Bragg: 150 years ago, St. Paul Island baseball team became Alaska’s first
From Beth Bragg at the Anchorage Daily News on June 16, 2018, with mention of SABR member Bruce Allardice:
The day the U.S. Navy forced the evacuation of St. Paul Island in June 1942, a baseball game was being played on the little speck of land in the Bering Sea.
Players and spectators learned they had to go home, pack one suitcase and board a ship that would carry them from the Pribilof Islands to Southeast Alaska, where they would be interned. The evacuation, they were told, was necessary to protect them from the Japanese during World War II.
That was 76 years ago, and the story of the interrupted ballgame is a well-known part of St. Paul’s history. It’s central to the story of the evacuation as told on a sign erected on the road to the harbor, where a commemorative walk is held every year on the anniversary of the evacuation.
Less known is the extent of baseball’s history on St. Paul, although that is changing.
Read the full article here: https://www.adn.com/sports/2018/06/16/150-years-ago-on-st-paul-island-knock-down-and-skin-em-became-alaskas-first-baseball-team/
Originally published: June 19, 2018. Last Updated: June 19, 2018.