JOHNSTOWN — The glory days of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the early years of the AAABA Tournament and the tradition of Johnstown’s summer showcase were all topics during Saturday night’s 17th annual AAABA Hall of Fame banquet at the Pasquerilla Conference Center.

Former Pittsburgh Pirates stars Vern Law and Dick Groat were the featured speakers. The two were mainstays on the Pirates’ 1960 World Series championship club, with Law earning the NL Cy Young Award as a 20-game winner and shortstop Groat taking the league batting crown and MVP honors.

“We were just like the Pirates of today,” said Law, who won two games in the 1960 World Series against the heavily favored Yankees and started Game 7. “I believe (the current Pirates) have more talent than we did. But we stayed together. We didn’t stay here four years and be gone. We grew up together. We gained a lot of experience together.”

The Pirates finished last six of eight seasons from 1950 to 1957, with three years of 100-plus losses.

“It was a life-changing experience to be on a World Series-winning team. Being a Cy Young Award winner was also a life-changing experience,” Law said. “I didn’t think much of it at the time when I received that award because I felt it was a team award. I remembered when we first started how difficult it was to win. We didn’t get run support. We made errors and played like a Triple-A team. But when a team sticks together like we did, then good things happen.”

Fifty years have passed since that World Series ended on Bill Mazeroski’s homer in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 at Forbes Field. But Groat said the team still is tight-knit.

“Fifty years have gone by a lot quicker than Vern and I would like to admit,” Groat said. “But having been together twice for reunions this year, it was like we hadn’t been apart. When you play for a pennant, as we did in 1958 when we came out second best to Milwaukee, there is a closeness that you develop during that pennant race that is beyond any closeness you can have any place else except in sports. We were very fortunate people to be able to play in the major leagues on a championship team in the greatest city in America, Pittsburgh.”

The AAABA Hall of Fame Class of 2010:

n Charles Blackburn, Maryland State administrator. Blackburn organized, supervised or operated youth and amateur baseball leagues since 1953. In 1959 he became vice president of the Maryland State Baseball Association and joined the AAABA. In nearly 60 years he’s helped hundreds of young ballplayers play in the AAABA, NABF, Tri-County (Md.), Inter-State (Md.) and Suburban Washington D.C. leagues, among others.

“I became acquainted with this group when Eddie W. Brooks, one of the founders of the AAABA, met me in 1959 and talked me into helping him run a tournament in Maryland,” Blackburn said. “Next thing you know, I was caught up in the business of administrating baseball. I preferred to play ball but I was glad to take on that mantle.”

n Tony Joseph, Johnstown player and manager. Joseph was part of the famed 1956 Hahn Packing team that finished second to Washington D.C. in the AAABA Tournament. As a pitcher in the Johnstown Junior League he had a 16-1 record with three no-hitters. Joseph batted .412 in the 1956 tournament.

As a local manager, he posted 401 victories in 23-plus seasons, including appearances in the 1964 and 1967 AAABA Tournaments with Kiwanis Club.

Ken Keiper, the manager of the 1956 Hahn team, was called from the audience to introduce Joseph. Keiper frequently had the large crowd laughing when he recalled how he recruited Joseph, who rode a motorcycle and smoked cigarettes before toning down his somewhat wild approach. Joseph signed with the Detroit Tigers and played five years in the minors before a career ending injury.

Joseph called the 1956 Hahn Packing team the “best team Johnstown produced” in the AAABA Tournament. He noted that five of those players went on to professional careers. He also said he hopes his induction will lead to future spots in the Hall for players such as Pete Pekich and Ron Ling.

n Ray Rizzo, Johnstown pitcher. Rizzo played in the 1947 AAABA Tournament as a 15-year-old pick-up player for Prospect AC and again as a pick-up with Kiwanis in 1948. He pitched in 1950 with Lincoln Street Garage, and in that tournament tossed three complete games in as many days. Rizzo had a shutout in 1948 and another shutout in 1950. He allowed only an unearned run in his second win in the ’50 tournament and had another gem against Washington D.C. but his opponent tossed a no-hitter in that 1-0 game.

“I can talk about the first six years of the tournament (1945-50),” Rizzo said. “I can talk about sophisticated (current) and unsophisticated (in the early years). I can talk about competitive and non-competitive. That’s the difference between now and then. We were truly amateurs, and when I say amateurs, I mean amateurs.”

Rizzo spoke of how players back then didn’t have T-ball, Little League, Colt, Pony and other developmental leagues, instead learning the game on the sandlots. He also believes today’s kids have an advantage of being able to watch the game on high-definition television, watching plays in slow motion over and over. “Back then if you had a TV it was a small circle and the picture was grainy,” he said.

All three inductees commended the Johnstown Oldtimers and the national AAABA committee for keeping the tournament alive for 66 years.

Groat also addressed that theme.

“I want to congratulate all of you people that work so hard on amateur baseball. You gave all of us a chance. Somewhere down the line, all of us came through those ranks,” said Groat, who also spoke at the 1998 hall of fame event. “You make it possible for young people to play amateur baseball. I’ve always been very proud of this tournament being right here in the area. They’ve produced a lot of great players at this tournament like Frank and Joe Torre, who both Vern and I played against, and Ron Swoboda. You people have done a magnificent job of organizing this tournament.”