BASEBALL that have teams. In other areas of the state, teams travel two to three hours for one game.
“ It’ s a slice of Americana,” he said. In some cases,“ It’ s like time stood still and you can find a town that has a church and a bar, and at the crossroads there’ s a ballpark with no outfield fence and they have a chicken wire backstop. The people show up, bring their cooler and sit and watch their dad or their brothers or their kids or uncles all play baseball. Then some teams are playing in major facilities.”
While some municipalities have a regular city crew that maintains their field, Nagel estimates that close to 90 percent of the fields in the MBA are maintained and managed by the team members themselves with help from the baseball board, parents and former players. The MBA’ s efforts are also supported by sponsors DuraEdge and Reinders, which provide resources and education.
“ We have a town of 1,200 people, and I’ ll put my baseball field up against any minor league park in the country,” said Nagel.“ There’ s a lot of pride and there’ s a lot of one upmanship about wanting your field to be better than the next. When I started, our field was a sandlot. We didn’ t have a grass infield, we didn’ t have an outfield fence, and we didn’ t have dugouts. Now we have one of the best amateur fields in the state of Minnesota. And we’ ve done that through a lot of volunteers, donations and community support. People want their fields to be
Brownton, Minnesota. All photos on page 39 provided by Doug Schuette. the best they can be. They put a lot of time, effort and money into making the fields wonderful.”
The 2025 MBA state tournament was hosted by three towns— Hutchinson, Brownton and Gaylord.
According to Nagel, Gaylord started with a small town field, and now it has a beautiful grandstand and just spent $ 300,000 on new LED lights.
“ You’ re just not going to find this type of stuff out in a in a farm community in any other state,” he said.“ It’ s very unusual that you’ ll find a college or minor league-quality park in a town of 2,000 people.”
According to Doug Schuette of the Brownton Baseball Association, Barney Tadsen Field / Facility is owned by the City of Brownton, but the Brownton Baseball Association serves as caretaker. Brownton has had a team since 1887, and Barney Tadsen Field was built in 1944- sportsfieldmanagementonline. com November 2025 | SportsField Management
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