Meet the ‘epitome of a host’ for Anchorage Glacier Pilots players the past decade

Second of two parts.

Carolyn Jones has always been a baseball fan.

Growing up in Tarrytown, New York, a town north of New York City on the Hudson River, her favorite team was the Yankees.

“When I was growing up, baseball was the thing in my social circles,” Jones said. “I remember the men sitting around the kitchen table with a beer or shot and a radio in the middle, listening to the Dodgers and arguing over who was doing what and who shouldn’t be the one who should be drafted.”

She admitted to having “always wanted to be a part of that circle” — and did just that by becoming a host parent for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots of the Alaska Baseball League.

This is her 10th year serving in the essential role, which is key to helping the league sustain itself.

One of the team’s longest-tenured hosts, Jones once lived in a big house on the Hillside in South Anchorage and could house up to five players during the summer.

She has since downsized to a two-bedroom condominium near downtown but is still big on generosity.

“I tell them, ‘I’m committed to feeding you breakfast, lunch and dinner,’ ” Jones said. “I’m going to make you a lovely breakfast and I’m going to make you a lovely dinner every day. I am not going to make you a lovely lunch because if I did that I’d never get out of the kitchen.”

She still prepares them sack lunches that they can eat at home or take down to the ballfield.

Jones is a retired lawyer and has lived in Alaska since 1975 after taking a job with the state attorney general’s office. She was initially encouraged to become a host parent by the son of one of her best friends who was the general manager of the Glacier Pilots at the time.

“He was looking for host parents and I was living up on the Hillside with an empty house,” Jones said. “I decided I’d host three guys just to help them out, but I had such a great experience and so much fun that the next year I was all in.”

That was 2013, and she began the summer with five players but two left early in the season.

“One got drafted and he left after 10 days, and the other one got an injury and he left,” Jones said.

She has three adult daughters but never had any sons, so her spare room is reserved for hosting baseball players.

“I dedicate June and July to baseball,” Jones said. “I have another life after that but June and July are my baseball months.”

When asked what keeps her motivated to continue opening up her home each year, Jones quoted former U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” she said.

“I believe in dreams and the people who dream. These young men who come up here are dreaming to make it to the Big Show.”

[This Anchorage family is proof that host families are the lifeblood of the Alaska Baseball League]

Jones has maintained some of the relationships she fostered with players as well as their families over the years, and has even traveled to visit them on occasion.

One of the most successful players Jones has hosted is Riley Adams, who was an incoming freshman in 2014 and is now the backup catcher for the Washington Nationals. He was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the third round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft from the University of San Diego.

While she wasn’t a host parent when five-time All-Star right fielder Aaron Judge of her beloved Yankees graced the diamond at Mulcahy Stadium in the summer of 2011, Jones has some other impressive bragging rights in relation to the reigning league MVP.

“I was in Yankee Stadium the day he was called (up),” she said. “He came up at bat, he hit that home run, and I got on the phone and I called back to Alaska and told everybody, ‘Guess who just got called up and hit a home run?!’ ”

[‘A special kid’: The inside story of home run king Aaron Judge’s season with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots]

One of the players she hosted last year, Caden Kendle, was drafted in this year’s MLB Draft in the 10th round by the St. Louis Cardinals out of the University of California in Irvine.

Kendle and his former Pilots and college teammate Thomas McCaffrey enjoyed their summer with Jones so much they encouraged a pair of their college teammates who came up to play in the ABL this summer to request her as a host.

“They said she was the best and she’s honestly amazing,” junior infielder Will Bermudez said. “She’s the epitome of host family.”

Outfielder Jacob Stinson is roommates with Bermudez back home at UC Irvine, as well as this summer at Jones’ home, and is thoroughly enjoying his experience as well.

“I think we have the best location,” he said. “We’re right down on the water in downtown Anchorage so we have access to downtown and we’re super close to the fields.”

They both hope to keep the UC Irvine pipeline to Jones’ residence during the summer season going and plan on recommending that their college teammates request her in the future.

“She’ll treat you right and treat you like a son,” Bermudez said.

What separates the ABL from the pack

There are numerous summer leagues that college baseball players of all experience levels can play in, but the Alaska Baseball League and hosts like Jones can offer them a more unique and, in many cases, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“I know there’s about 40 summer leagues all around the country and I know the premier one is Cape Cod back east, and we’re nowhere near Cape Cod, but it’s a good place to come to perfect your craft, pursue your dreams and see Alaska,” Jones said.

Bermudez played in the California Collegiate League the previous two summers and feels like the ABL is more “family oriented” than most other summer leagues.

“Fans come up to you after the games and ask you questions about your college, about you, your family and everything,” he said. “It’s fun and the competition is great and the views are amazing.”

Since the vast majority of players who come up here each year have never been to the 49th state, Jones takes tremendous pride in acting as their Alaska ambassador and loves showing them around.

“Some of them get out there right away,” she said. “They’re climbing Flattop, they’re catching salmon and this year they’re swatting at mosquitoes.”

Other excursions they’ve gone on with her include Portage Glacier, Potter Marsh, Beluga Point and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and riding bikes down the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

Jones believes that host parents can “come in all ages, sizes, shapes, professions, and homes,” so those who might be interested shouldn’t be discouraged or dismayed from doing so because they can’t offer the same experience for their players as some more affluent host families can.

“You don’t have to think that what one host parent has got to offer, you can’t offer, so you can’t be a host parent,” she said. “I know several families where they’ve got huge houses and huge backyards. ... I don’t have that. I’ve got an apartment.”