Quad City Angels

History

The Davenport River Rats and Rock Island Islanders were founding members of the Three-I League in 1901. The Davenport club went through several nicknames, including the Riversides, Knickerbockers, Prodigals, and Blue Sox, with the Blue Sox claiming the league championship in 1914. The Moline Plowboys joined in July 1914 after the Danville Speakers moved, and they won Three-I League titles in 1915, 1921, and 1937. The Rock Island Islanders were affiliated with the St. Louis Browns and the Cincinnati Reds.

Ballparks

Early Davenport teams played Sunday games on Sullivan Island to avoid Sunday activity laws. From 1901 to 1916 the Davenport Blue Sox played at Davenport Base Ball Park, also called Blue Sox Stadium, located at Bowditch & Second Streets or Third Street & Telegraph Road. The Blue Sox of 1929 and 1930 played at Fairgrounds Park within the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, a ballpark with a capacity of 5,500. The city then sought a riverfront stadium with lights, and on May 26, 1931, Municipal Stadium opened on the Mississippi River, built with local labor for $165,000.

Its first night game was June 4, 1931. The stadium has hosted eight Midwest League All-Star Games across six decades, exhibitions against Negro league teams in the 1930s, and a 1942 exhibition between the St. Louis Browns and Pittsburgh Pirates. It has survived major Mississippi River floods in 1965, 1969, 1993, and 2001, with the 1993 flood causing severe damage.