The Eau Claire Bears were a minor league baseball team from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. From 1933 until 1942 and 1946 until 1953, the team was a member of the Northern League. The team played its home games at Carson Park in Eau Claire. Beginning in 1954, the Eau Claire Bears were renamed the Eau Claire Braves after the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. The most famous player in the team's history was Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, who made his professional début with the team in 1952. Joe Torre and Bob Uecker also had a stop in Eau Claire before going on to the majors.
In 1998, Shane Meshke and a number of friends joined together to reform the Eau Claire Bears as an amateur team in the South division of the Chippewa River Baseball League. Although the start was slow, these men established a team that would eventually go on to win multiple CRBL Championships (2004-2006, 2008, 2009) as well as three Wisconsin Baseball Association State Titles (2005, 2008, 2009) within the first ten years of existence. The Eau Claire Bears are also the only current WBA team to make six consecutive State Finals appearances (2004-2009). Scott Biederman was the manager of the Bears and Dave Strauch was the coach when they won their first South Division Title in 2002 despite losing to the Tilden Tigers in the CRBL Championship game. Biederman led the Bears to five CRBL championship games during his managerial stint (1998-2007), including a run of three consecutive CRBL titles from 2004-2006 while finishing runner-up in both 2002 and 2007. Under Biederman, the Bears compiled a league record of 113 wins and 65 losses in ten years. Biederman was also named the CRBL's Manager of the Year in 2006.
Biederman and the Bears also had a knack for the post season as they qualified for the State Finals in 2002, and every year from 2004-2007 while claiming their first ever State Title in 2005. Biederman posted a great post-season record of 17 wins and 6 losses during his tenure.
That trend would continue in 2008 with Biederman handing the team over to first year manager Reed Pecha. Pecha had been a member of the team since 2003, however this was his first year as manager/coach. In 2008, the Bears once again claimed another CRBL Title, and went a perfect 5-0 in the playoffs to win their second state title in four years. In 2009, the Bears repeated as they won both the CRBL Title and the State Championship. It was the first time in 26 years that a team had repeated as WBA State Champs.
The Eau Claire Bears are a close group of friends who look forward to every summer of baseball while planning their weddings around the season (many April and August Anniversaries). Many of the team members have been playing every summer together for the last 7 or more years, and have enjoyed many moments together both on and off the diamond. The Bears will look to continue their winning ways again this season as take another shot at winning the CRBL and WBA titles. Good Luck and GO BEARS!!!

PLEASE NOTE: The information that is in this section is from Andy Niese's book, Chippewa River Baseball League Record Book 2016 Edition. If you are interested in purchasing Andy Niese's Chippewa River Baseball League Record Book, please contact Bears' Manager Reed Pecha, and he will provide you with information on how to purchase a copy. Andy will be coming out with the second edition this winter, and a new edition every winter after the statistics are compiled from the previous summer of play.

The league has played under five other league names other than the Chippewa River Baseball League (1968-Pres.): Chippewa Valley League (1908-09, 1927-30, 1932, 1936-41, 1947-67); Chippewa Valley League Juniors (1949, 1951-52); Chippewa County League (1946), Chippewa Valley Rural League (1933-35) and the Chippewa Valley Central League (1931). There was no league play from 1910-1926, and 1942-1945. There have been a total of 179 teams who have played in the league. While the league normally has 8 to 10 teams competing on a yearly basis, 18 teams competed in 1930 (the most ever), while the lowest number of teams was 6 competing in 1908 (the first year of the league). 68 different communities have fielded teams in the Chippewa Valley. The longest running team is the Tilden Tigers (65 years) who have a league record 17 CRBL Championships and two WBA State Titles. Tilden also has the record for most consecutive CRBL Championships, five, 1968-1972 and the most consecutive division titles with nine, 1974-82. Here is a break down of the top five teams with division and league championships:

Division Titles:
1. Tilden Tigers 31
2. Cadott Red Sox 10
    Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 10
4. Eau Claire Bears 8
5. Augusta Athletics 7

League Championships:
1. Tilden Tigers 17
2. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 7
3. Cadott Red Sox 6
    Eau Claire Bears 6
5. Augusta Athletics 5

Championship Game Appearances:
1. Tilden Tigers 35
2. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 11
3. Eau Claire Bears 10
4. Cadott Red Sox 8
5. Augusta Athletics 7

Updated after the 2016 Season:
The Eau Claire Bears have played in 19 CRBL summers (a total of 362 games played, good for 11th on the all-time list), yet they rank as one of the most successful franchises of all-time (250 wins, good for 7th all-time) with a winning percentage of .691, good for first all-time (minimum of 100 games played). Further more, thier WBA playoff record is remarkable (check out below). Here is a breakdown of CRBL games played, CRBL wins, and CRBL winning percentage of CRBL franchises:

Top 20 Teams in Number of CRBL games played:
Team Games
1. Tilden Tigers 1,077
2. Jim Falls Sturgeons 880
3. Cadott Red Sox 715
4. Hallie Eagles 689
5. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 614
6. Augusta Athletics 509
7. Lafayette Lakers 493
8. Bloomer Fightin' Woodticks 437
9. Beef River Bullfrogs 393
10. Lafayette Indians 379

