2011 AAABA Recap
August 14, 2011 - The 67th edition of the AAABA national tournament is in the books and Baltimore is on top once again. There were plenty of ups and downs through out the week, and a few surprises as well. Johnstown has still not won the championship, but once again put up an impressive performance, with the local teams finishing in 5th and 6th place.
Franchise Highlights and Lowlights
Baltimore won their 28th championship and 8th in the past 9 years. The Orioles made it look easy again, winning 4 of their 6 games by mercy-rule. However, they had to win two double-headers, and they lost all six coin tosses this week, forcing them to play as the visitors in every game.
New Orleans had another strong outing, but could not top the Orioles. NORD put up the toughest fight Baltimore saw all week in their 5-2 loss in the championship game. It was an emotionally draining loss for the Boosters, as evident in manager Bill Babin's closing remarks to the fans.
Johnstown finished 2-2 and Flood City (the second Johnstown entry) finished 3-2. The host city has not had a losing record since the 0-2 Principle Development team in 1996. Indeed, the new millenium has seen much stronger Johnstown teams--led by Delweld and Martella's Pharmacy--than previous decades, such as when Johnstown went 1-10 in the late 1970s.
Elk County put a good fight against Brooklyn and nearly completed their upset, but remain winless since 1996.
Altoona finished 2-2, which is the 3rd time in 5 years that they have finished with 2 or more wins. Altoona did not survive past the third day from 2000 through 2006.
Livonia had their best finish since 1998 and second best overall. The only better finish was their runner-up year in 1992. After losing to substitute team Rail City on Monday, the Cobras regrouped and won four in a row. They started by knocking off favored Chicago-Metro, and then battled hard against New Brunswick in an 13-11 contest. A 3-run walk-off home run against New York City put the Cobras under the lights against Flood City Delweld on Friday, where they trounced the Johnstown team 16-0 in 7 innings. Livonia finished 3rd after a loss to eventual-champions Baltimore on Saturday morning.
The biggest surprise of the tournament was the Chardon Blizzard from Cleveland. They won their franchise's first Altoona Regional with a 4-game sweep, and then finished 3-2 in the national tournament with loses to Baltimore and New Orleans. This is the best finish in Cleveland history, beating out the 5th place Mill-Rose team from 1991. Cleveland did not compete in the AAABA from 1996 to 2005, but was resurrected in 2006 by the Allegheny Athletics of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The new Cleveland team had gone 3-8 since 2006.
Philadelphia was a surprise this year, too, but for all the wrong reasons. After a good year in 2010, the Bandits were shut-out through their first 15 innings, scoring only once in the tournament on a double-play ball. Their first game lasted only 7-innings as the New Orleans squad threw a combined no-hitter. The other teams to score only 1 run in a tournament were: Johnstown (1978), Lansing (2002), Maryland State (2010), Toronto (1967), Waterbury (1956 & 1961), and Zanesville (1963 & 2005). Altoona (1977) and Springfield (1949) both finished the tournament 0-2 without scoring a single run. The 2002 Milford team scored only 3 runs in the tournament, but got them all in a 3-1 win victory over Lansing, giving them the lowest runs total for a 1-win team.
Overall, however, this was a very productive tournament for the offenses. The 407 runs scored averages to 13.6 runs per game, which is the first time the offense has produced over 13 runs-per-game since 1999. Last year's 9.8-runs-per-game was the fifth lowest of all time. The least productive tournaments were 1972 and 2005 (9.4 runs-per-game) and the most productive tournament was 1998 (18.0 runs-per-game). Surprisngly, the 1998 tournament had no mercy-rule games, but did feature 4 extra-inning games with wildy inflated scoreboards: 9-8, 17-15, an 24-17. Tournaments that lasted 30-games (the champion swept 6 games) have produced nearly 2-runs more per game than tournaments where all teams have at least 1 loss.
Milestone Moments
On Tuesday morning, charter franchise Brooklyn played their 200th game in the national tournament. The Bonnies used a 3-run rally in the bottom of the 8th to win 7-6 against Elk County at Point Stadium. Brooklyn is 95-106 overall.
