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Thursday, November 3, 2016

Baseball over the years in Valdez, Alaska



University of Alaska Fairbanks 1909 baseball game in Valdez, Alaska. '"Fort Liscum vs. Valdez, June 22, 1909." Photo by Phinney. S. Hunt. From the Mary Whalen Photograph Collection in the University of Alaska Fairbanks Rasmuson Library Alaska & Polar Regions Collection (UAF-1975-84-533).
I think Valdez Little League is still playing on the same field.

That's my son in the second picture playing second base for the Valdez Senior team in 2003.

Sure enough it looks like the games were played on the same field and the photos taken from the same position. A good look at the mountain in the two pictures makes it pretty clear that it is the same mountain. Note the ridgeline coming down from the center of the mountain and angling off to the left toward the bottom. And, in the upper right edge of the mountain, that seems to be the same curve of the slope.

A lot has changed over the years. Mostly that the field was almost in town in 1909, but the earthquake in 1964 took care of that. The field apparently didn't move, but the town did, a few miles to the west where it now stands on more solid ground. All those houses beyond the outfield fence are new since the earthquake.

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