Clearer Version thanks to M-L-B Productions. Perhaps we will see the Midnight Sun Game on the M.L.B. Network soon. The network plans to pursue rights to non-M.L.B live programming.. "There's also midnight games in Alaska," said (CEO Tony) Petitti

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"It is a transfixing under-the-radar tradition that has been played by legends such as Tom Seaver, Barry Bonds and Dave Winfield. Baseball in the dead of summer in Alaska. First pitch? 10:30 p.m. The game usually ends around 2 a.m. And they don't need lights.

They call it the Midnight Sun Baseball Classic, and This Week in Baseball found it to be the perfect symbol for its Aug. 9 episode, themed "Baseball is Everywhere."

"Baseball is everywhere in the sense that it is so far reaching," TWIB producer James Potocki said. "It is saturated in our country, but also in places you wouldn't expect it to be, such as Alaska, which has a rich history of baseball that has been played there for over 100 years."

The MSBC will be featured by TWIB, with a zany twist -- Bill "Spaceman" Lee, who pitched in the annual contest and received the loss in 1967, was coaxed out of retirement for one game to attempt to avenge his loss more than 30 years later.

TWIB follows the Spaceman as he gives a tour of Fairbanks, Alaska, and explains what the tradition is all about. Fans will get unfettered access of Lee's comeback, as well -- he wore a wireless microphone during the game.

"This is the type of event that Bill Lee is all over. He's a fun guy; he's not called the Spaceman for nothing," Potocki said. "He's not going to disappoint, his personality comes through. His teammates, the fans and the opponents all get a kick out of him. He's a ballplayer, but he knows how to put on a show."

The Midnight Sun tradition began in 1906. On June 20-22, the summer solstice, the sun doesn't set in Fairbanks. Every year, the Alaska Goldpanners of the Alaska Baseball League challenge an opponent to take the field at a time when some would be tucking themselves into bed. This year, the Goldpanners took on the California Running Birds.

The game has never necessitated artificial lighting and it has never been postponed by darkness.

"Above all, it's just playing the game -- it's baseball," Potocki said. "No matter where you go, people are obsessed with it and are willing to go to a game in the middle of the night in Alaska to watch. People from all over the country come to watch it." (less info)