A Baseball Purist's Paradise - KWQC-TV6 News and Weather For The Quad Cities -

A Baseball Purist's Paradise

Updated: Aug 10, 2012 05:14 PM CDT
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It's a gem, and a throwback to days gone by. It is the Diamond on the River in Clinton. The home of  Minor League Baseball's Clinton LumberKings.

There is a beauty in simplicity. Simplicity is a mainstay at what is now called Ashford University Field. The intimacy of seats so close to the playing field. The original beams give the place legs. A roof which covers the grandstand.  

Lydia Halbach has been on the club's Board of Directors for many years. Lydia says when she came to Clinton in 1962, and saw the stadium, she thought it was heaven. She loves to attend LumberKings games.

Stadium construction began in 1935. It was a WPA Project during the depression. An opportunity to provide jobs for people looking for work. General Manager Ted Tornow says the raw materials to build the stadium arrived by rail. They were hoisted across the parking lot. Riverview Stadium opened in 1937, about a year and a half after construction got underway. It was built for less than 160 thousand dollars. Almost 108 thousand man hours were put in to building the stadium.

Over the years, the minor league team has been affiliated with the Dodgers, Giants, and Mariners to name a few. Ted Tornow believes baseball in Clinton evokes memories of days when life was just so much simpler.