For the first time in 12 years, starting next summer, the All American Amateur Baseball Association teams from leagues in Altoona and Johnstown will be playing against each other in games during the regular season.

The change was discussed in a recent telephone conversation between Altoona AAABA League president Matt Cursio and Johnstown Collegiate Baseball League commissioner Don Stanton, and met with unanimous approval by the two leaders and managers from each of the teams in their two respective leagues.

The four Johnstown teams will play 18 games — six apiece against each of the three other teams in their league — and two games apiece against each of the four Altoona league teams, for a regular-season total of 26 games.

Each of the four Altoona teams– Cumming Motors, Cogan Electric, Imler’s Poultry and a fourth team for whom a sponsor will be named before the end of January — will play four games apiece against each of the three other teams in the league, and two games apiece against each of the four Johnstown teams, for a regular-season total of 20 games.

Sites for the interleague games between the Altoona and Johnstown teams will alternate between three venues — Altoona’s refurbished Vets Field, Johnstown’s Sargent Stadium at the Point, and the Mount Aloysius College baseball field.

Cursio and Stanton both see this new arrangement as a win-win for their respective leagues.

“The minute that Don Stanton called me about this proposal, I was on it, I was all for it, and I was excited about it,” Cursio said. “It’s going to be good for both leagues from a competitive standpoint, as well as the fact that the teams from both leagues will get to see each other throughout the regular season, instead of waiting until we meet in Johnstown for the first time during the AAABA (National) Tournament (in August).

“And more importantly, for players in our Altoona AAABA League, I think that it will bring more opportunity for young men playing AAABA baseball to stay in Blair County, because in the past, sometimes we lost some players to the Johnstown teams,” Cursio said. “If we’re all playing against each other now, it should be good for all the teams in both leagues.”

The Johnstown AAABA League will also be comprised of four teams — defending AAABA National Tournament champion Mainline Pharmacy, returning national tourney finalist Martella’s Pharmacy, Infinity Practical Solutions, and a new team sponsored by The Hill Group, which will replace the Laurel Hill Auto Group franchise.

Stanton echoed Cursio’s approval for the change to interleague regular-season play between the Altoona and Johnstown leagues.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a good thing for both leagues,” Stanton said. “We have four teams in our league, and it’s not good if you’re playing the same teams over and over again. Now we will be playing eight games — two games apiece against the four Altoona teams — during the regular season.

“Sometimes, the teams end up playing one another in the national tournament, so now all the teams from both leagues will get an idea what every team has before the national tournament starts,” Stanton added. “We’ll both be helping each other out with this change.”

Both the Altoona AAABA and Johnstown AAABA teams will stage their own league playoffs to determine which teams from each league will advance to the 2026 national tournament, which begins on Monday, Aug. 3.

The Altoona AAABA League stayed solvent by having its teams join teams in the Altoona Greater City Baseball League over the past 14 summers to form the Altoona City/AAABA League.

The Altoona AAABA teams will now play a regular-season schedule exclusively against AAABA opponents, as its games against Greater City Baseball League opponents have ended, at least for the time being.

Greater City Baseball League pillar Joe Fornwalt, who currently serves as the league’s treasurer and has been a long-time field manager in the league, said that while he thought the presence of the Altoona AAABA teams was a plus for the overall league, he also sees this change as helping the overall local AAABA organizations in both Altoona and Johnstown.

“I believe that the players in our Greater City Baseball League enjoyed playing the AAABA teams,” said Fornwalt, who was inducted into the National Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame because of his contributions to the Greater City Baseball League. “I think that the (Altoona) AAABA merging with the Johnstown AAABA will help both leagues to become more stable. But if this is a short-term fix and the Altoona AAABA teams would need to come back to the City League in a few years, I’d expect them to be welcomed back.”

Fornwalt said that the Greater City Baseball League in the 2026 season will feature either six teams playing a total of 20 games, or seven teams playing a total of 18 games. Ken Durbin is the GCBL president.

Cursio expressed his gratitude toward the City League.

“I appreciate all the years that the Greater City League allowed our Altoona AAABA League teams to participate in their league, and I have acknowledged that with the City League people,” Cursio said. “But I think this will be a positive change, and all the managers in our AAABA league are excited about it and on board with it. We’re taking it one year at a time, but hopefully, this change will last beyond the 2026 season.”