Opening Day of baseball at Mulcahy Stadium: Promise and possibilities

Monday dawned drizzly, dreary and — considering the first game at Mulcahy Stadium in the Alaska Baseball League season beckoned that evening – like an impending drag.

But, like a hitter brushing his spikes across the batter's box to smooth the terrain, or a pitcher toeing dirt off the rubber, the gloomy clouds slowly cleared during the day and blue skies prevailed by opening pitch. Breezes out of the north had the American and Alaska flags stationed atop a pole beyond the left field wall snapping toward the south – wind blowing out, in favor of hitters – and the sun glared from the west.

All was right at the ball yard.

The debut of a baseball season is traditionally called Opening Day, and it's all about promise and possibilities, dreams and desires, and what might be. Blue skies and sunshine properly frame such scenarios in a summer league filled by college players playing games and honing their skills nearly every day for two months.

Granted, Monday's exhibition game between the host Anchorage Bucs and visiting Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks dropped before a small crowd at 7 p.m., but it always feels like daytime delight at that hour in Alaska in the long light of June. So, Opening Day it was, exhibition game or not.

"It's a great day,'' said Tom Pargeter, a 30-year-old carpenter who was the first fan through the gate, an hour before opening pitch, outfitted in a Seattle Mariners jersey bearing Robinson Cano's last name and his No. 22. "There's beer. There's baseball. There's nothing better.''

Chinooks manager Jon Groth swiveled his head, taking in the sunshine and clear skies, and the Chugach Mountains to the east – "God's beauty is all around us,'' he said.

So too were baseball's familiar rhythms and repetitions. Two hours before opening pitch, when the skies still held ample clouds and the stands held not a soul, the Bucs were just wrapping up batting practice. The players wore shorts – ah, the optimism of youth. The Chinooks soon began limbering up in deep right field, stretching legs, slowly wind-milling arms. Next they paired off for languid games of catch, starting maybe 30 feet apart and lengthening the gap as the throws warmed and stretched their arms.

Shortly, the Chinooks took batting practice, and the crack of the bat echoed throughout the stadium, audible even through the din of country music that blared from the public address system. Two coaches, one on each side of the batting cage, slapped grounders to infielders, working on their craft. Players in the outfield shagged balls from batting practice and lofted them to a teammate stationed in the outfield grass behind second base so he could eventually re-supply the batting practice pitcher.

Batting practice complete, many of the Chinooks drifted toward the right field wall, where the visiting bullpen and batting cage are located just beyond the foul line. A few of them glanced to their right, where the inside of the stadium's outer fence bears vinyl murals of a sort, pictures of past greats from the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, who share Mulcahy with the Bucs, who went on to the Major Leagues, many of them to considerable glory.

There's Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson, Jacoby Ellsbury and James Paxton. Two Baldwins (Mike, Reggie), two Boones (Aaron, Dan), two Ludwicks (Eric, Ryan).

The Glacier Pilots have been around since the 1960s. The Bucs have been around since the early '80s. They also savor their history and their former players – Jeff Kent, Jered Weaver, Paul Goldschmidt, C.J. Wilson, Heath Bell.

The Bucs delivered another nod to ABL history prior to the national anthem – a moment of silence to honor Tim Davis, the league umpire who was an ABL staple for nearly a quarter century and died last month from pulmonary fibrosis.

These college guys playing summer ball get a second Opening Day – they savored their first in the spring, at their respective schools.

"Newness,'' said Groth, the Chinooks manager. "You get to start over. There are guys who had good college seasons, guys who had not-so-good college seasons. It's like a second chance.''

Groth said he encourages players to use the summer to work on elements of their game that aren't among their strengths, to broaden their capabilities.

That's among the joys of summer ball — a chance at improvement, or perhaps personal redemption, and a bonus Opening Day.

Imagine the possibilities.