There is Dickensian tone as the 81st AAABA Tournament approaches Monday – a tale of two tournaments.
The 2025 example was clearly the best of times. Two Johnstown teams competed in the championship game, won by Mainline Pharmacy over Martella’s Pharmacy. The weather cooperated all week. It was, to stress again, the best of tournament times, at least for the local interests.
Now, as I write this early Sunday afternoon, elements seem to be aligning to give us a more normal tournament experience. If not the worst of times, it certainly will not be the best.
Begin with the weather forecast, which even our hit-or-miss local meteorologists could agree is iffy. I prefer online sources such as accuweather.com and weather.com when I need accuracy, and both seem to agree the upcoming tournament week will be an exercise in dodging raindrops.
This is significant for reasons beyond the mere challenge of getting in the games. The longer the teams remain in town, the longer they need to be fed and housed. Think of your electric meter spinning wildly while you ran air-conditioners nonstop during the heat wave earlier this summer.
And, just as those electric prices are higher than last year, it’s safe to assume the food and lodging costs for the Johnstown Oldtimers have escalated since 2025.
Even if games do get played, threatening weather dampens (pun intended) the turnout of paying customers. I recall in my days working in sports at the local paper, before it became The Johnstown Woke Gazette, promoters of area race tracks and other outside summer events lamenting how it was almost better to get rained out completely than to have a window of good weather open up allowing the event to be held before a crowd thinned by the fear of getting drenched.
I already have bought my six tickets for opening night – the granddaughters love the pageantry of the parade and ambassadors in their formal wear (hopefully no trannys are involved). The girls tolerate the game, as long as they are fortified with snacks from the concession stand.
Last year I bought souvenir baseballs for each, but one found a leftover baseball in the stands, perhaps from a Mill Rats game, and that prompted some unhappiness, further complicated when a well-meaning friend took the girl down to get signatures on that found ball from players.
A preliminary forecast indicates there might be a window of opportunity to take in that opening night spectacle. Keep your fingers crossed.
But, as for the rest of the tournament, it figures to be a damp slog. Already, a field planned for use has come up as unavailable due to construction delays, and at least one has been marked down to unlikely due to drainage shortcomings.
As for the prospects of the Johnstown entries in this event, who knows? Again, it is Mainline and Martella’s advancing to the AAABA tourney. Mainline will benefit from being in the lower bracket of pool play.
Just going by basic math, it’s no given either will make the title game and an incredible longshot to expect a repeat of 2025.
I just hope the weather is not as poor as predicted and the event can unfold without inflicting grievous financial harm on the sponsoring Oldtimers. Anything beyond that would be a bonus.
Sam Ross Jr's site 