Midnight Sun Game

The 2022 Midnight Sun Baseball Game was played at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska. Photo by Jeff Olsen, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

The Midnight Sun Game is an amateur baseball game played every summer solstice at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. Because the sun is out for almost 24 hours a day, the game starts at about 10:30 at night and completes around 1:30 the next morning. However, because Fairbanks's summer time zone differs by about an hour from local solar time, coupled with the state's observance of daylight saving time, the game may not actually last until solar midnight, at about 1:53. Famous players who have appeared in the game include Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Terry Francona, Harold Reynolds, Jason Giambi, and Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

After Noel Wien's arrival in 1924, he noted, "The baseball team played on weekends, and on June 21 and July 4 they always started a game at midnight sharp, just to indicate that this was the farthest city in the country." ^[1]

The first game was in 1906. Artificial light has never been used. The sun does dip below the horizon for about an hour. Since 1960, the game has been hosted by the Alaska Goldpanners, a collegiate summer baseball team based in Fairbanks. As the Goldpanners have been without a league since leaving the Alaska Baseball League in 2015, ^[2] the opponent has typically been picked from other collegiate summer teams from anywhere in the United States.

In 2020 the Goldpanners pulled out of the contest due to the coronavirus pandemic and local amateur squads played the game instead, with a local American Legion Baseball squad facing the local town team baseball squad. The game has never been rained out; the game narrowly avoided a rainout in 2020 after heavy downpours flooded the field earlier in the day, but the two competing teams were unwilling not to let the game go forward and cleared the field to the best of their ability to allow the game to go on.

For 2021, the game expanded into a Midnight Sun Tournament, with a doubleheader consisting of the final of the American Legion Baseball tournament leading into the Goldpanners' Midnight Sun Game. ^[3]

Game results

Through 1959, the Midnight Sun Game featured various teams from the Fairbanks area. In 1960, the game became exclusively hosted by the Alaska Goldpanners. ^[4] . The Goldpanners are 49-15 all-time in Midnight Sun Games.

