America 250 and Alaska's Baseball History

America 250 is the celebration of the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, hosted by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission established by Congress in 2016. In addition to national events, each state has the opportunity to participate with their own efforts. Our state historian, Katie Ringsmuth, chose baseball and storytelling for Alaska’s theme events. Why baseball? It’s a natural for us.

Baseball is often called our national pastime, and baseball games are a part of our cultural history. That’s true in Alaska, too. Settlers brought the sport here with whaling ship crews, gold miners, and others who arrived from the United States. Indigenous people adopted the game, often with their own cultural or geographical tweaks. The first recorded baseball team is the Knock Down and Skin ‘Em team, founded on St. Paul Island in 1868.

Baseball games were played in Juneau when it was a gold boomtown, and in Anchorage back when it was a tent city. In many towns, it’s still a major event tied to the Summer Solstice and Independence Day. There’s nothing more Alaskan than a midnight sun baseball game! This summer, as part of the anniversary celebration, we’re having a Week of Dreams series of games and a traveling display of baseball history in Alaska.

Learn more in this Anchorage Daily News article by Josh Reed: https://www.adn.com/sports/alaska-baseball/2026/06/28/alaskas-past-and-present-baseball-history-helps-kick-off-week-of-dreams-for-america-250-celebration/.

For more information and great historical photos, check out the America 250-Alaska site at america250.alaska.gov.

And here’s the link for the national America 250 site: https://america250.org/americas-250th/.

Let’s all take a moment to reflect on our heritage of the Declaration of Independence. I’ll quote one of my favorite parts here, as a reminder: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

We’re not a perfect nation, and we’re still working to achieve these truths in reality. But we should all agree to this as a values statement. That’s what the United States of America is all about.

Here’s the link to the whole text from the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Happy birthday, USA!

And let’s play ball! 😊