Hello again, folks. A week has passed since our previous little rundown...actually, that's not true, because last week's was pushed back to Sunday to make room for our D1 Opening Week chat. But whatever, let's not focus on the wrong part of the story. Some cool stuff has happened in the past 6 days. Baseball in all its wonderful forms is starting to come out of hibernation, and even in the late-waking ABL world things are starting to come together. So without further ado, let's take a look at the past week's goings-on:
Box Score
- The Midnight Sun Game was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame this past week, as this year's selection in the event category. For those of you who aren't familiar with the game, it is a 106-year-old tradition in Fairbanks. The game begins at 10:30 pm on the summer solstice and continues through the midnight hour without the use of artificial lights. This is made possible by the fact that the sun barely sets on the longest day of the year at Fairbanks' high latitude. The Goldpanners of the ABL host the game, which is typically an exhibition match against a traveling team, and will feature the "Heroes of the Diamond" military all-stars in 2010.
- The Mat-Su Miners are trying to sell 400 raffle tickets for their Grand Slam Raffle, according to the GM's report on their website. I'm not sure if these are the $10 tickets for the quilt featured there, but in any event, if you're in the valley please consider helping the team out as they've fallen on hard times. I know GM Pete Christopher is out pounding the pavement doing his part, so let's all chip in.
- A recap of this week's articles on 49th State Hardball: We announced our number #5 player on the All-Time Countdown, former North Pole Nick Mark Grace. I hilighted some of the great D1 mid-week performances that our boys put together, and analyzed the career of former Bucs pitcher Brett Bordes, now with the Orioles organization.
On Deck:
- The Oilers' Gusher is tonight! $100 gets you dinner for two,
entry for door prizes, drinks, dancing, music, drunken dancing to
music, and a chance to witness the inaugural class of the Peninsula
Oilers Hall of Fame. If I'm not mistake, Jim Dietz is going to be the
keynote speaker for the event. If anyone is going, let me know. Maybe
you could write up a recap of it and get your name in print, and then
you can celebrate like Steve Martin in "The Jerk".
- The Glacier Pilots have announced on their website that on Monday you will be able to "Meet the 2010 Glacier Pilots". I got really super excited thinking we would see a roster, but word on the street is that it won't have all the signed players published. I suspect that they're still waiting to pare down their list a bit before they drop the whole thing on us. Anyway, there's supposed to be something up there, so stay tuned to GlacierPilots.com for more info. It looks like they're also in the process of giving the site a face lift, which is always nice to see.
- On Tuesday, as always, I'll be unveiling another member of our All-Time Top ABL Player Countdown. We're down to #4 this week. Who could it be? There are a few superstars left and only a four spots left to count down as we march toward the #1 ABL player of all time.
- I haven't been very good at this setting deadlines thing lately so I'll just give you a big lumpy list of articles I plan to post this week, and you can check back every single day several times a day waiting to see when I get them going. In addition to the countdown post, I want to do some sort of statistical analysis (got a few ideas, not sure which one to run with) and Player Preview of
- I think I'll whip up some Top Prospect Lists, because everyone loves those, right? I don't know when it's going to be done or how it's going to turn out, but I envision doing a separate list for Minor League prospects, and one for collegiate prospects. I'm shooting for the pro prospects list to be done before the start of the pro season, and the collegiate one to be wrapped up before the amateur draft in June. These should give player watchers something to look at. I could also use some help of any scouting people who want to help me evaluate the talent once I get the thing put together.
Enjoy your weekend! There's some great college games available streaming on the net, so let's cheer on our ABL crew across the baseball world.
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