John O'Donnell Stadium
Encyclopedia
Modern Woodmen Park is a minor league baseball
park located in Davenport, Iowa
, United States
. It is home to the Quad Cities River Bandits, a single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals
. It is located on the banks of the Mississippi River
, in the shadow of the Centennial Bridge
. Home run balls to right field often land in the river.
of 4,024.
In 1971 the stadium was renamed from Municipal Stadium to John O'Donnell Stadium in honor of the longtime sports editor of the Davenport Times-Democrat
, shortly following his death. John O'Donnell Stadium was renamed Modern Woodmen Park on December 12, 2007, after Rock Island
-based Modern Woodmen of America
purchased the naming rights
to the facility. O'Donnell's name remains on the ballpark's press box.
In earlier years, Modern Woodmen Park played host to high school football
games. Assumption High School
(a private Catholic high school in Davenport) and Saint Ambrose College
called the field home until 1987, when both schools began playing at Brady Street Stadium. It was also the site of the "Rumble on the Riverbank" boxing
match on May 10, 1991, where local boxer Michael Nunn
lost the IBF
middleweight
title to James Toney
.
The renovations done before the 2004 season include a nine-foot-high berm that provides a lawn seating area for fans. The berm also acts as a floodwall around the entire stadium. Until that point, it had no flood protection from Mississippi River flooding, causing the home team to play home games at other parks whenever the river floods. During the Great Flood of 1993
, photos of water creeping across the playing field at the ballpark made national publications and became somewhat of a symbol of the flood.
After the 2007 season, new owners Dave Heller and Bob Herrfeldt of Main Street Baseball came in and reinvigorated both the ballpark and the franchise. They sold naming rights to Modern Woodmen in a record 20-year deal, changed the name of the franchise back to "River Bandits," and made numerous improvements to the ballpark. For 2008, the club added a hot tub deck in right field, as well as a "tiki
village," featuring three tiki bars, a covered tiki lounge, and a king-sized tiki bed beyond the right field wall. They also excavated a gravel area along the left-field foul line and planted field corn; by mid-season the corn grows high enough so that the home-team players are introduced at the beginning of the game and come running out of the corn field, just like in the movie Field of Dreams
.
For 2009, Main Street Baseball continued to make improvements, adding a new 80 feet (24.4 m), 6 feet (1.8 m) high-definition ribbon board along the right field fence and installing four new concourse-level "loge boxes" to accommodate small groups of people. Prior to the 2010 season, the City of Davenport and Main Street Baseball replaced the entire field, to facilitate proper drainage and minimize rainouts. Other new changes for 2010 include a new concession stand on the Picnic Plaza level and a colorful new group terrace next to the Tiki Village beyond the right-center field fence.
For both the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Modern Woodmen Park won the coveted "Best Ballpark Improvement" Award from Ballparkdigest.com, the industry's leading publication.
The River Bandits (then known as the Swing of the Quad Cities) defeated the Burlington Bees
1-0 in the first game at the renovated Modern Woodmen Park on April 29, 2004. The 2006 Midwest League
All-Star Game was held here, and the 2011 Midwest League
All-Star Game will be held here in late June.
In the summer of 2007, portions of the critically acclaimed film Sugar
was shot here, which included 800 - 1,000 people a night showing up to be extras. The movie follows the path of a young man from the impoverished Dominican Republic as he chases dreams of baseball stardom in America.
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
park located in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is home to the Quad Cities River Bandits, a single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
. It is located on the banks of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, in the shadow of the Centennial Bridge
Rock Island Centennial Bridge
The Centennial Bridge, or Rock Island Centennial Bridge, connects Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. The bridge is long and stands above water level. On September 4, 1988, lights were installed on the arches, which make the bridge a very scenic sight at night.Construction of the bridge...
. Home run balls to right field often land in the river.
History
Modern Woodmen Park was built in 1931, and was originally known as Municipal Stadium. It is one of the oldest ballparks still in use in all of the minor leagues, although it underwent a major renovation before the 2004 season that brought the ballpark up to modern professional baseball standards and a seating capacitySeating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 4,024.
In 1971 the stadium was renamed from Municipal Stadium to John O'Donnell Stadium in honor of the longtime sports editor of the Davenport Times-Democrat
Quad-City Times
The Quad-City Times is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area ....
, shortly following his death. John O'Donnell Stadium was renamed Modern Woodmen Park on December 12, 2007, after Rock Island
Rock Island, Illinois
Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...
