BASEBALL

By John Kmitta

Hutchinson, Minnesota. Photo provided by Kyle Messner.

mateur baseball has a rich and vibrant history in the state of Minnesota. In the 1800s, with the construction of railroads, towns in Minnesota popped up every six miles or so due to the need for water for the steam engines that traveled those tracks. As towns grew, local baseball teams formed. Soon they would begin playing against teams from nearby towns every Sunday. More than 100 years ago, those teams were organized into the Minnesota Baseball Association( MBA).

“ By the heyday of the MBA in the 1940s and‘ 50s, there were approximately 700 teams across the state,” said Mike Nagel, treasurer of the MBA.“ Now we have a roughly 275 teams across three levels— A, B and C— and we have a state tournament that runs three weekends, culminating with championships on Labor Day.”

According to Nagel, all three classes are organized based on a point system, with points evaluated based on the population of the community, team success, and whether the

team goes outside of their community to get baseball players with college or professional experience.

The largest towns are in Class A, while Class B is midsize towns.

“ Class C is our bread and butter,” said Nagel.“ That’ s where half of our teams are, and they’ re mostly located in towns with less than 1,000 people. They’ re playing with their brothers, uncles and dads. It’ s traditional town ball.”

According to Nagle, across the three classes, the current age range is 14 to 75 years old, and players range from ex pros to players who probably wouldn’ t make their high school team.

Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota all have some form of town ball, but their leagues are much smaller than the MBA.“ We are by far the most town ball or amateur baseball crazy in the country,” Nagel added.

Travel time for the teams varies widely. In some cases, a 30-minute drive might take you through three towns

38 SportsField Management | November 2025 sportsfieldmanagementonline. com