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History of the “BABA”

1946 - present

May 1, 2009

GRAND CHAMPIONS
Year		Champion	Runner-Up
1	1946	Leopolis	New London
2	1947	Gresham	Big Falls
3	1948	Big Falls	Gresham
4	1949	Big Falls	Neopit
5	1950	Wittenberg	Clintonville
6	1951	Gresham	Weyauwega
7	1952	Morris	New London
8	1953	Tigerton	Waupaca
9	1954	Scandinavia	Bonduel
10	1955	Morris	Elderon
11	1956	Clintonville	Waupaca
12	1957	Clintonville	Eau Claire Dells
13	1958	New London	Clintonville
14	1959	Waupaca	Clintonville
15	1960	New London	Caroline
16	1961	Clintonville	Waupaca
17	1962	Clintonville	New London
18	1963	Clintonville	New London
19	1964	Marion	Clintonville
20	1965	Marion	Waupaca
21	1966	Menominee	Birnamwood
22	1967	Gresham	Clintonville
23	1968	Clintonville	Marion
24	1969	Symco	Almon
25	1970	Star Neva	Waupaca
26	1971	Star Neva	Waupaca
27	1972	Waupaca	Wittenberg
28	1973	Marion	Polar
29	1974	Waupaca	Hatley
30	1975	Clintonville	Almon
31	1976	Waupaca	Antigo
32	1977	Waupaca	Antigo
33	1978	Waupaca	Birnamwood
34	1979	Waupaca	Monico
35	1980	Waupaca	Monico
36	1981	Deerbrook	Clintonville
37	1982	Waupaca	Deerbrook
38	1983	Shawano	Polar
39	1984	Wittenberg	Bowler
40	1985	Rhinelander	Waupaca
41	1986	Clintonville	Birnamwood
42	1987	Waupaca	Birnamwood
43	1988	Waupaca	Little Falls
44	1989	Scandinavia	Wittenberg
45	1990	Plover	Wittenberg
46	1991	Clintonville	Birnamwood
47	1992	Little Falls	Plover
48	1993	Menominee	Tigerton
49	1994	Waupaca	Birnamwood
50	1995	Menominee	Leopolis
51	1996	Little Falls	Clintonville
52	1997	Little Falls	New London
53	1998	Marion	Little Falls
54	1999	Clintonville	Little Falls
55	2000	Little Falls	Plover
56	2001	Plover	Aniwa
57	2002	New London	Little Falls
58	2003	Plover	Clintonville
59	2004	Tigerton	Clintonville
60	2005	Clintonville	Aniwa
61	2006	Little Falls	Clintonville
62	2007	Little Falls	Waupaca
63	2008	Clintonville	Elderon
64	2009	Marion	Elderon
65	2010	Waupaca	Tigerton
66	2011	Waupaca	Tigerton
67	2012	Neopit	Elderon
68	2013	Clintonville	Elderon
69	2014	Tigerton	Plover
70	2015	Clintonville	Elderon
71	2016	Gresham	Tigerton
72	2017	Waupaca	Birnamwood
73	2018	Little Falls	Waupaca
74	2019	Waupaca	Little Falls
	2020	COVID-19	No League games were played
75th	2021	Little Falls	Gresham
76	2022	Antigo/Polar	Scandinavia
77	2023	Antigo/Polar	Scandinavia
78	2024	Little Falls	Scandinavia
79	2025	Little Falls	Clintonville

The BABA (Badger Amateur Baseball Association)
was born April 03, 1946 at a meeting held at the Clintonville City Hall.
Nearly 150 people attended the meeting, which was presided over by Mr. A.N. Brunner of Leopolis. A new organization was being formed. That organization, the dream of Brunner, brought together the Wolf River League, the Shawano County League, and the Little Wolf League.

Four divisions comprised the B.A.B.A. in 1946.

