The Famous Three I League

    Thoughout the first 60 years of the 20th Century, the American Association was the most important minor league playing Baseball in the US Midwest. The second most important league in the area in that time period was the Class A Western League. The third most important league was the Class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, as known as the 3-I League. All three leagues got started firmly in time for the 1901 seasons. The three leagues worked very hard on keeping professional baseball alive in the Midwest thoughout this time period. Today we are going to focus on the 3-I League.

   As we look at the leagues history, we start at the beginning. On January 30, 1901 the league was founded and the first eight clubs were set when the following cities got franchises: Bloomington, Illinois, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Davenport, IA; Decatur, Illinois; Peoria, Illinois, Rockford, Illinois; Rock Island, Illinois and Terre Haute, Indiana. A month later the Peoria club was forced to move to Evansville, IL

   The Bloomington Blues missed only 1 season before World War I and stayed in the league for most seasons before leaving the league for good after the 1939 season. For most of their time in the league they were however known as the Bloomers. The Cedar Rapids Rabbits remained in the league until 1909. They were in and out of the league before returning for good in 1950. The Davenport River Rats were in the league until 1906. The were in the league for most of the years before World War I and in and out of the league until leaving for good after the 1958 season. The Decatur Commodores or Commies for short were a standard league club for most seasons until leaving the league after the 1950 season.
  
   The Evansville River Rats spent two seasons in the league before transferring to the Central League. The team returned to the league in 1919, with various nicknames off and on until leaving for good after the 1957 season. The Rockford Red Sox remained in the league for 4 seasons before moving to Peoria. The Rcokford club never returned to the league. The Peoria Distillers remained in the league until 1935 and returned a couple of times until the end of the 1957 season. The Rock Island Islanders remained in the league until 1911 and then off and on until 1921. The Terre Haute Hottentots played two seasons and like the Evansville Club moved to the Central League. They also returned to the league in 1919 and went off and on until after the 1957 season.

   The league itself played its first league games on May 2, 1901. Except for a one season break for World War I, the league played through until crashing into the Great Depression in mid season of 1932. The league was revived on the 34th anniversary of its original founding, January 30, 1935. Its great comeback was two years too early. After being forced to sit out the 1936, the comeback resumed in 1937. The league took a three season break for World War II, before returning for the 1946 season.

    The league like most others felt extra pressure to survive in the mid 1950s. With TV and home air conditioning entering into the picture it set off a strange series of events. At the end of the 1958 season, the league found itself down to 4 clubs. The Class A Western League was having problems of its own and called it quits. Four of the Western League clubs asked for admitance into the Three-I League even though two of the 4 clubs were outside of the leagues area. The four clubs, Des Moines, IA; Lincoln, Nebraska; Sioux City, Iowa and Topeka, Kansas were admitted into the league. The league had already added a team from Appleton, Wisconsin the season before. The league struggled on for the next three seasons before doing the same same thing that the Western League had done. Three surviving clubs dropped down to the Class D Midwest League, when the Three I league closed down for good in January of 1962. The Appleton,WI; Burlington, IA and Cedar Rapids, IA Clubs made the move. The three clubs quickly found themselves in familiar territory. Several of the clubs had been previous members of the Three-I League. All three clubs remain in the Midwest League today.

   Thoughout its years, the Three-I league provided its fans many exciting games. At least 8 league games went to 18 innings or more with one game in 1909 reaching a then record 26 innings!! At least two league games have been found where one team scored 25 or more runs. The league had a 1926 game where the Springfield Senators beat the Peoria Tractors by a score of 33-23. Yes that was baseball, not football. There were two games where a player had four home runs, at least once in a losing cause. The league had at least one player who pulled an unassisted triple play. The league had five pitchers had 9 inning perfect games, three of them were in a period of slightly more then three years. The league had at least two games where a pitcher had 18 or more strikeouts. The league had a 1930 game the pitcher had a no-hitter with 15 walks, at least he got the victory that day. During the 1953 playoffs, the league had a series where a team was outscored 36-2.