Like other amateurcollegiate summer baseball teams, the Goldpanners operate in a similar manner to professional minor league organizations: playing a nightly schedule, using wooden bats, and with lengthy road trips facing advanced competition. Facing a unique challenge due to Fairbanks' isolated location, the Goldpanners often play teams from the rest of Alaska and the West Coast of the Lower 48.
History
Founded by H. A. Boucher in 1960, Fairbanks' baseball team first made national news when the Pan-Alaska Gold Panners appeared in the 1962 National Baseball Congress championship game. Following a business re-organization led by W.G. Stroecker in 1963, the team changed was renamed the Alaska Goldpanners.
In 2008, former Goldpanner Bill "Spaceman" Lee returned to Fairbanks as an alumnus of the Midnight Sun Game. During his time with the club, which included a win for Lee in the Midnight Sun Game, Bill declared that the Goldpanners were "the number one amateur baseball organization in history."[citation needed]
The Goldpanners played the 2011 season with a shortened independent schedule due to financial difficulties.[2]
The Goldpanners announced in September 2015 that they were leaving the league and would instead play a barnstorming schedule so that they would be available to play in the National Baseball Congress championship game which is held before the end of the ABL season; this decision angered representatives of the ABL, who threatened not to let the team back into the league.[2][1] Alaska baseball writer Rick Boots attempted to mediate an agreement twice to reconcile the Goldpanners and the ABL in 2018 and 2019, but at least one team refused to consider the notion and three others raised multiple concerns about readmitting the team, among them travel expenses.[3] In 2020, they applied to rejoin the league for the 2021 season and were denied, as the league was not in the financial position to take on the extra expense at the time, with the ABL stating the team would be welcome to reapply in 2022.[1] The team again applied for re-entry into the ABL in 2023 but were rejected for unclear reasons.[3]
The players line up before the first pitch of the 2011 Midnight Sun Game.
First held in 1906, the annual Midnight Sun Game is held yearly in Fairbanks, hosted by the Goldpanners. The game, which begins at 10:30 PM on the night of the summer solstice, has gained the attention of international media.
Baseball America declared the game one of the "10 Must-See Baseball Events."[citation needed] In 2005, ESPN spotlighted the game during "50 States in 50 Days."[citation needed]ESPN The Magazine called the event the "#8 Ultimate Baseball Experience."[citation needed]The Sporting News declared that on the 21st of June, "Fairbanks is the Baseball Capitol of America".[citation needed] In 2012, Yankees Magazine declared the game "Baseball's Most Natural Promotion".
