Note: Click on photo to see full image.
Johnstown native Rex Morgart Jr. and his father, Rex Morgart Sr., surprised the 250 attendees at the 81st AAABA Tournament Players Banquet and Pairings Program Sunday night at the Frank J. Pasquerilla Conference Center.
Rex Jr. and his dad brought the younger Morgart’s locally famous AAABA Tournament alumni baseball card display to the conference center. The display annually is positioned inside the showroom windows at Suppes Ford on Main Street, Johnstown, across from Sargent’s Stadium throughout tournament week.
During each AAABA Tournament week since 1990, Rex Morgart Jr. has displayed an impressive collection of baseball cards featuring stars who participated in the annual event in Johnstown.
Morgart started the collection, which currently stands at more than 600 baseball cards, in the late 1980s after finding inspiration in the late Bill Felix, better known as the Candy Man, who had displayed a similar collection at the former Candy Store on Market Street.
More than 30 years later, Morgart now works for the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., and resides in Virginia. But he still returns to his hometown each August, and with the assistance of Rex Sr., puts together the display.
The four 4-foot-by-4-foot “billboard” style displays were set up outside the conference center banquet room on Aug. 2 as players, managers, coaches, AAABA Ambassadors and tournament officials walked past to participate in the annual players banquet and pairings ceremony.
The collection is broken down by AAABA Tournament franchise city. For example, every player from the Cleveland or Detroit or Washington or Baltimore franchise to advance to the majors or in some cases play pro ball appear under their respective city’s banner.
Host city Johnstown has cards for the likes of Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich, Gene Pentz, Keith Williams, Mike Holtz, Ernie Oravetz as well as former NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler.
Maryland State’s Al Kaline and Baltimore’s Reggie Jackson are among the Baseball Hall of Famers’ cards in the display, joining Brooklyn’s Joe Torre, Lansing’s John Smoltz and Detroit’s Barry Larkin.