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Alaskans irked after midnight solstice game halted
ANCHORAGE, Alaska |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Baseball fans in Alaska were fuming after a traditional midnight game, held every year without lights during the twilight hours of the summer solstice, was postponed for the first time because a visiting California team complained it was too dark.
Umpires suspended the Alaska Baseball League amateur game with the score tied 1-1 in the 10th inning at about 1:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT) Wednesday, about three hours into the contest.
The game between the home team, Goldpanners of Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Waves of Oceanside, California, resumed on Wednesday evening, and the Goldpanners ultimately won 2-1.
The "Midnight Sun Baseball Game" has been played in Fairbanks each year since 1906 on the night of the summer solstice June 21, when the glow from the year's longest day allows the game to continue into the wee hours without artificial light.
Fairbanks is slightly south of the Arctic Circle, so the sun does set briefly on the summer solstice. But even then, it dips just below the horizon, providing some light to see.
This year marked the first time in its history that the unilluminated night game had been postponed, though in 1984 a visiting team from Taiwan forfeited altogether when its players also complained of poor visibility, officials said.
"This almost happens every year. The opposing team starts chirping about postponing the game due to darkness because they're usually behind," said the Goldpanners' assistant general manager Todd Dennis.
The umpires should have simply ignored the California team's complaints, he added.
Dennis conceded that rain and dark clouds on solstice night contributed to the decision to postpone the game.
Anchorage television station KTUU captured video from the game where an umpire said, "We can't play in this light, it's dangerous." The umpire also said the game had to be postponed "for the health and safety of these guys."
The Alaska Baseball League is made up of college athletes who venture north to keep playing in the off-season.
(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman)
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At the 2001 National Jamboree, all 12-16 of the Californian troops (8-12 kids per troop) brought net tents… TO VIRGINIA! You can probably guess what happened. They got drenched on the second night when a thunderstorm tore through half the state, and the next day they had the audacity to complain that they weren’t told it was going to rain while they were there. They cried so hard that the military had to come in, lend them waterproof tents, and even setup a huge room where they brought in industrial grade fans to blow dry all of their belongings.
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