Photo: Caleb Jones

Dave Winfield pictured with his statue at the unveiling ceremony at the Fairbanks Curling Club

Caleb Jones- Daily News-Miner June 21, 2024

• Considered among the best to ever play the game of baseball, Dave Winfield was immortalized in the Fairbanks community with a statue in his likeness on Friday. Winfield spent the summers of 1971 and 1972 with the Goldpanners before going on to have an illustrious professional career, which saw him inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2001.
• Hundreds of spectators surrounded the stage just outside the Fairbanks Curling Club as Winfield and others such as United States Senator Lisa Murkowski, Fairbanks Mayor David Pruhs and sculptor Gary Lee Price, creator of the statue, and more spoke to the crowd.
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• “This is a blessing, a real blessing,” Winfield said in his speech at the unveiling ceremony. “This means more to me than you know. [It’s special] for me to come back 50-plus years after first stepping foot in Fairbanks, to have my family see some of my roots, my connections, my relationships, some of the things that helped build and shape me into the man I am today.”
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• The location was a fitting one, as one of Winfield’s most memorable moments while in Fairbanks was his home run that cleared the fence at Growden Park and landed on the roof of the curling club building where the event was held.
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• Now dubbed the “Midnight Sun Moonshot”, the legendary home run is depicted in the statue, which shows Winfield donned in his Goldpanner jersey, completing a follow through on his swing, much like the one that produced the iconic moment.
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• The statue is the first in Winfield’s honor. The lack of one was something that other MLB Hall of Famers would jokingly point out to Winfield.
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• “Next time I go to the Hall of Fame in a month, I’m going to say ‘Who’s got a statue?’ [to] all the guys from Ozzie Smith to Rickey Henderson, Frank Thomas, George Brett and everybody,” Winfield said with a laugh at a press conference following the event. “I was going to be okay if I never had a statue, but this takes it to another level. For Fairbanks, Alaska, this is where I elevated my game, so I’m forever grateful.”
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• For Price, he expressed a sense of gratitude for being the one to complete the project, creating the statue 53 years after Winfield debuted for the Goldpanners.
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• “One word, gratitude,” Price said of creating the statue at the press conference. “It’s one thing to create something, but it’s another to have it appreciated, another thing to have it in public and another thing to have people willing to raise money for something like this.” He later added, “Just to be a part of Fairbanks, I’ll be a part of it forever and ever now, and it’s just gratitude in my heart.”
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• Winfield credited the Goldpanners for being a crucial place in the development of his career, one that saw him spend 22 years in the MLB (1973-1995), primarily as a right fielder with six different organizations, including the San Diego Padres, the team that drafted Winfield and the one that he later chose to represent going into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2001. His jersey number was retired by the organization in the same year.
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• He ended his MLB career with 3,110 career hits (23rd most all-time), 465 home runs (36th most all-time) and a career average of .283. Winfield finished as a 12-time MLB All-Star, seven-time Gold Glove Award winner, six-time Silver Slugger Award winner and World Series champion, which he won with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992.
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• Given the historical rate at which Winfield produced, it seemed he was always destined to be a potent hitter that featured in any lineup. However, Winfield credited his time in Fairbanks in helping him transition from pitching, where he played the majority of his time prior, and giving him the opportunity to show his abilities at the plate.
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• “At the University of Minnesota, they only let me pitch, they didn’t let me hit. I came up here and there was an opportunity, and they put me in that spot to be able to play everyday,” Winfield said. “I flourished. I remember going back home and saying to my coach and saying, ‘Look at my stats, man, I need to hit this year, so grudgingly they let me hit.”
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• Now, a legendary career kickstarted in Fairbanks is set to be honored in it, as the first-of-its-kind statue will stand just past the left-field fence of Growden Park at the Fairbanks Curling Club. The statue is planned to be permanently set in its place in the near future.
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• At the post-ceremony press conference, Winfield shared what the day meant to him. “I had a chance to be in a lot of places today. I turned everything down and said, ‘I’m going to Fairbanks, Alaska. There’s a statue and a ceremony to attend to.’ That lets you know how I feel about this. You see the smile on my face.” He said.
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• Contact Caleb Jones at (907) 459-7530 or at cjones@newsminer.com.