The Peninsula Oilers are a currently inactive college summer baseball club in the

Alaska Baseball League The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) is an amateur collegiate summer baseball league based entirely in southern Alaska. Players in the league must have attended one year of college and must have one year of NCAA eligibility remaining. In the past, ...

. The Oilers are based in

Kenai, Alaska Kenai (, ; Dena'ina: ; , ''Kenay'') is a city in the Kenai Peninsula Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. By road, it is 158 miles southwest of Anchorage. The population was 7,424 as of the 2020 census, up from 7,100 in 2010, the fiftee ...

, and their name refers to the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe ...

region. They are the league's southernmost team. The team was founded in 1974 and play their home games in the 1,300-seat Coral Seymour Memorial Ballpark. The Oilers won the National Baseball Congress tournament in 1977, 1993, and 1994. They finished second in 1991, 1999, and 2011. Several successful

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

players have played for the Oilers, including 7-time All-Star

Dave Stieb David Andrew Stieb (; born July 22, 1957), nicknamed "Sir David", is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) starting pitcher who spent the majority of his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. A seven-time All-Star, he won ''The Sporting New ...

Atlee Hammaker Charlton Atlee Hammaker (born January 24, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher who played the majority of his career for the San Francisco Giants (1982–1990). He also played for the Kansas City Royals, San Diego ...

, 4-time All-Star

Jimmy Key James Edward Key (born April 22, 1961) is an American former left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Toronto Blue Jays (1984–1992), New York Yankees (1993–1996), and Baltimore Orioles (1997–1998). His best ...

John Olerud John Garrett Olerud Jr. (; born August 5, 1968) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from through , most notably as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays team that won two consecut ...

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (baseball), National League (NL). The award was introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball ( ...

winner

Frank Viola Frank John Viola Jr. (born April 19, 1960) is an American former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1982–1989), New York Mets (1989–1991), Boston Red Sox (1992–1994), Cincinnati Reds (1995), and T ...

and six-time

Rawlings Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances. It is awarded at each fieldin ...

winner J.T. Snow, and several first-round picks including

J. D. Drew David Jonathan "J. D." Drew (born November 20, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. He began his major league career in with the St. Louis Cardinals, and also played for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and B ...

. The Oilers are funded mainly through donations, and through gambling revenues, especially pull tabs and

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

operations run by the team. The team's reliance on gambling eventually led them to overextend themselves on bingo, with an attempt to maintain a five-night-a-week bingo operation thwarted by the fact that the region could only reliably draw players one night a week. By 2024, the Oilers were in dire financial straits. The Oilers were unable to field a team in 2025.

References

External links

* 1974 establishments in Alaska Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Alaska Baseball League Amateur baseball teams in Alaska Baseball teams established in 1974 Baseball teams in Alaska {{Alaska-baseball-team-stub