Wednesday was a big payday at the Davenport City Hall. The baseball team, the Swing of the Quad Cities, paid the balance of its 415-thousand dollar debt to the city, the root of a battle between the team’s owners and city leaders for weeks. Davenport Mayor Ed Winborn is glad the dispute is over.
Winborn says “We needed to be paid but we certainly didn’t want to jeopardize baseball in Davenport so it’s just a great day.” The check arrived hours before aldermen were to go into special session to consider locking the team out of John O’Donnell Stadium. The check for 367-thousand dollars was presented by the team mascot to Mayor Winborn at city hall.
At the council meeting, Alderman Keith Meyer asked city administrator Craig Malin to lead everyone in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Malin did, but only after this disclaimer: Malin quoted Satchel Page who once said “The keys to a successful life were to work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt and dance like nobody’s watching.” He amended that to include — sing like nobody’s listening. Swing owner Kevin Krause of the Swing says the team wants to re-negotiate its lease with the city.