The AAABA Hall of Fame Class of 2019 will be inducted on Saturday, August 3 at the Pasquerilla Conference Center in downtown Johnstown.
This high-profile class includes four former AAABA players who went on to play or manage in the major leagues as well as a respected and successful manager who built the Altoona franchise into a top contender.
Roberto Clemente Jr. will be the featured speaker during the event. He is the son of former Pittsburgh Pirates star right fielder and World Series winner Roberto Clemente, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
The inductees include:
- Buck Showalter, the former major league manager who played for the Birmingham, Ala., franchise in the 1975 AAABA Tournament.
- Roger McDowell, a former major league pitcher and current assistant coach in the majors who played for Cincinnati in the 1980 AAABA Tournament.
- Kurt Ainsworth, a former major league pitcher who played for New Orleans in the 1998 AAABA Tournament.
- Nelson Figueroa, a former major league pitcher who played for the 1994 Brooklyn Youth Service League team that won the AAABA Tournament title.
- Ron Fiochetta (posthumously), the former Altoona L.S. Fiore manager who built the Blair County team into a national contender and finished as the 1994 tournament national runner-up.