Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-10-27
TRI-CITY BASEBALL
Not so Much of a Dream as Nav
appear in the First Con-
temptation.
PRACTICAL AID FOR UNITY
Athletic Field on Rock Island Arsenal
Grounds Not Out of Cues
ton, Either.

Last evening The Argus offered the
suggestion that the possible ultimate
solution of the baseball problem in
Rock Island. Moline. and Davenport.
would be tri-city team 1t was fur
Their pointed out that the west end of
The Rock Island arsenal grounds would
be the best possible site for a park.
The idea has been favorably discussed
IN many quarters and seems to be one
worthy of elaboration.
Unity of general purpose is conceded
to be one of the things that the three
cities most need To attain the high
est measure of success as CONNER
cial center, petty jealousies must be
eliminated and the three municipal
ties work tremendously to a common
end. The people should be led To see
that what tends for the interests of one
of the cities is ultimately for the best
interests of all Anything that adds
10 the fame or the commercial import
ance of the community at large brings
benefits that are shared by all parts
of it,
Too Few Links Now,
to draw the people of the three towns
together and to Offset these there are
many things that tend to keep them
apart Probably no single influence
would do more to break down the bar
ricrs that exist than baseball team
under a common ownership. II would
not be difficult To induce fans accus-
toned Ia sit shoulder TO shoulder and
root and pun for victory on the dia-
mOnd to get close together on other
topics With common support team
could be maintained that would travel
in faster league than either city
alone could be a member of. Core
spondingly the prestige Of the com
munity would be increased.
To make a tri-city baseball team
feasible it would be necessary to find
a central place for grounds-somc To-
cation that all could claim a share in.
Davenport could not in the beginning
at least. be expected to be very ardent
in the support of = team that played
on this side of the river and Rock Is
land and Moline would, be in the same
situation if the grounds were across
The river Not only this. but there is
no tract centrally located and convent
emit of access for all three cities on
either side.
Island Only place.
So it is plain that if such an en-
terprise is 10 be undertaken the first
thing to be done is to secure the con
sent of the war department 10 some
by which location for
grounds can be had on the island.
There seems To be no good reason why
his cannot be done if the three cities
unite upon it in the same spirit that
they should unite upon a number of
other things.
In the first place the Rock Island
Arsenal Golf club might serve as an !
wedge. This is an institution
hat is already one of the most import |
mt unifyiug influences in which the |
cities have common part. Its property |
under government regulation and SUI
is located within the ar
5enai grounds. and its members have
he free run of a large portion of the |
island. 1t does no harm. costs the gov
eminent nothing and is in every way
and OF practical useful
ness 10 the community
Would Attain Larger End.
This being true, why not use similar
means in accomplishing a larger end?
An athletic field not necessarily i'll
ended for the exclusive use of a base
)all team could easily be laid out
he west end where there is abundant
'OOm quite remote from the ARSENAL
buildings and yet shut off from Fort
ARMSTRONG avenue by the railway eul-!.