Timmons was voted Alaska Baseball League Player of the Year. (Photo by Bill Roth / Anchorage Daily News)   Click on photo to enlarge

Sean Timmons is 28 years old and holds down a full-time job, but he hasn't given up the idea of being a kid. He's a starting pitcher in a developmental league, competing against college players 10 years younger than him. And the old man dominates them.

This is the seventh summer Timmons has played baseball for his hometown Fairbanks Goldpanners at night and earned a steady paycheck working 8-5 at a health clinic in the day. He's training to be a physician's assistant and generally puts in a half-day of work before some of his teammates get out of bed.

Playing baseball with a bunch of college players brings out the kid in him, Timmons said, but he knows he won't be one of the boys of summer forever.

"At some point I'll need to focus on my future," he said.

Should this be his final summer in the Alaska Baseball League, Timmons is certainly going out in style.

The 6-foot-1 right-hander put up a 5-1 record and a sparkling 1.50 earned-run average, pitched a league-high 66 innings and threw two shutouts while helping the Goldpanners win the ABL title. This week, he was selected Player of the Year in a vote by Alaska media members covering the league. He received player-of-the-year nominations on nearly one-third of the 13 ballots used to determine the league's all-star team.

Timmons was a repeat selection to the all-ABL team and among a league-best five Goldpanners picked this season. Other Goldpanners named were first baseman Jeff Culpepper, catcher Tyler Best, outfielder Nick Blasi and relief pitcher Jon McCaslin.

Fairbanks manager Ed Cheff was voted coach of the year for a second straight season after leading the Goldpanners to another pennant. Cheff, who coaches at Lewis-Clark State during the college season, drives his players to be the best by demanding their allegiance and commanding their respect.

"He wants guys to act the right way," Timmons said. "He lets you know what he thinks. And he might get in your face about it."

BIG LEAGUE

The fact Timmons is a grown man and brings a professional mind-set to the team -- he shows up on off-days to get in extra work and he has to drive himself to road games because of his work schedule -- explains how he manages to juggle two jobs.

The last few years Timmons has pitched mostly in home games. He worked while the team traveled and trained alone. His independent schedule draws attention from teammates, who no longer call him "Grandpa" as the team's oldest player.

"Now they call me "Big League" because I'm on my own so much," he said.

Timmons finished his college eligibility two years ago at Armstrong Atlantic, an NCAA Division II school in Georgia, and recently completed his graduate studies at the University of Washington. He didn't plan on returning to the Goldpanners, assuming he'd be too busy, he said.

But he talked himself into playing a seventh season -- which ties former pitcher George "Muggs" Mies (1960-66) for the longest Goldpanners playing career.

Timmons doesn't throw smoke, but he lingers around the plate and mixes fastballs, changeups and sliders like a blender. How else could he have racked up 300 career innings in the league?

"He keeps you guessing," said all-league selection Jacoby Ellsbury of the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. "Whenever a pitcher can keep a batter off balance, he's going to be successful."

Timmons works at Tanana Valley Clinic near Fairbanks and plans to start his physician's assistant residency at a Seattle hospital in the fall. It won't be long before Timmons will go from to saving somebody's life.

"He's one of the most driven people I know," said teammate Emerson Frostad. "Guys like that don't come around often. He sets the standard for the rest of us."

BEST OF THE REST

Consideration for player of the year was spread among six players, with three Goldpanners -- Timmons, Culpepper and Best -- getting at least two votes apiece. The other three players were outfielder Ellsbury, Peninsula Oilers starting pitcher Jake Postlewaite and Athletes in Action outfielder Michael Cline.

The rest of the ABL all-star team went like this: second baseman Joe Holland of the Oilers; shortstop Josh Mader of the Mat-Su Miners; third baseman Cody Montgomery of AIA; utility player Joe Jacobitz of the Anchorage Bucs; designated hitter John Bowker of the Pilots; starting pitcher Wes Letson of AIA; starting pitcher Andrew Kown of the Bucs; and relief pitcher Ricky Fairchild of the Pilots.

Culpepper batted .319 with three home runs and 25 RBIs in 47 games. He'll be remembered for going 7 for 7 in 12 innings one night against the Oilers to set the team's all-time record for most hits in a game.

Best won the league's silver-stick award with a .359 average in 36 games. He drew 25 walks and was hit by pitches 10 times to buoy his .518 on-base percentage. The catcher finished among the league leaders in runs scored, swiped five bases and legged out a triple while playing the most demanding position in the game.

Ellsbury is one of the league's quickest outfielders as well as one its top leadoff men. In 38 games he hit .336, scored 48 runs, stole 16 bases and walked (18) more than he struck out (12). Ellsbury said he thought of one thing when he came to bat: "Hitting the ball hard."

Postlewaite owned a 1.15 ERA over 47 innings but finished just 2-2. Sparse run support often followed this crafty left-hander, who struck out 33 and walked 16, and allowed just six earned runs all summer.

Cline was perhaps the league's finest defensive outfielder, a player with exceptional north-south range and instincts to get the ball. Extra-base hits died in Cline's glove. He used his speed to lead the league with 23 stolen bases in 39 games. He batted .289 with three triples and 23 RBIs.

"There are some guys who can play in this league," Ellsbury said. "There's great competition here, guys good enough to one day be in the Big Leagues, so it's an honor to be picked."