All-American Baseball Challenge

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The All-American Baseball Challenge was a six-team recreational baseball league formed in July 2020 in the

New York City metropolitan area.[1] Local ownership quickly organized this pop-up league in response to the cancellation of the 2020 Frontier League season, which was to feature three of the teams involved, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Games were played at

Palisades Credit Union Park in Pomona, New York. Each stadium featured two teams, which included the New Jersey Jackals and Sussex County Miners each playing in their home parks. The owners of the New York Boulders
also fielded a team in their stadium, but the team kept the franchise’s former name of Rockland Boulders for the season.

Major leaguers Vin Mazzaro and Taylor Motter played in the league.

Teams

AABC Team Manager Home Stadium
New Jersey Jackals Jimmy Efre Yogi Berra Stadium
Jersey Wise Guys Scott Iselhart Yogi Berra Stadium
Rockland Boulders
Albert Gonzalez
Palisades Credit Union Park
New York Brave Andrew Romanella Palisades Credit Union Park
Sussex County Miners Simon Walters Skylands Stadium
Skylands Cardinals Vladimir Fontalvo, Jr. Skylands Stadium

[3]

The league featured players from independent, affiliated minor league, and college baseball.[4]

Rules

Initially, a 32 game, 8-week regular season was reported,[5] but as games not played due to inclement weather were canceled, teams wound up playing fewer games. All games were scheduled for 7 innings and held on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Contests tied after 7 innings used a

home run derby
to decide the winning team. A player on each team took five batting practice swings and the player with more home runs won the game for his team.

GameChanger was the official scoring/statistical tracking platform for the league.[6]

Season results

Final Regular Season Standings Wins Losses % gb
Sussex County Miners 16 6 0.727 -
Rockland Boulders 14 9 0.609 2 1/2
New Jersey Jackals 12 10 0.545 4
New York Brave 11 13 0.458 6
Jersey Wise Guys 10 13 0.435 6 1/2
Skylands Cardinals 6 18 0.250 11

Playoffs

Round 1 September 11, 2020

Skylands Stadium
(4) New York Brave 5
(1) Sussex County Miners 1

Palisades Credit Union Park
(3) New Jersey Jackals 11
(2) Rockland Boulders 2

Yogi Berra Stadium
(6) Skylands Cardinals 0
(5) Jersey Wise Guys 3

Round 2 September 12, 2020

Championship game
Yogi Berra Stadium
(4) New York Brave 2
(3) New Jersey Jackals 3

3rd place game
Skylands Stadium
(5) Jersey Wise Guys 1
(1) Sussex County Miners 5

5th place game
Palisades Credit Union Park
(6) Skylands Cardinals 7
(2) Rockland Boulders 6

References