Opening night of the AAABA is a tradition in this family, much like it is for many other area clans.
My father took me, my mother and my brother to the games. I took my immediate family (when I wasn’t working covering the game). Now, I’m taking my son and granddaughters to the grand spectacle.
For those grandkids, ages six and seven, a big attraction is the pregame parade of AAABA Ambassadors in their formal gowns. A bonus this time was the younger girl found a ball in the stands before the game, perhaps from a Mill Rats contest.
Later, a friend took her down on the field to get signatures from the Mainline Pharmacy players, and she returned with two baseballs, both signed. I had bought two of the souvenir balls and display cases on the way in, at $10 a pop. But these latest balls caught the imagination of the one child, and aggravated the other.
I was able to beg another ball for the second granddaughter and things improved.
Alas, the girls were tuckered out and we had to leave with Johnstown trailing Cleveland 3-2, thereby missing the late-game rally that produced a 15-7 Johnstown victory.
My thoughts turned to another tradition of mine. Many years back I had written an A-to-Z reflection on the AAABA Tournament, updating it at least once.
Here is another refresh.
A: Arcurio. This is Johnstown’s first family of the event, with George Arcurio III carrying the torch for more than 50 years of association with the tournament. I made it a point to seek him out to say hello (and beg for that ball) Monday and was greeted in typical fashion, which is to say with a smile and warmth from a genuine people person.
B: Baseball. That’s the draw that brings us out year after year; a reported crowd of more than 6,000 for this opener.
C: Competition. Where once you could pencil in one of the so-called Big Four (Detroit, Baltimore, New Orleans or Washington, D.C.) to win, now only New Orleans remains. We miss those loaded teams, but find solace in the reality that now any franchise can win it all
D: Dollars. The tournament continues to be a shot in the arm for a local economy that all these years later still can use any help it can get.
E: Electricity. Now that the balky lights have been upgraded through years of Point Stadium renovations, the notable, desirable electric aspect of opening night is the parade of players and ambassadors and the handing out of awards for the Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League season.
F: Fans. In this era of sports saturation on television, fans from Johnstown and the surrounding areas still turn out in droves to support this event. Give yourselves a hand. More importantly, keep it going.
G: Gridlock. All those convertibles ferrying in the ever-expanding number of tournament ambassadors to Point Stadium on opening night make the field look a lot like Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill Tunnels at rush hour.
H: Hopes. Teams from four different franchises have carted home one or more championships in the past eight tournaments. Others entertain legitimate hopes of joining that list.
I: Inclined Plane. The tourist attraction remains dark as lengthy repair work continues. It used to provide a marvelous sight beyond the right-field wall at night, seeing the Plane’s cars periodically ascending and descending the mountainside to Old Westmont.
J: Johnstown Oldtimers. Their year-round efforts keep this event going. It’s only getting tougher as the years pass.
K: Baseball scoresheet shorthand for a strikeout. I never saw him play, but tales still are told about Roger Bowman of Schenectady’s Amsterdam Rugmakers, who struck out 71 batters in 27 1/3 innings of work in 1945, the very first AAABA Tournament. You might not be surprised to hear his team won that championship.
L: Longevity. This is the 80th edition of the AAABA Tournament. Thanks are in order to all, including many of whom now departed, who made this possible.
M: Memories. The precious list of them grows with each passing year.
N: Nomads. It was more noticeable in the former Point Stadium configuration. But even with this version of the Point it’s evident that at any given stage of play, hundreds, if not thousands, of fans are in motion on the walkways, seemingly oblivious to the ongoing events. Game? What game?
O: Ordnance. All these many years later the freelance bomb squad on the hillside adds to the ambiance. It’s amusing to see newcomers to the tournament jump at the first aerial explosion.
P: Pharmacies. Is it mere coincidence that the two Johnstown championship teams were sponsored by pharmacies, first Martellas and then Mainline? And both pharmacy sponsors have teams in this tournament. Come to think of it, both pharmacy names begin with M. Hmmmm.
Q: Quarrels. Watching managers and umpires go at it is a colorful part of baseball that seems to be going the way of the buggy whip.
R: Rain. The Weather Gods seem to be smiling on this tournament, with a perfect opening night and a forecast for more good weather, beyond smoke from Canadian wildfires. By way of contrast, the opening night of the 72nd tournament taught us all never to trust the weather guy when he guarantees no rain. Torrential rain proved him wrong and soaked more than a few trusting fans. Many years before that, there was a night when a helicopter was brought in to fly over the grass playing surface and attempt to remove moisture with its rotor wash.
S: Stadium. The rebuilt Point Stadium lacks some of the rickety charm of its predecessor, but is a much more fan-friendly facility, albeit with a smaller capacity and no need for the ballboys to field fouls off the screen behind home plate.
T: Tension. It’s hard to match opening night before a packed house. Johnstown playing for a tournament title comes close, but somehow the attendance doesn’t match up.
U: Underdogs. Zanesville and Johnstown played for the championship of the 72nd tournament in 2016. If you’d have predicted that 20 years before, a padded cell would have been your next destination. Johnstown teams have won the tournament twice, again something seemingly impossible in my younger days.
V: Victory. All 16 teams are victors or they wouldn’t be here. Sometimes that gets forgotten in the emotion of the moment.
W: Woy, as in Brian, has been the stadium PA announcer for pushing half a century. If you see Brian, ask him about the time his observations regarding a Baltimore bat girl went out over the stadium speakers.
X: Xylem. From the Greek for wood. I’m glad we’re back to using xylem bats in the tournament.
Y: Youth. I reiterate from the previous alphabetic rundown on this topic, these young players seem to play with more passion than the pros do.
Z: Zanesville. Tip your cap to the ultimate Rocky-esque champions, Zanesville’s Junior Pioneers, winners of the 2016 tournament.
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