Alton Blues

The Alton Blues, hailing from Alton, Illinois were a one-year wonder in the III League (Illinois - Indiana - Iowa League). Located about 20 miles north of St. Louis, Alton sits along the Mississippi River in Illinois. The Blues joined the league for the 1917 season, but they wouldn't last long as the league ended the season early due to the start of WWI. The Blues would finish in last with only 18 wins from 62 games. They played at Sportsman's Park, which is now the site of the Alton Police Department. 

The III League was a Class B league that ran from 1901 through 1962 consisting of teams from across Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, and occasionally other midwestern states such as Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. In the 1800s and first half of the 1900s, teams existed in thousands of small towns across the United States, as Americans looked for recreational activities and entertainment in the era before TV.