Baseball greetings to all our fans, followers, alumni, and friends. It is with great sincerity that we would like to welcome you to another year of competitive amateur baseball within the storied Chippewa River Baseball League. Incredibly, 2024 marks the 96th season of baseball over 116 years, dating back to the CRBL’s first season of existence in 1908. Very few baseball leagues across the USA – amateur or professional – can substantiate such an existence of length and success. Plainly stated, this is something that anyone associated with the CRBL should take great pride in.
2023 saw the established heavyweights of the CRBL battle it out for league supremacy, with the (17 and 3) Osseo Merchants besting the (17 and 3) Tilden Tigers in a for the CRBL crown in a good ol’ fashion pitching duel, 2 to 1 at Casper Park. The title marked Osseo’s fifth CRBL championship since their inaugural season of play in 1999.
The following weekend, eight CRBL teams ventured into the unforgiving metaverse of the WBA Tournament. From the jagged edges of regional pool play, only Tilden, Osseo, and the Eau Claire Cavaliers survived to play yet another weekend. In the WBA Finals held at Carson Park and Osseo, Tilden’s superior talent propelled the Tigers to an unblemished 6 and 0 mark in the tournament, culminating with a 7 to 1 victory over the Everest Merchants in the CRBL title bout. Historically, this was Tilden’s third WBA championship (1995, 2004, 2023) and the tenth time a CRBL team has won the WBA tournament, which began in 1947.