Heroes of the Diamond: A Throwback to Alaska's Baseball Roots

In recent seasons, the ABL schedule has been augmented by exhibition games against independent and traveling collegiate teams such as the Yuba Gold Sox and the S.L.O. Blues. This season will bring something a little different, something reminiscent of the earliest days of Alaskan baseball, before the ABL as we know it today was even conceivable.

In 2010, ABL teams will square off against none other than the Heroes of the Diamond, formerly known as the US Military All-Stars. The Heroes of the Diamond, sporting their trademark camouflage uniforms, will make a whirlwind tour of games against ABL teams. The grand finale in the Alaska leg of the team's 100-game worldwide barnstorming tour (which includes several exhibitions against Major and Minor-league professional clubs) is a match-up against the Goldpanners in the annual Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks on June 21st.

But this isn't the first time teams made up of servicemen have taken the field in Alaska. The Military Stars' tour is a throwback of sorts to the early days of Alaskan baseball. During World War II and the Cold War, Alaska's strategic location resulted in a relatively enormous expansion of military forces in the state. Bases sprung up all over the last frontier, and with them came baseball.

ABL 2010 Schedule Released!

I was making my rounds this morning, hitting all the ABL sites and the local papers and whatnot. I pulled up the Pilots' site, and there it was:

The 2010 ABL League Schedule.

In contrast to past years -- if this schedule stays the same, and I don't want to suggest that it will or it won't as I haven't talked to anybody who's anybody about this -- we'll see a lot fewer traveling teams making the trip up for exhibition games. I don't see any insert-color-here Sox on the schedule. The exception to this is the US Military All-Star team, who has booked a pretty hefty ABL tour as part of the seven-month world-wide schedule.

Thanks to the Glacier Pilots for throwing us this bone. Which reminds me...how's that roster coming?