Date	Winning team		Losing team		Notes
June 21, 1951	Military All-Stars	4	Civilian All-Stars	0
June 21, 1952	Civilian All-Stars	x	Military All-Stars	x	No score available
June 21, 1953	Civilian All-Stars	6	Military All-Stars	2
June 21, 1954	Civilian All-Stars	5	Military All-Stars	0
June 21, 1955	Civilian All-Stars	12	Military All-Stars	8
June 21, 1956	Civilian All-Stars	x	Military All-Stars	x	No score available
June 21, 1957	Sportland	6	Air Force All-Stars	0
June 21, 1958	Sportland Bees	5	Ladd Special Units	3
June 21, 1959	Alaska Sales and Service	16	Fairbanks	6
June 21, 1960	Pan-Alaska Goldpanners	11	Fairbanks Pioneers	0
June 21, 1961	Pan-Alaska Goldpanners	10	North of the Range Military All-Stars	4
June 22, 1962	Pan-Alaska Goldpanners	8	North of the Range Military All-Stars	3
June 21, 1963	Wichita Rapid Transit Dreamliners	3	Alaska Goldpanners	1
June 21, 1964	Grand Junction Eagles	10	Alaska Goldpanners	5
June 21, 1965	Alaska Goldpanners	4	USC Trojans	3
June 21, 1966	Alaska Goldpanners	8	Oregon State Beavers	3
June 21, 1967	Kumagai Gumi	10	Alaska Goldpanners	3
June 22, 1968	Alaska Goldpanners	7	Santa Clara Broncos	0
June 21, 1969	Boulder Baseline Collegians	5	Alaska Goldpanners	2
June 20, 1970	Arizona Wildcats	4	Alaska Goldpanners	3
June 21, 1971	Alaska Goldpanners	12	Stanford Indians	3
June 21, 1972	Ponchatoula Athletics	5	Alaska Goldpanners	4
June 21, 1973	BYU Cougars	8	Alaska Goldpanners	5
June 21, 1974	Alaska Goldpanners	7	Washington State Cougars	6
June 21, 1975	Alaska Goldpanners	4	Vanderbilt Commodores	3
June 20, 1976	Alaska Goldpanners	6	Westwood Bruins	4
June 21, 1977	Alaska Goldpanners	12	Red Deer M&K Generals	11
June 21, 1978	Wichita El Dorado Coors	10	Alaska Goldpanners	1
June 21, 1979	Alaska Goldpanners	8	North Carolina Tar Heels	2
June 20, 1980	Alaska Goldpanners	16	Wisconsin Badgers	5
June 20, 1981	Alaska Goldpanners	11	Intermountain Badgers	4
June 20, 1982	Alaska Goldpanners	9	San Francisco Senators	3
June 19, 1983	Alaska Goldpanners	7	Anchorage Bucs	2
June 21, 1984	Alaska Goldpanners	9	Chinese Taipei	0	Forfeit
June 22, 1985	Moraga Marauders	12	Alaska Goldpanners	11	11 innings
June 20, 1986	Alaska Goldpanners	8	San Francisco Senators	1
June 20, 1987	Mat-Su Miners	2	Alaska Goldpanners	1
June 21, 1988	Alaska Goldpanners	6	Hawaii Island Movers	5
June 20, 1989	Alaska Goldpanners	7	San Diego SeaWorld Killer Whales	3
June 21, 1990	Alaska Goldpanners	12	San Bernardino Tribe	3
June 22, 1991	Alaska Goldpanners	9	South Lake Tahoe Stars	8
June 21, 1992	Victor Valley Mets	2	Alaska Goldpanners	1
June 21, 1993	Alaska Goldpanners	10	South Lake Tahoe Stars	4
June 21, 1994	Alaska Goldpanners	15	San Diego Stars	6
June 21, 1995	Alaska Goldpanners	10	San Francisco Seals	4
June 21, 1996	Alaska Goldpanners	5	Anchorage Bucs	3
June 20, 1997	Alaska Goldpanners	12	Kelowna Grizzlies	0
June 20, 1998	Alaska Goldpanners	14	Kelowna Grizzlies	7
June 21, 1999	Alaska Goldpanners	7	Oceanside Waves	1
June 21, 2000	Alaska Goldpanners	3	Santa Barbara Foresters	2
June 21, 2001	Alaska Goldpanners	2	Oceanside Waves	1
June 21, 2002	Alaska Goldpanners	2	California Dons	1
June 21, 2003	Alaska Goldpanners	3	California Dons	1
June 21, 2004	Alaska Goldpanners	9	Peninsula Oilers	1
June 21, 2005	Alaska Goldpanners	3	Omaha Strike Zone	1
June 21, 2006	Alaska Goldpanners	2	Beatrice Bruins	1
June 21, 2007	Oceanside Waves	5	Alaska Goldpanners	1
June 21, 2008	Alaska Goldpanners	10	Southern California Running Birds	6
June 21, 2009	Alaska Goldpanners	6	Lake Erie Monarchs	3
June 21, 2010	Alaska Goldpanners	4	Heroes of the Diamond	3	15 innings
June 21, 2011	Alaska Goldpanners	2	Oceanside Waves	1
June 21, 2012	Alaska Goldpanners	7	Everett Merchants	5
June 21, 2013	Alaska Goldpanners	4	San Francisco Seals	1
June 21, 2014	Alaska Goldpanners	13	Lake Erie Monarchs	6
June 21, 2015	Alaska Goldpanners	7	Seattle Studs	4
June 21, 2016	Alaska Goldpanners	9	Kenai Peninsula Oilers	2
June 21, 2017	San Diego Waves	4	Alaska Goldpanners	2
June 21, 2018	Alaska Goldpanners	6	Orange County Surf	4
June 21, 2019	Seattle Studs	5	Alaska Goldpanners	4	11 innings
June 21, 2020	Eielson Brewers Alaska Legion	15	Black Spruce Pirates Fairbanks Adult Amateur Baseball League	13	Contested only by local teams due to COVID-19 pandemic
June 21, 2021	Alaska Goldpanners	3	Everett Merchants	0
June 21, 2022	Alaska Goldpanners	10	San Diego Waves	9	10 innings
June 21, 2023	Alaska Goldpanners	5	Michigan Monarchs	1
June 21, 2024	Alaska Goldpanners	10	Seattle Studs	4
June 20, 2025	Anchorage Glacier Pilots	7	Alaska Goldpanners	2

References

1. Harkey, Ira (1991). Pioneer Bush Pilot. Bantam Books. p. 103. ISBN   0553289195.
2. Bragg, Beth (September 30, 2015). "Goldpanners won't play in ABL next summer". Anchorage Daily News . Retrieved 18 July 2022.
3. "Road Warriors win Fairbanks tourney; Pioneers sweep Dimond".
4. "All Time Midnight Sun Baseball Game Results". Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks. Archived from the original on August 28, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2011.

External links

• Official website

64°50′27″N147°45′32″W / 64.84083°N 147.75889°W / 64.84083; -147.75889