Midnight Sun Game is an amateur baseball game played every summer solstice at Growden Memorial Park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. Because the sun is out for almost 24 hours a day, the game starts at about 10:30 at night and completes around 1:30 the next morning. However, because Fairbanks's summer time zone differs by about an hour from local solar time, coupled with the state's observance of daylight saving time, the game may not actually last until solar midnight, at about 1:53. If the summer solstice lands on a Saturday, the game is moved to the Friday night before to avoid competition with other Midnight Sun-related celebrations in Fairbanks that occur on the Saturday nearest the solstice. Famous players who have appeared in the game include Tom Seaver, Dave Winfield, Terry Francona, Harold Reynolds, Jason Giambi, and Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

After Noel Wien's arrival in 1924, he noted, "The baseball team played on weekends, and on June 21 and July 4 they always started a game at midnight sharp, just to indicate that this was the farthest city in the country."

The first game was in 1906. It was established by Eddie Stroecker, according to legend as part of a friendly wager; it was also conceived as a promotional gambit to bring people to Fairbanks. Artificial light has never been used; Growden Memorial Park has lights but has not turned them on for any purpose since 2003. The sun does dip below the horizon for about an hour. Since 1960, the game has been hosted by the Alaska Goldpanners, a collegiate summer baseball team based in Fairbanks that had been established the same year. As the Goldpanners have been without a league since leaving the Alaska Baseball League in 2015, the opponent has typically been picked from other collegiate summer teams from anywhere in the United States.

In 2020, the Goldpanners pulled out of the contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the game went on, with a local American Legion Baseball squad and the local Town Team Baseball squad agreeing to play the game in the Goldpanners' stead. The same game narrowly avoided what would have been the only rainout in the game's history. For 2021, the game expanded into a Midnight Sun Tournament, with a doubleheader consisting of the final of the American Legion Baseball tournament leading into the Goldpanners' Midnight Sun Game.

In 2026, in response to overwhelming demand for tickets, the Goldpanners set up a watch party in the ballpark parking lot with a Jumbotron displaying a live feed of the game to those who could not acquire tickets.

Game results

Through 1959, the Midnight Sun Game featured various teams from the Fairbanks area. In 1960, the game became exclusively hosted by the Alaska Goldpanners. The Goldpanners are 49-15 all-time in Midnight Sun Games.

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