| 2004 Goldpanners' Most Valuable Players
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The Alaska Goldpanners' 2004 season Most Valuable Players join a select group of players in what amounts to the Fairbanks organization's Hall of Fame. Past winners include some of the greatest names in the history of the sport (Winfield, Boone, Nettles), as well as those among the current crop of top prospects (Gassner, Bush, Conrad, Heilman). The Goldpanners entered the final week of the season in first place in the ABL, but dropped out of contention on the final day of the season. The young team was most notable for its strong offense, and amazed many with the skills and development of key Freshmen. In the final analysis, the story of the year was the club's erratic pitching staff, which suffered a drop from 2.06 earned runs per game in 2003 to 3.25 this season. This difference is especially felt considering that thirteen games were decided by just one run. Cameron Blair
| Name | G | Avg | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SO | BB | SB | | 2004 | 35 | .298 | 121 | 36 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 27 | 17 | 28 | 12 |
The 2004 season Most Valuable Position Player is Cameron Blair, an early-season arrival out of Texas Tech. Cameron tore through the ABL, swatting 11 home runs and knocking in 27 runs. He fielded with defensive flair while showing discipline at the plate, walking 28 times to only 17 strikeouts. His stolen base percentage was also impressive, having succeeded in 12 of 14 tries. On July 10th, he hit four home runs during a double-header -- hitting three homers in the first game, and adding another in the second. Blair's strong season was awarded by his being named the All-ABL second baseman. In addition, he was named the 2004 ABL Player of the Year. Cameron led the club with home runs (11), slugging percentage (.620), walks (28), runs scored (33), total bases (75), and stolen base execution by swiping 12 of 14 bases. Due in part to his plate performance, the 2004 club bested the previous year's batting average by eight percentage points. In June 2004, he was an 18th-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals. At Texas Tech, he hit .371 with 14 home runs and 81 runs batted in. He was also named to the All-American Team (3rd team). Sean Timmons
| Name | W | L | IP | ERA | G | GS | CG | R | ER | BB | SO | | 2004 | 5 | 1 | 52.2 | 3.59 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 23 | 22 | 10 | 28 |
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The 2004 Most Valuable Pitcher is eight-year team pitching legend Sean Timmons. Sean led the team in wins (5) and innings pitched (52.2), and tied for first with two complete games. With recognition as the 2004 Most Valuable Pitcher, Sean becomes the all-time first Goldpanner honored with the MVP award three times. The only other multi-year pitchers were Brent Strom in 68-69, and Brian Scott in 95-96. Though not presenting the eye-popping numbers of previous seasons, no other pitcher contributed to this year's pitching staff like Sean. Noting the slide in ERA, PannerVision broadcaster Gero von Dehn declared that this season, Sean "hasn't been quite as invincible as he was last year." Even still, his performance was strong enough to garner MVP honors. And once again, Sean was also named to the All-ABL Team. In 2004, Sean became the club's all-time wins leader by surpassing George Mies' 38-year record of 25 career wins. He ended the season with a total of 27 career victories. Also impressive of all Sean's accomplishments in his eight-year career is the total number of innings pitched. With his 52.2 innings pitched in 2004, Sean's career tally stands at 370 innings. The next closest Panner hurler is Brent Strom (1967-68-69), who compiled over 100 fewer innings pitched with 267.
SEPTEMBER 2004 Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks
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