11. Eau Claire Bears 362
12. Osseo Merchants 344
13. Bloomer Pines 296
14. Jim Falls Saints 265
15. Bloomer Merchants 239
16. Whitehall Wolves 238
17. Cornell Hawks 187
18. Cooks Valley Hayshakers 175
19. Bloomer Blackhawks 159
20. Lafayette Braves 153

Top 10 in CRBL Wins All-Time:
1. Tilden Tigers 742
2. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 389
3. Jim Falls Sturgeons 370
4. Hallie Eagles 330
5. Cadott Red Sox 318
6. Augusta Athletics 282
7. Eau Claire Bears 250
8. Lafayette Indians 242
9. Beef River Bullfrogs 209
10. Osseo Merchants 196

Top 5 Win Percentages (Min. 100 games played):
1. Eau Claire Bears .691
2. Tilden Tigers .689
3. Northern Colony Colonists .675
4. Lafayette Indians .639
5. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks .634

Updated after the 2016 Season - The information that is in this section is from Andy Niese's book, 2016 Chippewa River Baseball League Record. If you are interested in purchasing Andy Niese's Chippewa River Baseball League Record Book, please contact Bears' Manager Reed Pecha, and he will provide you with information on how to purchase a copy. Andy will be coming out with the second edition this winter, and a new edition every winter after the statistics are compiled from the previous summer of play.

The Wisconsin Baseball Association was started in 1949 and reached its peak in 1957 with 160 teams in 20 different leagues around the state. In 2011 there were 62 teams from six leagues. There have been 20 teams who have won multiple state championships. The Hayward Hawks and Pepin have the most state titles with five, while six other teams have three state titles (the Bears were the latest team to join the list), and 12 teams have two state titles. Tilden holds the record for most consecutive years for making the WBA tourney with 23 years. The Augusta Athletics (1994), Eau Claire Bears (2005, 2008, 2009), Thorp Cardinals (1953), and Tilden Tigers (1995, 2004) are the only CRBL affiliated teams to win a WBA State Title. Tilden had appeared in six state title games, Augusta and Eau Claire have each appeared in three, and Chippewa Falls, Hallie, Osseo, and Thorp have each appeared in one.
Check out the breakdown of CRBL teams' success in the WBA tournament, including WBA Appearances, games played, wins and winning percentage. There is also a breakdown of WBA Finals Appearances, games played, wins and winning percentage:

Top 5 WBA Appearances for CRBL Teams (WBA began in 1949)
1. Tilden Tigers 44
2. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 29
3. Cadott Red Sox 19
4. Augusta Athletics 18
5. Hallie Eagles 16
    Jim Falls Sturgeons 16
    Eau Claire Bears 16

Top 5 WBA Games Played for CRBL Teams:
1. Tilden Tigers 104
2. Eau Claire Bears 44
3. Augusta Athletics 41
4. Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 40
5. Cadott Red Sox 35

Top 5 WBA Wins for CRBL Teams:
1. Tilden Tigers 62
2. Eau Claire Bears 31
3. Augusta Athletics 24
4. Hallie Eagles 18
5. Cadott Red Sox 15

Top WBA Winning Percentage for CRBL Teams (Min. 25 games played):
1. Eau Claire Bears .705
2. Tilden Tigers .596
3. Augusta Athletics .585
4. Hallie Eagles .514

The breakdown below is of the WBA Finals (State Tournament) only. This will show the number of finals appearances for CRBL teams, along with games played, wins and winning percentage. The last two categories will show the number of CRBL teams who have played in the State Championship game and what CRBL teams won the state title with the year they won.

Top 5 WBA Finals Appearances for CRBL Teams:
1. Tilden Tigers 17
2. Eau Claire Bears 7
3. Augusta Athletics 6
4. Hallie Eagles 5
5. Lafayette Lakers 4

Top 5 Games Played in the WBA Finals for CRBL Teams:
1. Tilden Tigers 34
2. Eau Claire Bears 18
3. Augusta Athletics 13
4. Cadott Red Sox 8
Hallie Eagles 8

Top 5 Wins in the WBA Finals for CRBL Teams:
1. Tilden Tigers 19
2. Eau Claire Bears 14
3. Augusta Athletics 8
4. Beef River Bullfrogs 4
Cadott Red Sox 4

Top 3 Winning Percentage in the WBA Finals for CRBL Teams (Min. 10 games played):
1. Eau Claire Bears .778
2. Augusta Athletics .615
3. Tilden Tigers .559

Championship Game Appearances for CRBL Teams and the Year:
1. Tilden Tigers 6 ('76, '84, '91, '95, '00, '04)
2. Augusta Athletics 3 ('93, '94, '02)
Eau Claire Bears 3 ('05, '08, '09)
4. Beef River Bullfrogs 1 ('11)
Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks 1 ('89)
Hallie Eagles 1 ('85)
Osseo Merchants 1 (2016)
Thorp Cardinals 1 ('53 Class A)

WBA Championships for CRBL Teams:
1. Eau Claire Bears 3 ('05, '08, '09)
2. Tilden Tigers 2 ('95, '04)
3. Augusta Athletics 1 ('94)
4. Thorp Cardinals 1 ('53 Class A)