Bandits get OK to play at home

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By Steve Batterson | Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:09 PM CDT | () comments

Although Mississippi River floodwaters are lapping at the outfield berm surrounding Davenport’s Modern Woodmen Park, it will be baseball as usual at the Midwest League stadium this weekend.

Quad-Cities River Bandits general manager Kirk Goodman expects scheduled home games through Sunday to be played on the Quad-Cities’ home field, although fans likely will need to cross a fully-accessible elevated walkway to access the facility as waters near their projected crest over the weekend.

“We have no intention of playing anyplace other than Modern Woodmen Park this weekend,’’ Goodman said. “We won’t do anything to jeopardize the safety of fans, teams or our staff, but our facility will be fully operational and the plan is to play games here all weekend.’’

Midwest League president George Spelius moved three River Bandits home games to diamonds in Cedar Rapids, Clinton and Iowa City when the Mississippi spilled out of its banks in late April.

The river crested at 19.24 feet at that time, while projections for the current flood call for a crest of 18.2 feet in downtown Davenport early Saturday morning, 3.2 feet above flood stage.

Although games were moved in April, the City of Davenport erected a temporary elevated walkway during that flood to demonstrate that renovations before the 2004 season made the ballpark fully usable despite the fact it was surrounded by water.

Photos and videos of people using the facility during that flood were forwarded to Spelius, and he said Wednesday that he will allow the River Bandits to play at home this weekend.

“We will trust city and team officials to make good decisions,’’ Spelius said. “I don’t like having to move games and if the projections remain where they are, we will let the River Bandits and the city make the decisions.

“The city officials have been cooperative with the league, and if they can put a ramp to the entrance to make it work, we will go along with that.’’

Goodman said additional EMTs and firefighters will be brought in as a precautionary measure.

“Nobody’s safety will be jeopardized,’’ Goodman said.

Quad-Cities is scheduled to conclude a four-game series with Peoria at 7 p.m. today and will host Beloit at 7 p.m. on Friday, 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Sandbags were placed around the entry way to Modern Woodmen Park on Tuesday as a crowd of 6,822 —the largest to attend a game in Davenport since 8,022 were at a game on July 3, 1999 — watched the River Bandits play the Chiefs.

A portion of the dirt parking lot west of the stadium remained open Wednesday, but likely will close for weekend home games. The majority of the hard-surfaced lot to the north of the stadium should remain dry if current crest projections remain.

That lot will provide fans with access to the ramp that will lead to the stadium gates.

“If people ever wanted to watch a ballgame on an island, this is going to be their opportunity,’’ Goodman said.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.