They might play summer baseball all over the country. But when they built baseball stadiums in Alaska, they attracted an amazing amount of baseball talent. The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) is an amateur collegiate summer baseball league in which players must have attended one year of college and must have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining.
In the past, the ABL has sent its top teams to compete at the National Baseball Congress World Series, where the league's representatives have won multiple championships. Anchorage has won in 1969, 1971, 1986, 1991, and 2001, Fairbanks in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1980, and 2002, Kenai in 1977, 1993, and 1994, and Matsu in 1987 and 1997.
Notable alumni of the Alaska Baseball League include Barry Bonds, Chris Chambliss, Jeff Francis, Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, John Olerud, Dave Stieb, Frank Viola, Dave Winfield, Brendan Ryan, Jeff Kent, and Wally Joyner.
In 2011, Aaron Judge played in Alaska for the Anchorage Pilots. He was selected as the best prospect of the summer, but he didn't hit any home runs all summer long. In 2017, Aaron Judge played for the Yankees and won AL Rookie of the Year by a unanimous vote.