A night at the ballpark with Alaska's Congressman Don Young

PALMER — The fans of Mat-Su Miners baseball got a special treat on Monday night as Alaska’s lone member of Congress Don Young stopped by Hermon Brothers Field to throw out the first pitch. Young raised his arms in triumph as he walked toward the mound and delivered the first pitch.

“We kind of figured he’d be too busy but he showed up so we’re happy,” said Miners general manager Pete Christopher. “He bounced it. I bounced it when I threw out the first pitch, but I sat with him for about 10 minutes before he threw out the first pitch and he asked me some of the most interesting questions anyone’s ever asked me about how the team is run and how we recruit and stuff so it was pretty cool.”

[below is the full transcript between Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey and Congressman Young]

Tim Rockey

Did you ever play baseball?

Congressman Don Young

I played baseball in high school and the fun part about it, I was a very good pitcher and I say that sincerely and then that’s before they had helmets. I’m a junior in high school and I hit a kid in the head with the ball and he was in a coma for four days and I never could throw the ball again

Rockey: I understand you may not want to be playing baseball again, but as far as baseball in the Last Frontier, we have a short season but we have such talent up here on the field

Congressman Young:

You have great talent. I was more equated with the Goldpanners when they were the big team, and I don’t think most of these teams existed. They had the Midnight Sun game and everything else. Now they’ve got this division and the Panners are independent. It’s fun, the kids come up here and Pete does a great job recruiting and I understand this team is two games behind and they’re going to catch up they say before August gets here so we’ll see what happens. I like the idea of the crowds. You think about this and look at the kids, I see old people, I see middle aged people it’s just a good program for the community.

Rockey: If you could expand a little bit onto some of the economic and cultural benefits that Alaska gets from this league.

Congressman Young:

I think economically, I don't know if there’s a great deal of money in it but the economy part of it is just the participation of the involvement and having people come out, look at all these people! If you follow what I’m saying, come out and visit and it’s a good part of America. It’s still America’s first game and it’s a good part so that’s why I was pleased to be asked to come out and do this and see these young people play. We’ve got three Alaskans playing on this team which is about average, I guess but all the rest of them all over it’s good for them and maybe we learn from them and maybe they come back and stay.

Rockey: What brings you here this evening and what are you happy to bring to the state of Alaska

Congressman Young:

Well I'm always glad to come in. It’s Fourth of July break and we have a habit of making a road trip. We’ve got an RV and we go here and we went up to Chickaloon today and here tonight, up to Sheep Mountain then to Glennallen then to Tok then to Chicken and Delta and Fairbanks then we fly back out. It’s a short trip a lot of movement. The hardest part about my job is the flying. This one we’ve got like a road trip because we’re not that air, the air is a pain in the neck.

Rockey: Anything else you’d like to talk about, smoke, baseball?

Congressman Young:

The smoke is inconvenient the big part you see is … I understand down where what is it the Kenai that’s all moving this way and there’s no smoke there it’s all clear, diamond backs are down there I think and it’s clear down there so and it’s not bad here tonight. It’s not like it was. This is summer time in Alaska we get fires. It’s great for moose by the way you burn off the spruce you get more moose. I like that rhyme by the way, burn off the spruce, get more moose.