COVID-19 could keep baseball teams from playing
By Greg Seubert
It was supposed to be a season to remember for the Badger Amateur Baseball Association.
It’s now starting to look like there might not be a season at all.
Plans are underway for the league, which formed in 1946 and currently includes 25 teams in four divisions, to observe its 75th anniversary this year.
However, COVID-19 is throwing a major wrench into those plans.
Games are scheduled to begin in May and the season is scheduled to end Labor Day weekend with the 75th annual Grand Championship game.
“I’ll eventually make the call, but everything I do is set up through the league presidents,” BABA commissioner Craig Brei said. “We’ll put things up to a vote. I’ve been sending emails to all the managers as this stuff comes up. I’d like to make sure they all know what these mandates are so the teams are involved with their players and their fans as to what’s going to happen. It’s not going to be, ‘Well, let’s go out and play baseball.’”
The BABA includes the South-Central Division (Waupaca Lakemen, Scandinavia Vikings, Weymont White Bass, New London Brews, Plover Pterodactyls and Green Lake Anglers); West Division (Little Falls Loggers, Tigerton Tigers, Caroline Cougars, Leopolis Bulldogs, Bowler Red Sox and Tilleda White Sox); East Division (Clintonville A’s, Marion Meisters, Shawano Lakers, Gresham Gophers, Menominee Indians and Neopit Chiefs); and North Division (Elderon WhiskeyJacks, Wittenberg Pilots, Birnamwood Kings, Aniwa Orioles, Hatley Braves, Eland Engineers and Antigo/Polar Polar Bears).
In a typical season, teams would face division opponents twice and fill out their schedule with games against teams from other divisions and other amateur baseball leagues. The top four teams in each BABA division qualify for the playoffs and the top two teams advance to the Grand Championship.
The league will follow all local, state, federal and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health regulations to plan the 2020 season, Brei said.
Options for 2020
The BABA is currently weighing its options, which Brei said include a shortened season and delaying the 75th season until 2021.
Wisconsin’s current Safer at Home order runs through Tuesday, May 26, and the state will have to enter Phase 2 of the Badger Bounce Back plan before groups of more than 50 can meet.
“Even then, we are not sure if we will be allowed to proceed,” Brei said. “The league will make a determination at that time as to the fate of the season. Our main concern right now is to keep everyone healthy and put no one at risk.
“When and if the restrictions are lifted, the league has alternate schedules put in place to accommodate different starting dates,” he said. “Like the rest of the leagues throughout the state, we have no clear-cut date of when we may start.”
An all-star/alumni game on June 20 that was to include a historical display has already been canceled.
“It is a possibility that we could get a half a season in,” Brei said. “You’d have everybody playing each other once and come out with a division winner. We’re looking at scheduling everything to start in July with the assumption that it’s going to be delayed. If it gets later than that, I have a feeling that what we’ll do is probably postpone the 75th season.”
A pool tournament for interested teams is also on the table, according to Brei.
“We could have a pool format for the teams that want to get in,” he said. “If we put the championship game on Labor Day weekend, we could do this in seven weeks and we would not have to start until July 26 to get through the pool. There would be no Grand Championship and no 75th year. I’m not sure if all the teams would participate, but it would give us some baseball in the area.”
Brei expects to make a decision on the season in mid- to late-June.
“For us to postpone things and move things back is relatively easy right now,” he said. “We can cancel at any time because most of the parks are set up where we’re not paying for parks in advance. To have a Sunday ballgame, you send your concession people to the store and they grab soda, beer, burgers and brats and away we go. It’s not like we have thousands of dollars set up in advance.”
Two BABA teams – Weymont and Bowler – play their home games on fields owned by their respective school districts. Those fields would be off-limits until at least June 30 under state mandate.
“High school fields are done and that would be Weymont and Bowler,” Brei said. “The two fields in the (Menominee Indian Reservation), Menominee and Neopit, they’re also done. That’s four of our 25 parks.
“Nobody wants to set themselves up for a black eye or a lawsuit,” he said. “I really cannot see any of the communities going against the recommendations of the state to play a baseball game. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Impact of virus
COVID-19’s impact on the BABA season shows how the virus is affecting rural communities, Brei said.
“In Leopolis, these Sunday ballgames are way of life for these guys,” he said. “They have a four-wheeler club and everybody gets together, drive down and watch the game. Tilleda, Bowler, Caroline, Leopolis, Gresham, Tigerton, they’re all within 10 or 12 miles of one another. People look forward to going to these games. For those guys to not have baseball, it’s going to be kind of a culture shock. It’s taking one more thing away from you. It’s a change, I’ll tell you that.”
Brei is getting feedback from teams.
“(Former Waupaca player and manager) Dave Peterson is optimistic that we can get a half-season in,” he said. “The North is a little more realistic and they’re looking that’s its more likely not going to happen. The phrase they’re using is, ‘Plan for the worst and hope for the best.’
“The East/West is all over the board,” he said. “They’re optimistic on playing, but they’re pessimistic on the type of play we’re going to get. Are we going to get fans? Are we going to get players? Are we going to be able to sell concessions? Once everybody is free to go about their business, are you going to have these players and their wives decide that they want to go the ballpark when they can finally go out and do something?”
Waupaca and Little Falls advanced to the last to Grand Championships. Little Falls won the title in 2018 and Waupaca won the championship last year.
“When we decide that this is going to be such a mess that we don’t want to even try it, we can pull the plug at any time,” Brei said. “It’s on the table to pull it if we have to, but right now, we are trying to save it if it can be done.
“You don’t want to make your 75th year a joke,” he added. “Nobody’s ever going to forget this 75th year. If we can’t do it right, we’re not going to do it.”