On Wednesday afternoon, the New Brunswick franchise played its 100th game in the national tournament. The Matrix lost to Livonia 13-11 at Lilly. New Brunswick played their first national tournament game on August 17th, 1960 when they lost to Buffalo 10-2 at Engh Field. All time, New Brunswick has a 36-64 record in 32 tournaments.
The Martella's Pharmacy/Grays franchise moved into second place in Johnstown history for most national tournament games (28), most wins (16), and most runs scored (209). The Delweld franchise current holds all of those records (37 games, 23 wins, 221 runs scored) although Delweld has competed in 7 tournaments (tied for the lead) while Martella's has only competed in 6. One area where Martella's is head-and-shoulders above the rest is runs-differential, as Martella's has outscored national opponents by 91 runs in 6 tournaments. Delweld has outscored opponents by 19. Martella's/Grays has never been mercy-ruled in the national tournament. Their worst loss was 7-0 to Washington 2002.
Concert Series a Success
New to the tournament this year was a post-game concert series by Ameriserv and Doctor Kastelic. Three bands performed at the Point Stadium after the evening game, including the popular Pittsburgh-based group The Clarks who headlined on Thursday night.
"This is probably the largest Thursday night crowd since 1973 that I can remember," said George Arcurio III, president of the Johnstown Old Timers. "It's been a very memorable night thanks to Ameriserv and Doctor Kastelic." Thursday night featured not only the concert, but also an elimination game between the two local Johnstown teams. The crowd was standing-room only and estimated at 7,000 with approximately 3,000 remaining for the post-game concert that lasted until midnight.
"I talked to Dr. Kastelic today and we're making plans for next year," said Mr. Arcurio. "We're going to refine what we did this year and we're going to try and make it a yearly promotion."
Officiating Complaints
As is often the case in sporting events--especially with championships on the line--the officiating can draw the ire of players, coaches, and fans alike. When playing before several thousand fans, every close play is cause for hollering. This year's tournament was not immune to complaints about the officiating,--whether it be tight strike zones or questionable calls--but tournament directors remain confident in their umpiring crews.
"I stick by the umpires we've had here for many years," said Arcurio. "No matter where you go, somebody always has an issue with an umpire or a group of umpires. Every year we get a few complaints and we're very upfront with it. We discuss it with the umpires and [we've talked with the managers]. We've had this group for a long time and they've been sucessful and we plan to stick with them." The AAABA uses local umpires for most tournament games, but brings in out-of-town officials for games involving Johnstown teams to prevent any hometown bias.
Good Weather (Almost) All Week
With the exception of the heavy rans that fell on Tuesday, the weather cooperated for the AAABA week. While the days were hot and sometimes humid, only 5 games were postponed and were made-up the following morning. Opening night, the three concerts and fireworks all performed in dry conditions. And since Baltimore swept both games on Saturday, the AAABA was able to avoided playing in the rain storm that moved through town on Sunday.
Franchise Ups and Downs
The biggest stories heading into the tournament were the loss of Lansing and Toledo, both of whom withdrew their berths in the national tournament. Lansing cited lack of players as the reason for not attending, while Toledo's Lake Erie Monarchs faced injuries and exhaustion coupled with frustration over the age limit of the AAABA. This year, 22 franchises competed in regionals and the national tournament (excluding the second Johnstown and Altoona teams). There were only 18 franchises competing in 2008. The AAABA had looked into adding new franchies for this year in Pittsburgh and North Carolina, but neither transpired.
Adding to the woes was a last-minute withdrawl from the new Miami team which suffered bus problems in Florida and could not attend what was to be their first national tournament. As a result, a second Altoona entry was added to ensure a complete 16-team bracket.
The Altoona City League added two new AAABA clubs this year (Red Bull and Logan Beverage) and both ended up playing in the national tournament. Team sponsor Red Bull energy drink has been so pleased with the two teams that they are expected to add a third next year. In all, Altoona is looking to expand to 6 AAABA teams in 2012. Word from Livonia is that other 20-and-under teams may be joining the Michigan Rams and Cobras next year, as well.
Off-Season and Next Year
More photos from the tournament will be posted in the upcoming months. Also, we hope to have historic team stats available on this website before next year's tournament. The AAABA officers will meet in March in Florida for their annual meeting to begin planning for the 68th annual tournament. Check back with us then for another year of AAABA baseball!
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