The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-02
AURORA BOREAu|S
AND BASEBALL
.- .
Alaskans Play Ball by Aid of
Northern Lights-Vast
Fortunes Wagered

Detroit. Mich. Feb. 2.-Travcling
1000 miles for a short series Of
games. playing them by the light of
the midnight sun and under the pres
sure of 100000 or $4,000 in wagers
on each contest, is the proposition
that faces h Fairbanks and Dawson
City baseball teams every summer.
Dan Blaine. a deputy marshal in
Fairbanks. Alaska. is in Detroit and
tional game as 1t is played in that
lborderland Of humanity. Blaine has
been Il resident Of Alaska. for several
years. and while he is not familiar
with American and National league
teams, he Is quite confident that there
are outfits in his chosen country that
could give Detroit or Philadelphia or
New York or Chicago a brush for the
honors.
Our baseball teams are fast and
they play the game" says Blaine. II
have been in that region for eight or
ION years and prior to going was very
we'll acquainted with the strength Of
the league in this country. While 1
do not believe u teams could de-
feat American or National league
clubs, still am sure they could mako
a respectable showing.
THE Guggenheim team in Alaska
is comprised of young college men,
and the majority Of the players were
stars on the college diamond. They
can defeat any picked team Of Alaska
and though acknowledged the class
or the territory. they do not play as
important games as the Fairbanks
and Dawson City teams.
"1SDirhan mud n,1,,eo. MA, "
ways meet at midnight on June 81.
The game usually begins at 1880
n sometimes is continued until we'll
into the morning. Fairbanks is in
American territory and Dawson City
is In Canadian. Naturally, then.
there is great rivalry between the rep
rcsentative towns. The players on
o mines are Americans, mostly, but
they fight to the last ditch for their
respective cities.
Leroy Tozler. who will probably be
the next delegate In congress from
Alaska. is captain of the Fairbanks
team. while Jack Ellbeck leads the
Dawson City team. Off the field
there is the greatest friendship be-
tween the players. but on the dia-
mond they forget their relations COM
pletely.
Fairbanks has a population Of a
few thousand. yet at the baseball
games there is always an attendance
of 1000 n 5000. Miners from the
country round come in to the con-
tests. and you a get any kind Of a
bet o want.
Crowds Arc Orderly.
Because there is betting it doesn't
mean that department is lacking. I
dare say the games arc better regu-
lated than the games in tho Amerl-
can or National league cities. 1t is
an expensive proposition for a man
to he heard swearing at them. He
is sure to be arrested, and a convic-
ton means a fine of $50.
ITO the initiated. playing baseball
at midnight is odd, to say the least.
There Is, of course, the light of mid
day. but the novelty of it never wears
of. You look at N6ur watch and
think-well. back in! the states all is
TN darkness nok. and the righteous
are sleeping. and we are watching
a game of baseball that for intensity
eclipses even the struggles for the
worlds pennant.
Y ucan get any kind Of a bet you
want. When it comes to putting down
money the Americans have nothing
on their rival Canadians and there
Is no dilly-dallying over putting up
the stakes. The banks always pre-
pare for the games. and if you don't
happen to have your money in them,
safe. "'' 10 Just d. "anos ana JUST as
Il have seen roughly dressed min
ers-fellows you wouldn't trust in an
alley-hang their pouches over a
post in the grand stand, and then
would leave them there until the
game was over. and the winner would
collect.
"a bet in Alaska is a bet. and a
man who wouldn't pay one becomes
en- outcast.
"The Americans have been fortu-
nate during the past two years. They
have won the two series. n CON
siderably more than $500 of Daw-
SO nCity money went to the bank at
Fairbanks after each series. And the
hest part of 1t 81 there are no sore
spots In the losers.
81 saw a fellow bet $4,000 on the
Dawson City team in the summer of
1910. n when the series was finish
ed. he smiled. slapped his empty
pouch and vowed he would get it
back in 1911. He didn't but last sum
mer he was Just as cheerful and he
is now waiting for the 1912 series.
I'm either Fairbanks or Dawson
City. after a game. a strangers mon
ey isn't good. Everything is free to
them. n for glorious and innocent
JOY You have to go to Alaska.
THE country isn't anything like it
was eight or ten years ago. Then
shooting matches were of daily oc-
currences. and the authorities didn't
seem to have control. But now every
o~nerespects the law. and an unac-
companied wonlan can go to a base
ball game or to any other event with
the same assurance of protection that
she could were she in the hest policed
city in the United States"