should pitch and play in the field. But he was pinch-hitting for someone else when he hit a fastball that went over the fence, and across the street, to land on the roof of the Fairbanks Curling Club. That’s where his statue will go up.
He says he’s grateful for Lance Parrish and the group at Tanana Valley Youth Sports for fundraising and installing the elegant bronze likeness.
“Well, first of all, I thank everybody, the host committee, Fairbanks, Alaska, just to honor me in a permanent way here,” Winfield said.
Over his 22-year career, Dave Winfield played for six teams: the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, and Cleveland Indians. But none of those cities have yet to honor him the way other Hall-of-Famers are recognized.
Kathy Mayo, on the organizing committee, scheduled the welcome, and other events for the weekend.
“People have just mobilized and turned out in such a beautiful way. That's what makes Fairbanks special,” Mayo said.
Billy Smith coached American Legion Baseball for 25 years in Fairbanks.
“And my task was to organize, get the kids out to the airport to give them a big Golden Heart welcome,” Smith said.
Winfield flew up from LA with his three adult children and wife, Tonya Turner, who said the two years he played in Fairbanks came at a formative time of his life.
“Because this is where it started for him, the beginnings of who he is now, and it always has had a special place in his heart. Early in our dating, he even told me about Fairbanks,” Turner said.
Dave Winfield said he is glad to take Fairbanks up on its hospitality.
“I’ll tell you, this means so much to me for my family to be with me now. I mean, when I was a kid, I was 18, 19 years old when I played here, and they're going to see a slice of my life, you know, where a lot of good things happen,” Winfield said.
The statue unveiling is scheduled at the Curling Club from 5:00 to 6:30 tonight. At 10:00 p.m. Dave Winfield will throw out the first pitch of the Midnight Sun Game.
