Quincy Gems

Baseball in Quincy, IL dates back to 1883 and there is a long line of minor league teams that have played in the western Illinois town along the Mississippi River. The Gems moniker has been used the most frequently, starting with the Quincy Gems who played in the Iowa State League in 1907 and the Central Association in 1908. 

More commonly, the named was used in the Triple I League (also known as the Illinois - Indiana - Iowa League) from 1913-17 and 1946-56. The Triple I 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. 

The early Triple I Quincy Gems of the 1910s were league champs in 1913 with a 79-60 record. In the 1950s, the team was very successful on the field, winning the league in 1951, 1953, and 1954 via some unusual playoff runs. In 1951, the Gems finished third with a .500 record, but were able to pull off playoff series wins over Terre Haute and Cedar Rapids to win the title. They pulled off surprise playoff wins in '53 and '54 as well. In '53, they finished second but stormed through the playoffs with a win over Waterloo and a 3-0 sweep of Evansville. In '54 they did similar, finishing fourth in the regular season before beating Keokuk in the first playoff round and knocking down Perioa 3-0 in the final. 

The Gems moniker was briefly reborn in 1964 as a Midwest League used the name, before switching to the Quincy Cubs for the remainder of their tenure.