Photos: 'Baseball in the Far North' at Anchorage Museum

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Baseball game on St. Lawrence Island, 1953. Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame

Anchorage has had a baseball field since before it became a city. The 1915 townsite map, laid out before land was auctioned off, designated the area abutting yet-to-be-built Sixth Avenue and C Street as public space. Four years before the settlement was incorporated, pioneers cleared the space and rolled it flat to create a diamond.

A 1916 photo of huskies pulling the roller is part of a new exhibit at the Anchorage Museum, "Home Field Advantage: Baseball in the Far North." It includes historic uniforms, programs, bats, gloves, baseball cards and several photos. Some show the old city ballfield, which just happens to be on the same spot now occupied by the part of the museum where the exhibit is on display.

"Think of it, we're standing right where that picture was taken," said curator Katie Ringsmuth.

Read more: Museum exhibit links baseball with the history of Alaska