Bandits to do yard work in outfield
It had rained earlier in the day, but blue skies and an appearance by NFL great Gale Sayers attracted a crowd of more than 3,000 to the Davenport riverfront for a Quad-Cities River Bandits game July 10.This is a continuation of project from earlier this season.
The grounds crew worked well beyond the game's scheduled 7 p.m. start only to have umpires determine more than an hour later that the outfield was unplayable.
It wasn't the first time.
Quad-Cities has ranked first or second in the Midwest League in home games postponed because of weather conditions in five of the six years since what is known as Modern Woodmen Park was renovated before the 2004 season.
In 2009, the River Bandits shared the league lead with South Bend with six games lost to weather issues.
"We're tried of leading the league in rainouts,'' River Bandits owner Dave Heller said.
Outfield drainage has been the primary problem, with standing water remaining hours after rain has left the area.
A project designed to improve the situation is scheduled to begin this week.
The outfield at Modern Woodmen Park will be excavated, with old drainage replaced by new and topped with a field graded to aid in the drainage process.
"There is nothing more difficult than telling fans that a game isn't going to be played when the rain has stopped, the skies are blue and the grounds crew has worked for hours in hopes of making the field playable," River Bandits general manager Kirk Goodman said.
"We're doing this to fix the rainout issues for the fans and for the ballclub. When we have home games scheduled, we want to play baseball."
The playing surface at the facility has been an issue with the River Bandits' parent club, the St. Louis Cardinals.Are you ready for a table? I've changed the titles, and abbreviated the rankings, and cleaned up the last column...but the rest remains unchanged.
A rough infield was rebuilt in early May after a visit by Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, who indicated that he had been assured outfield problems would be addressed during the current offseason.
"We like being here in the Quad-Cities, but the quality of the playing surface is something we care about," Mozeliak said. "This is our players' workplace, and our organization wants them to have a quality field to play on at home."
The River Bandits' player development contract with St. Louis expires after the 2010 season, and while Mozeliak would not say improvements were required for the Cardinals to extend their agreement he conceded that field conditions are important.
Steve Dillard, the Quad-Cities field manager the past two years, welcomes any improvements to the playing surface at Modern Woodmen Park.
"It's probably the one thing that has been an issue here during the time I've been here,'' said Dillard, who worked as a hitting coach for Quad-Cities in 2006. "The drainage needs work, and hopefully they can get that fixed."
Year..QC Rainouts..MWL Rank..2nd in MWL
2004.......11........1st.....Clinton with 6
2005........2........2nd.....Um, QC?
2006........7........1st.....3 clubs with 6
2007........4........5th.....2 clubs with 6
2008.......10........1st.....Wisconsin with 8
2009........6........1st.....Tie for 1st with South Bend
Just for giggles here are the number of home rainouts for the Rattlers since 2004
Year WI Rainouts..MWL Rank
2004......4.......T-3rd
2005......1.......T-10th
2006......5.......5th
2007......9.......1st
2008......8.......2nd
2009......2.......T-10th
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