Midnight League of the Arctic Circle

American’s past time: baseball.

Okay, so I’m a little late. Here it is almost September, and I missed opening day by… a lot. But I’ve been working on my chapter about the summer solstice, and decided to incorporate a midnight baseball game, so here I am. I’m not a fan of sports, but if I’m going to write about something, it needs to be as accurate as possible. This post will not be very in-depth, just some snippets of what I’ve learned (and not learned) about baseball in Alaska between 1890 and 1920.

The oldest baseball game I can find record of is 1893 by the Herschel Island League who played all winter for the “Arctic Whalemen’s Pennant.” No, “winter” was not a typo. These crazy guys played in -30 degree temps, on a baseball diamond made on top of ice, and wore snowshoes. They have my respect.

In 1906 Fairbanks held their first midnight baseball game on June 21 due to a bar bet. The team names were the “Drinkers” and the “Smokers.” The game is still held every June 21 in Fairbanks. I doubt those guys drinking and hanging out at their local watering hole did not imagine that their shenanigans would result in a 115 year tradition. But my question: what exactly was the bet, and who won it?

Baseball was a more egalitarian activity, with youth, women, and native teams/leagues. Not much information is available on the early leagues, but we do know that the Nome “Lightning Strikers” won their championship game in February 1914. These ladies were not playing outside in February, but on in indoor diamond inside the town’s Eagle Hall. As intense as snowshoe baseball sounds, indoor seems to be the smart decision.

But what does this have to do with the title? In case you forgot, the post’s title is, “Midnight League of the Arctic Circle.” Well, when I was looking up baseball in Nome, not really expecting much, I did indeed not find much. Most of my information for this post all comes from one article by the Alaska State Library. In that article, it says that in June 1908, a unique baseball field was built in Nome for the Midnight League of the Arctic Circle, which was comprised for four teams.

That’s it. You can Google “Midnight League of the Arctic Circle” (with parenthesis to search for that exact wording) and see what you get.

(Or look here).

There is ONE result, that same Alaska State Library article referenced above. Who were they? How long did they play? Where did they play? Team names? Nothing.

Wouldn’t this make a perfect topic for a Ph.d dissertation? “Mystery of the Midnight League of the Arctic Circle Solved: A history of baseball on the Seward Peninsula.” Someone go research and write it please, and I will slog through reading it.