The Southern Division
Shawano, Clintonville, Marion, New London, Waupaca, Manawa, Iola,
Scandinavia, and Weyauwega.
The Western Division
Leopolis, Tilleda, Bowler, Morris, Tigerton, Caroline, Marion, and Neopit.
The Eastern Division
Bonduel, Cecil, Gillett, Pulaski, and Krakow.
The Northern Division
Wittenberg, Birnamwood, Eland, Hately, Galloway, Elderon, Almon, and Rosholt.

At that meeting A.N. Brunner was elected Commissioner.

Albert “A.N”. Brunner was born in 1894. At the age of 17 he began his baseball career. That playing career spanned 23 years. A.N. Brunner loved the game of baseball. In 1925 the Shawano County League was formed. Elected as its first President was A.N. Brunner. He held that post until it merged with the Wolf River and Little Wolf League to form the B.A.B.A. in 1946. Mr. Brunner held the post of B.A.B.A. Commissioner until his death in 1973. All in all A.N. Brunner was involved in area baseball for about 62 years. In 1976 the Leopolis Baseball Team dedicated their baseball park as “A.N. Brunner Field.”

The basic by-laws of the B.A.B.A. have not changed much since being put together in 1946. The league was formed on the premise that the league would be comprised of amateur baseball players. And those players would be local. Teams were not allowed to bring in “ringers” from outside the boundaries of the B.A.B.A. A.N. Brunner wanted ALL teams big or small to have a chance at the end of the season to win the championship. Teams could only list players from a radius of 10 miles from their ballpark, unless they were granted a release by the other B.A.B.A teams. A practice still in place today. Mr. Brunner was also a promoter of the league. Early records indicate his displeasure with several teams when they failed to get box scores in to secretary Melvin Lemke on time so they could be published in the area newspapers. Notes say Leopolis was a big violator of that rule. That frustration still haunts the B.A.B.A leaders in 2009.

Mr. Brunner demanded that managers and team leaders know the rules.

As the 2011 season sets to begin this year the four divisions that make up the B.A.B.A are as follows. Eastern – Clintonville (2008 Champions), Gresham, Marion, Menominee, Shawano, and Neopit. Western - Bowler, Caroline, Leopolis, Little Falls, Tilleda, and Tigerton. The South Central - Plover, Scandinavia, Manawa, New London, Lanark, Waupaca (2010,2011 Champs), Weymont, and Rosholt. Northern Division - Birnamwood, Almon, Eland, Aniwa, Wittenberg, Hately, and Elderon.

Craig Brei is the Commissioner of the B.A.B.A. The Vice Commissioner is Nate Krake, Anthony Buss Jr. North President, Dave Peterson South/Central President, and Joe Kristof is East/West President.

Many teams will hold Hall of Fame ceremonies throughout the season this year. Those games are indicated by (HOF) next to the game.

This summer come out to one of the parks in the B.A.B.A. Admission is STILL only $2.00 per adult. Kids get in the games free. Where baseball is still viewed as a game, not a business as some of the multi-millionaire professional players like to call it. Sit back and listen to the some of the old timers in the stands talk about their playing days. Smell the fresh cut grass, the popcorn being popped, and the unforgettable fragrance of steaming hot dogs topped with kraut. Maybe just for a few hours you can relax and let the game of baseball take you back to the days of your youth. When things seemed much simpler. When the joints didn’t ache so much. And just maybe you’ll leave the park with some newfound friends.

* I would like to acknowledge that some information for the above was taken from April Malueg’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” book, Marion Advertiser, and Clintonville Tribune articles from years past.

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South Central Baseball Memories

taken from the May 19, 1992
Stevens Point Journal
By
BRIAN EARNEST

A few years back Major League Baseball organized a public relations campaign centered around the slogan "Baseball Fever, Catch It!”

Baseball fever, however, was nothing new to Portage County. As early as 1901 area communities were becoming involved in state-wide organized baseball leagues.

