Rock Island Islanders

The Rock Island Islanders was the name of a number of minor league teams from Rock Island, Illinois, from 1901 through 1937. The Islanders played mostly in the Three-I League (the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League) and the Mississippi Valley League. In the late 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 Islanders won the Three-I in 1909 with a 90-48 regular season record. That was their high-water mark in the league, as they were toward the bottom of the standings most years afterward, and they dropped down to the Class D Mississippi Valley League in 1922. In the 1920s the team moved to Douglas Park and shared it with the Rock Island Independents, an early NFL team; Douglas Park still exists today. In the MVL the Islanders won the league in 1932, finishing second in the regular season and then beating Davenport 4-2 in the playoffs. The two teams met in the playoffs again the following year, with Davenport getting the better of the rematch.

The MVL folded after the 1933 season, and the Islanders moved to the Western League for four seasons before folding themselves.