AAABA MLB Trivia:
60 former AAABA players have been Major League All Stars
4 AAABA players have been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame
6 AAABA players have been named an MLB MVP
5 AAABA players have won the Cy Young Award
6 AAABA players have been named MLB’s Rookie of the Year
7 AAABA players have been named MLB’s Manager of the Year
* The 1984 New Orleans Team captured the 1984 Championship Thanks to a top pitching staff featuring 4 future Major Leaguers - Jim Bullinger, Kirk Bullinger, Kevin Mmahat, and Wally Whitehurst.
* The legendary pitcher Cy Young was a guest at the 1948 AAABA Banquet. Mr. Young still holds the MLB record for all time Wins collecting 511 over his 21 year career.
* John Smoltz was a dominant major league pitcher for two decades however he was only a 15 year old third baseman when he played for the 1982 Lansing franchise.
* Legendary slugger Reggie Jackson managed just one hit in the 1965 tournament going 1-7 (.143 ba). Reggie was 19 years old when he appeared in Johnstown with the Baltimore franchise.
* A Tale of Two Prospects: In 1952, two young superstars participated in the tournament; Al Kaline of Maryland State and Frank Leja of Holyoke. The 17 year old Kaline was one of the most promising prospects in the country and would make his major league debut just 9 months after playing in the AAABA tournament. Kaline never played minor league ball and would go on to be an 18 time all-star and first ballot Hall of Famer. Standing 6'4 and weighing 205 lbs., Mr. Leja was just 16 years old during the 1952 tournament and like Kaline he was a very highly regarded prospect. Both Kaline and Leja were signed to professional contracts as "bonus babies", Kaline collecting $35,000 to sign with Detroit and Leja collecting $45,000 to sign with the Yankees. To put those numbers in perspective, the average mlb player salary during the 1950's was $12,340 per year. Unlike Kaline, Leja's major league career was brief and forgettable. Once dubbed "the next Lou Gehrig", Leja would play in only 26 major league games and collected only one career hit.
* The Washington DC franchise has sent over 60 players to the Major Leagues – more than any other franchise.
PLEASE CLICK THE "READ MORE" LINK BELOW TO SEE A COMPLETE LIST OF FORMER AAABA PLAYERS THAT HAVE ADVANCED TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