-based Modern Woodmen of America
Modern Woodmen of America
Modern Woodmen of America is the third-largest fraternal benefit society, with more than 750,000 members. Total assets passed US $9 billion in 2009.-Financial Standing/Rating:...
purchased the naming rights
Naming rights
In the private sector, naming rights are a financial transaction whereby a corporation or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, typically for a defined period of time. For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three...
to the facility. O'Donnell's name remains on the ballpark's press box.
In earlier years, Modern Woodmen Park played host to high school football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
games. Assumption High School
Assumption High School (Davenport, Iowa)
Assumption High School is a Roman Catholic high school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport. Charles Elbert is the current principal of Assumption High....
(a private Catholic high school in Davenport) and Saint Ambrose College
Saint Ambrose University
St. Ambrose University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport. It is located in a residential area of Davenport, Iowa.-History:...
called the field home until 1987, when both schools began playing at Brady Street Stadium. It was also the site of the "Rumble on the Riverbank" boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
match on May 10, 1991, where local boxer Michael Nunn
Michael Nunn
Michael Nunn is a former American boxer. Nicknamed "Second to Nunn," he was a 6' 2" southpaw with great speed. Nunn was the IBF middleweight champion and the WBA super middleweight champion...
lost the IBF
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
middleweight
Middleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
title to James Toney
James Toney
James Nathanial Toney is an American professional boxer who has held world titles in the middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight divisions. Toney currently fights in the heavyweight division in boxing and also now competes in mixed martial arts.-Boxing career:Toney's amateur boxing...
.
The renovations done before the 2004 season include a nine-foot-high berm that provides a lawn seating area for fans. The berm also acts as a floodwall around the entire stadium. Until that point, it had no flood protection from Mississippi River flooding, causing the home team to play home games at other parks whenever the river floods. During the Great Flood of 1993
Great Flood of 1993
The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 occurred in the American Midwest, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages...
, photos of water creeping across the playing field at the ballpark made national publications and became somewhat of a symbol of the flood.
After the 2007 season, new owners Dave Heller and Bob Herrfeldt of Main Street Baseball came in and reinvigorated both the ballpark and the franchise. They sold naming rights to Modern Woodmen in a record 20-year deal, changed the name of the franchise back to "River Bandits," and made numerous improvements to the ballpark. For 2008, the club added a hot tub deck in right field, as well as a "tiki
Tiki culture
Tiki kitsch culture is a 20th-century theme used in Polynesian-style restaurants and clubs originally in the United States and then, to a lesser degree, around the world...
village," featuring three tiki bars, a covered tiki lounge, and a king-sized tiki bed beyond the right field wall. They also excavated a gravel area along the left-field foul line and planted field corn; by mid-season the corn grows high enough so that the home-team players are introduced at the beginning of the game and come running out of the corn field, just like in the movie Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
.
For 2009, Main Street Baseball continued to make improvements, adding a new 80 feet (24.4 m), 6 feet (1.8 m) high-definition ribbon board along the right field fence and installing four new concourse-level "loge boxes" to accommodate small groups of people. Prior to the 2010 season, the City of Davenport and Main Street Baseball replaced the entire field, to facilitate proper drainage and minimize rainouts. Other new changes for 2010 include a new concession stand on the Picnic Plaza level and a colorful new group terrace next to the Tiki Village beyond the right-center field fence.
For both the 2008 and 2009 seasons, Modern Woodmen Park won the coveted "Best Ballpark Improvement" Award from Ballparkdigest.com, the industry's leading publication.
The River Bandits (then known as the Swing of the Quad Cities) defeated the Burlington Bees
Burlington Bees
The Burlington Bees are a Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Oakland Athletics, that plays in the Midwest League. Their home is in Burlington, Iowa.-History:...
1-0 in the first game at the renovated Modern Woodmen Park on April 29, 2004. The 2006 Midwest League
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...
All-Star Game was held here, and the 2011 Midwest League
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...
All-Star Game will be held here in late June.
In the summer of 2007, portions of the critically acclaimed film Sugar
Sugar (2008 film)
Sugar is a 2008 sports drama film directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It follows the story of Miguel Santos, a. k. a. Sugar , a Dominican pitcher from San Pedro de Macorís, struggling to make it to the big leagues and pull himself and his family out of poverty...
was shot here, which included 800 - 1,000 people a night showing up to be extras. The movie follows the path of a young man from the impoverished Dominican Republic as he chases dreams of baseball stardom in America.