Font ResizeAfter making a first film about the storied Cape Cod summer baseball league, filmmaker Jim Carroll got the itch to head north and document an equally influential league that's still obscure to many on the East Coast.
"I had people say, 'you're doing a film about baseball in Alaska? What do they do with the snow?'" Carroll says. "They have no idea it's nice in Alaska in the summer."
Alaska's summer baseball league has a rich history.
"When you see it all laid out, you realize that Alaska is just as big a part of baseball history as Iowa cornfields and Yankee Stadium," Carroll says.
Carroll's Boston-based production company released "Touching the Game: Alaska" on DVD Monday. The film, four years in the works, is second in a series about America's great summer leagues.
Alaska was the premier summer league in the 60s, 70s and 80s and college coaches had a habit of sending their players north for a "turn boys into men kind of thing," Carroll says.
"The idea was, go up and play summer baseball in this rough terrain," he says.
And some big names did: Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson played in Alaska, among others.
While the Cape Cod league is more prestigious these days, the Alaska league still acts as a training ground for future pro players, especially from West Coast universities.
The crew followed some of those players - many of whom hail from California and have "never seen a moose in their life," according to Carroll-as they got a
Today, teams struggle to make money but remain an important part of the circuit young players go through on the way to the pros.
"Touching the Game: Alaska" was screened at the Bear's Tooth in August. It's now available for order on DVD here.
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