All-American Baseball Challenge

The All-American Baseball Challenge was a six-team recreational baseball league formed in July 2020 in the New York City metropolitan area.{{cite news |last1=Tredinnick |first1=Andrew |title=Independent minor-league All-American Baseball Challenge heading to Skylands Stadium |url=https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/sports/baseball/2020/07/16/sussex-county-miners-american-baseball-challenge-heading-skylands-stadium/5441940002/ |accessdate=3 August 2020 |work=Daily Record (Morristown) |publisher=Gannett |date=July 16, 2020}} 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.{{Cite web|last=Rapay|first=Eugene|title=All-American Baseball Challenge recreational league opener returns live sports to Rockland|url=https://www.lohud.com/story/sports/baseball/rockland-boulders/2020/07/24/all-american-baseball-challenge-returns-live-sports-rockland-ny/5472126002/|access-date=2020-09-07|website=The Journal News|language=en-US}}

Games were played at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls, New Jersey, Skylands Stadium in Augusta, New Jersey, and 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

class="wikitable" ! 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

{{Cite web|title=Palisades Credit Union Park to host All-American Baseball Challenge Weekend schedule to begin July 23. – Frontier League|url=https://frontierleague.com/2020/07/14/palisades-credit-union-park-to-host-all-american-baseball-challenge-weekend-schedule-to-begin-july-23/|access-date=2020-08-05|language=en-US}}

The league featured players from independent, affiliated minor league, and college baseball.{{cite web|title=PressRelease|url=https://www.nyboulders.com/news_article/show/1113313|website=New York Boulders|publisher=NewYorkBoulders|date=July 14, 2020|accessdate=July 14, 2020}}

Rules

Initially, a 32 game, 8-week regular season was reported,{{Cite web|title=The All-American Baseball Challenge|url=https://njmonthly.com/events/the-all-american-baseball-challenge/|access-date=2020-09-07|website=New Jersey Monthly}} 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.{{cite web |title=Game Changer - All American Baseball Challenge- July 23, 2020 - September 12, 2020 |url=https://gc.com/g/aabs|website=GameChanger |access-date=5 August 2020}}

Season results

class="wikitable" ! 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