Legend Revived in the Land of the Midnight Sun

The dead walk, hundreds of people dress themselves as large gourd-like squashes and bumblebees to run through the streets late into the night. Line dances erupt in central blocks of town and somewhere on a baseball diamond a 62 year-old man steps onto the pitchers mound for the most improbable game of his life.

Yup, Fairbanks, Alaska is a pretty unique place this time of year. The summer solstace marks the longest day of the year, and in a state awash in darkness for 6 months, people take the opportunity to get out seriously.

Somehow I ended up in Growden Park, home of the Alaska Goldpanners, at about 10:30 Sunday night. The sun shone brightly as F-16s boomed over the rickety grandstands and the game came under way. The Goldpanners took the field and approaching the mound was none other than the now gray-haired, slightly hobbling Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

The last time the Spaceman pitched at a Midnight Sun game was 1967, hsi last major league game with the Expos was 1982. In an age of 6-7 year major league careers, Lee was a tad past his prime. But he had pulled on a jersey, #337 (Lee upsidedown), and come to play some baseball.

The first inning went quickly, Lee only let a single hit get by him. Every successive inning people chanted "Lee, Lee, Lee" as he took the mound, again and again and again. He had the crowd laughing by scuttling his feet at players on base 40 years his junior. He'd catch a ball from the second baseman after a play, tuck it under his arm and beligerently flap his glove and ask for the ball as if he never got it.

Around 12:04 the sun finally dipped below the horizon, and the darkest period of the day had passed. Anywhere in the lower 48 states the time could have easily been mistaken for 6 or 7 in the evening. The game went on and the field lights stood idle.

His pitches slowed down considerably as the game wore on, but Lee saved face with a fearsome change-up and experience. With each inning he hobbled out the chants grew louder, one drunkard yelling out for minutes at a time "Spaaaacccceeeman!" It wasn't until the top of the seventh that ol' Lee was taken out of the game to a standing ovation.

At the end of the game The Spaceman walked off the field with a cigar in his mouth and another win to add to his career. It was 2:30 in the morning and the sun was just beggining to rise up from behind the mountains.

Rox