Alaska Baseball League opens with a double

For most, it was the sun-kissed debut of the new infield turf and rosters filled with Lower 48 college players and local prep products.

For Tammy Williams, who was working the west entrance ticket booth, it was the buzz of hornets' nest inside the booth.

"I didn't think anything of it, and then I looked up saw the nest and thought 'Oh my God!' " said the Lions Club volunteer while lingering outside the booth until fans approached to buy a ticket.

While their may have been some kinks to work out, it didn't seem to bother the 1,125 fans, new and old, who came to eat popcorn and hot dogs, catch some rays and watch the Pilots take both games from the Bucs by the score of 2-1.

Five-year-old Parker Glastetter was attending his first ABL game with his parents, Kelli and Drew, a local pilot.

When asked who he was rooting for, the five-year-old munching a man-sized hot dog while wearing a fresh Wilson baseball mitt was unsure, until dad clued him in.

"What does daddy do?" Drew asked while finishing a burger outside the Pilots concession stand.

"Pilots!" Parker exclaimed after a pause to figure it out.

While there were many new fans in the crowd, along the third base line, two living pieces of the league's history, Emmitt Wilson and Dave Strike, fiddled with their cell phones and traded barbs during warmups.

"My name's on every scoreboard in the country," joked Strike, a former ABL umpire.

They met in the late 1970s when Strike tossed Wilson from an American Legion game after Wilson argued about Strike's fluctuating strike zone. The pair have been friends ever since.

Wilson, who played for six years with the Alaska Goldpanners in the 1960s before becoming the ABL's first commissioner in 1975, told stories of playing with future big leaguers Graig Nettles, Rick Monday and Tom Seaver and about playing in the first-ever game at Mulcahy in 1964.

"They've done a real nice job with this field," said Wilson of the new state-of-the-art turf infield that the players were warming upon. "It's about time. They needed it."

The 73-year-old, a retired snow bird who scouts part-time for the Arizona Diamondbacks and volunteer coaches for a community college in Palm Springs, said it never crossed his mind that he would be at the stadium on opening day 46 years later.

Arron Schuerger added his name to the league's colorful history Sunday. The expediter for Excel Construction took the Pilots up on a unique offer: tattoo the team logo on your body in exchange for two season tickets, a game-worn jersey and the right to throw out the first pitch on opening day.

The father of four and coach of two Knik Little League teams already had five tattoos when he saw the offer on GlacierPilots.com while researching times to bring his players to games.

"I saw it and thought 'You know, I could do something like that.' " Schuerger said.

So now his left biceps has a Pilots logo, courtesy of the team and Body Piercing Unlimited, surrounded by an outline of Alaska, his own touch.

Getting the tattoo was a no-brainer for Schuerger, who went to his first Pilots game in the early 1980s. His oldest sons have gone to the Pilots baseball camp the last three seasons and loves that children get in free if they wear a baseball jersey.

"Things like that are why I got the tattoo. They've done a lot for the community, kids, little leagues and even my family."

He was warming up for that first pitch by playing catch with his kids Timithy, Logan, Julianne and Abram. He pitches batting practice to his little league teams but the mound is 15 feet closer than the 60-foot, 6-inch distance at Mulcahy.

"I'm just hoping to make it across home plate ... in that vicinity," he said while sporting his game-worn No. 6 Pilots jersey replete with dirt stains and stitched repairs. "The question is 'Can I do it in front of all these people?' "

Schuerger answered his own question by firing a strike to open the second game.

Watching the action from the front row near first base, Sam Martin and Sierra Kell helped usher Sam's younger brother, 4-year-old Aiden, into the ranks of Pilots' fans.

The pair disagreed about the best part of opening day -- besides the baseball action.

For 20-year-old Kell, who has been coming to home games with her family and friends since she was five, it was the weather.

"When it's nice, you can come watch and sit out and get tan," she said.

Martin interrupted with her own favorite: ogling the college boys on the diamond.

"Who cares about the sun? Even if it's rainy or cloudy, the players are still going to be here," she said.

But does the longtime Pilots fan admire the looks of Bucs' players?

"Nope! Gotta be a blue jersey!"

---

Sports reporter Barry Piser can be reached at bpiser@adn.com/sports.