Volunteers, fans, sponsors make Miners great

To the editor:

Most people know of the damage Hermon Brothers Field sustained during the November 2011 windstorm. Among the more serious items, the left centerfield fence came down, the scoreboard was destroyed and the umpire shack splintered.

Again, with the help of volunteers and sponsors, we were able to fix or replace the destroyed property. I would like to thank the following people and their businesses for helping us. Gary Feaster and Greatland Welding; Larry, Chad, Randy and Donnie of the Alaska State Fair; Jim and Dan of Alaska Pacific Rentals; IBEW Local 1547 and NECA; and Alcan Electric and Fence Emporium. They donated equipment and manpower to help us repair everything. Without all these people helping, I don’t know what we would have done. As a 501c(3) nonprofit, money is tight.

As for other renovations, we added paving thanks to Operating Engineers Local 302, (Ken, Adam, Chris and Mike), which donated manpower, and Granite Construction (Matt Ketchum), which donated product. We upgraded the men’s public restroom thanks to plumber, Karl Horner. We added a batter’s eye over the centerfield fence thanks to MTA. Don’t know what that is? Ask me when you come to the ballpark to watch a game.

Jesse Jones and Jeremy Bloomstrom keep repairing and updating our website, and last, but certainly not least, Bob Plumley, Terry Johnson and my wife, Denise. Bob and Terry put in a lot of volunteer hours of maintenance in all kinds of lousy weather to keep the place going, which allows me to do other things and Denise, who does just about anything and everything, while holding down a full-time job at the hospital.

These three people are the main reason the Mat-Su Miners are so successful in providing great entertainment, clean facilities and good food to our fans and sponsors at great prices. So, in closing, I want to thank all our volunteers, fans and sponsors for helping us to keep going. You’re great.

Pete Christopher, G.M.

Mat-Su Miners Summer Collegiate Baseball Team

Alaska Baseball League