Each year, six regions come together at USA Baseball’s National Training Complex to compete in the National Team Identification Series (NTIS) Champions Cup. For Cody Moore, the week is an opportunity to not only represent the Northwest Region but his home state of Alaska as well. Heading into his second year of NTIS competition, the Anchorage native took the time to catch up with USABaseball.com and talk baseball and his home state.
Q: With the absence of professional teams, what does the culture surrounding sports look like in Alaska?
A: “Football and soccer are pretty big. High school football is one of the biggest high school sports I'd say, and since we have to do a lot of things indoors, soccer is also a big thing up there. We have native games as well. There's native tribes up there, and they'll host native games [such as the] Native Youth Olympics.”
Q:What does the baseball scene look like?
A: “We have a baseball league. It's a summer league called the Alaskan Baseball League (ABL). It's a collegiate league for summer ball so college players will come up during the summer and play.”
Q: As you mentioned, a lot of things have to be done inside due to the weather. How do the extended daylight hours in the summer and extended darkness in the winter impact your daily life and practice schedule?
A: “I train indoors pretty much all the time, because in the summertime I'm gone and I play in the Lower 48. In the winter time I go to practice when it's dusk, and then I go to school and I come out when it's dusk because we barely get any light. [When practicing indoors] you can't [work on] live ground balls, you can't see live arms, you can't see fly balls or anything, so it's not very helpful. But other than that, you can work on the basic stuff.”
Q: What does your year-round travel schedule look like?
A: “In the summer, I'm never home. I've been home twice this summer for two days both times, and I just live wherever I'm playing in the summer. And then in the winter time, I'll go to tournaments like once a month or so. I just fly down for the tournament and then come back.”
Q: Does that ever get tiring?
A: “I like flying, it’s fun. I acclimate pretty easily to time zones and heat so it doesn’t affect me much.”
Q: Do you enjoy spending the summer away or do you ever wish you could spend more time at home?
A: “I like traveling, it’s really fun. I also grew up in Alaska, so I've seen everything where I live. Traveling to new places all the time in the summer and just being with new friends is pretty fun.”
Q: Where have you spent your summers? Do you alternate or stick with the same team?
A: “Last summer I played in Florida for the Scorpions, and then this summer I played in California for NorCal. And I think next summer I think I'm gonna stay in California for another year.”
Q: What's your experience been like getting to play with different players from all over the country?
A: “It's been pretty good, you get to see what the talent is like all over the country. Then coming to events like this where everybody comes together and you get to play them.”
Q: What are you most looking forward to this week?
A: “Just playing other teams, and hopefully winning this year. I'm looking forward to facing some good pitching and some good players.”
Q: And last one, what is the biggest misconception about living in Alaska?
A: “Thinking that I live in an igloo, or some people think I have pet polar bears and moose and stuff. I see moose all the time in my backyard, but we have polar bears at the zoo. I live in Anchorage, which is the biggest city there and it's kind of a normal city.”
