Miners GM president of the ABL

The Mat-Su Miners now have a man at the top of the Alaska Baseball League ladder.

Pete Christopher, general manager of the Miners, recently started his one-year term as president of the ABL.

Each season the positions in the league administration rotate among the six squads in the ABL. Last season Christopher served as vice president.

Joining Christopher on the staff for the 2004 season is Alaska Goldpanners general manager Don Daniels (vice president/secretary). Glacier Pilots GM Chuck Shelton will be in charge of marketing, the Bucs' Dennis Mattingly will oversee umpiring and AIA's Chris Beck will handle rules and membership.

Only recently appointed to the position, Christopher already has a full agenda of tasks he would like the ABL to accomplish before the upcoming season.

"I am taking a very proactive approach," Christopher said.

Leading the ABL to-do list is finding more funding and better sponsorship deals.

Christopher will be traveling to a national baseball conference later this year in San Antonio, Texas, to represent the ABL. At this conference, his plan is to meet with the National Association of Collegiate Summer Baseball about gaining funding for the ABL.

Numerous summer baseball leagues from coast to coast are part of the NACSB and receive a great deal of financial support from the organization. Christopher is hoping the same can be done for the ABL.

Christopher and his colleagues are also in the process of putting together a fundraiser to offset the expenses of ABL teams going to the National Baseball Conference World Series in Wichita, Kansas. Each of the top two teams from the ABL advance to the World Series in August. Teams have spent upwards of $40,000 to send their squads to the prestigious tourney.

Christopher and the ABL have also been working with the Baseball Hall of Fame to bring a notable hall of famer to Alaska.

Christopher also said changes have been made to the ABL schedule. The Peninsula Oilers hardball tournament, hosted by Kenai at the beginning of the season, and the Wood Bat Tourney, hosted by the Bucs at the end of the season, have both been eliminated.

"We were all shorthanded at the beginning of the season and (the tournament) didn't' really draw," Christopher said of the hardball tourney. "Dennis Mattingly put a tremendous amount of effort into the Wood Bat tourney and he is getting tired. Flat out tired and I don't blame him."

Christopher said the league is exploring ideas to create a new tourney, similar to the Wood Bat tourney.

"We are looking to offset league expenses, maybe looking to take on multiple sites," Christopher said. "We're bouncing ideas around."

The ABL is also trying to create a league all-star game. While it is most likely not going to happen in 2004, the league is shooting for 2005 to start the all-star event.