Thoughts and prayers go out to the Quad Cities community as they enter their 2nd week of history flooding in Scott and Muscatine Counties in Iowa, particularly Davenport. The Mississippi River barrier broke once again on May 1st, sending water rushing into downtown Davenport. This seems to happen every spring in this area, but as climate change continues to be more and more of an issue, it will surely only worsen over time.
How this relates to baseball and ballparks is the decimation of the Quad Cities River Bandits home season. They have only played 2 of their 15 home games so far in their actual home stadium, Modern Woodmen Park, which is famous situated right along the Mississippi River shore under the scenic Centennial Bridge. 12 of those 15 were relocated to other ballparks, and a 13th game scheduled to be played in Davenport was rained out. A crucial renovation to the ballpark in 2004 included a flood barrier system that protects the stadium and keeps the field dry even when the river crests (and as you can see from the above photo in which the ballpark appears as an island, it works). As I mentioned, Davenport is no stranger to this flooding - this has been happening every year to some degree dating back to at least 2014 that I can find. The photo above is actually from last year's flood, which looks horrible but still pales in comparison to this year's. The biggest issue this year, other than the sheer magnitude of the flooding, is that the freight rail line running behind the ballpark that was once dormant is again operational. So the past solution of building a temporary walkway over the tracks and flood waters into the ballpark is no longer an option (you can sort of make out the walkway in the photo).
Surely there are more important things than baseball at a time like this, but it shouldn't be lost in this tiny blog community how this impacts the lives of the minor league players that have to endure what has amounted to almost an entire season on the road so far. When you factor in the criminally low wages these players make to be in an unfamiliar setting thousands of miles from home, the flooding certainly doesn't make their jobs any easier. Modern Woodmen Park is surely one of my top 10 favorite minor league stadiums, if not stadiums in general, due to its beauty and all of its amenities, and it is part of a long history of baseball in the Quad Cities. I hope they can find a more long-term solution to better protect it and its surrounding community in years to come, because at some point any owner, no matter how sentimental, is going to have to look for his or her best possible situation to make a profit. Shutting down your entire ballpark every April and May certainly doesn't help the bottom line.
STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 5/13/19:
Brewers 24-18, -2.0; 4 @ Phillies, 3 @ Braves, 2 v. Reds
Twins 25-14, +4.0; 3 v. Angels, 4 @ Mariners, 3 @ Angels
2019 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 0
Peter - 5
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment