Alaska Baseball League adds a commissioner

PALMER — Jim Posey likes to joke, the general managers in the Alaska Baseball League were talking about him behind his back.

But in a good way.

In recent years, there has been a push to add a commissioner position to the ABL administration. As talk among the general managers of the five teams in the league continued, Posey’s name continued to come up.

Early in the offseason, the ABL made it official, bringing back the commissioner position and giving the job to Posey, a former general manager of Anchorage’s Municipal Light and Power and a longtime supporter of the ABL.

“He loves baseball. He comes to all the games,” Mat-Su Miners general manager Pete Christopher said recently.

Christopher said he’s been a proponent of adding a commissioner for years. The ABL has not had a person serve that role in more than two decades. In recent years, the five general managers of the teams (the Anchorage Bucs, Anchorage Glacier Pilots, Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks, Peninsula Oilers and Mat-Su Miners) were the league administration, rotating among one president and four vice president positions, with areas of focus, such as marketing and overseeing umpires.

Christopher said league general managers will continue to serve such roles, but Posey will oversee the administration.

Christopher cited disciplinary rulings as a major reason for the need of a commissioner. He used an incident from 2015, when coaches of the Anchorage Bucs and Peninsula Oilers fought during a game.

“It was tough. Disciplinary action had to be made. Having another GM do that was just awkward,” Christopher said.

Christopher said Posey is a great asset on the business side as well, marketing and advertising, and working with corporate sponsors.

That’s all right within his Posey’s wheelhouse, Christopher said.

In addition to being a longtime fan of the league, Posey said he has many connections to the ABL.

“I’ve watched a lot of games up here. A lot of friends are supporters, backers, of the various baseball teams,” Posey said earlier this week.

Posey, an Anchorage resident, is a regular at Bucs and Glacier Pilots, and won’t hesitate to make the short drive to catch at Mat-Su Miners game in Palmer or Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks game in Chugiak. While working with the municipality, Posey traveled across the state, and had the chance to catch games in Kenai and Fairbanks.

“Over the 11, 12 years I supported baseball,” Posey said of his work as general manager of the utility. “After I retired from running the utility, I still supported baseball.”

Posey said he has also worked with numerous nonprofit groups, which will be helpful in the ABL. The Miners, for example, operate as a nonprofit.

Posey will attend the American Baseball Coaches Association Convention with league general managers in Indianapolis in January. Posey said he’s looking forward to the trip, and helping the league attract further national attention and potential corporate sponsors.

Aside from the trip, Posey said he will continue to work with league general managers throughout the offseason on the business of baseball in the Alaska league.

“Some of that is what they’d like me to work on, establish what the roadmap really looks like on a timeline, and by the time we get the young men up to play baseball, hopefully we’ll have it all put together,” Posey said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.