From the State Baseball League of the early 1900s to today's Badger Amateur Baseball Association (BABA), area players have always had the opportunity to compete in baseball well after their high school and college playing days were over.

These days, recreational baseball is at a low tide in popularity on the adult level, with more athletes choosing to be involved in softball, golf, volleyball and other recreational sports.

But during a period from the 1920s through the 1960s, baseball was not only the country's national past time, it was just about the only game in town.

In 1930, not fewer than seven different leagues were flourishing that involved teams from Portage County. Three became particularly popular: the Central Wisconsin Amateur Baseball Association, Wisconsin Valley League and the Portage County League, which ultimately developed into the most competitive and long running league of the bunch.

Baseball in the area can be traced back to the 1880s and 1890s when a Stevens Point team competed in a loosely organized schedule against teams from Marshfield, Chippewa Falls, Portage, Appleton and Green Bay.

By 1900, Stevens Point and the surrounding cities were fielding teams and traveling considerable distances by train, accompanied by their fans, to find prospective opponents.

The first official state league, dubbed appropriately enough the “State Baseball League,” was formed in 1901 and included teams from Stevens Point, Marshfield, Wausau, Appleton, Kaukauna, Oshkosh and Milwaukee. Stevens Point did not apply for admission to the league, but reportedly was included anyway because “of its reputation as a baseball center being so high that it was necessary only to show interest that it wanted to join.”

Various leagues in the area came and went until the 1930s, when the Portage County League emerged as one of the top sports attractions in the area. Membership in the league varied over the years, with Almond, Amherst, Amherst Junction, Lanark, DuBay, Custer, Lake Emily, Mill Creek, Iola, Nelsonville, Plover, Rosholt, Stevens Point and Buena Vista among the perennial entries.

Sunday was always game day, and news involving the league dominated the sports pages.

“We had a lot of good ball players back in those days,” said Bud Berry, a longtime member of the Buena Vista team. “And we used to get big crowds. We'd pass the hat for 25 or 50 cents a crack and come up with $500." “It was serious ball back then. We played pretty hard.”

Sometimes, the players may have played a little too hard, according to George Roman, who played in the league in 1950s and 60s. In fact, Roman, who played along-side two brothers, Fran and Dave, and his father Francis, admits a few of the principles of sportsmanship that he now preaches to his players as coach of the Stevens Point Area Senior High team went out the window on any given Sunday.

‘"I bet there wasn't a diamond in the county that we didn't have a fight at,” said Roman with a laugh. “We'd get up and go to confession on Sunday morning and then get in a fight on Sunday afternoon. It was unbelievable.”

Berry and Roman both recalled a fight back in Roman's college days that occurred following a collision at home plate. "One of the craziest things I've ever seen,” said Berry. “It was a brawl, there were guys everywhere. I must have had 10 guys on top of me,” said Roman. “That was the end of the game. They decided to call it in the seventh inning."

And the fans usually did their share to add to the festive atmosphere. "The fans would stand down the foul lines and ride you! Oh, man, you had to have thick skin,” said Roman. “It wasn't uncommon to get 200-300 people, and they'd be in the stands betting. We had some real rivalries. That was the heyday of baseball in this area."

Alas, those times are gone, albeit not forgotten.

The County League began to dwindle in popularity in the late 1960s and eventually folded for good in the early ‘70s. Only the eight team BABA league, which includes teams from Plover, Lanark, Iola and Scandinavia, remains in the area.

“I think it got to the point where nobody wanted to spend three or four hours in the hot sun on a Sunday when you could play softball and be done in an hour,” said Joe Dernbach, another veteran of the County League. “The older I get, the more I think we don't have those kind of ballplayers anymore.”

“We had a lot of great players,” agreed Roman. “I know of a lot of guys in that league who played college ball and went on to play pro ball. It wasn't unusual for every team to have a couple of guys who played pro ball. Talking about that league brings back a lot of memories.”

The Portage County Historical Society Website is hosted courtesy of the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Archives and Area Research Center

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