Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be a passionate baseball fan, but he’s no Kevin Costner.
Costner starred in the baseball movie classic “Field of Dreams.” He played Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who plowed up part of his corn for a ballpark after hearing a voice that said, “If you build it, he will come.” Magically, members of the infamous 1919 Chicago Black Sox emerged from stalks at the edge of the outfield.
Last summer, Blagojevich pledged state assistance to help wealthy Democratic Party contributor John Simmons build a stadium for a minor league team in Marion. That Downstate city also pitched in financial help. Water and sewer connections are being laid, though no spending has come out of the $3 million infrastructure grant committed by the governor.
Movie fantasy is one thing, the realities of pork barrel spending another. They’re building it, but it may be that nobody will come to play.
The state money was pledged with assurances that Simmons had all but locked up a deal to move a minor league team to Marion. The team he eyed was the Silver Hawks of South Bend, Ind., in the Class A Midwest League. That league includes the Kane County Cougars and other teams from Dayton, Ohio, to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Problem is, the league doesn’t want to play in Marion. Teams in the lower minors travel by bus and Southern Illinois is hundreds of miles out of everybody else’s way. League officials said they began expressing those concerns last summer. But administration officials said they only recently learned of them when the league rejected Simmons’ bid to buy the Silver Hawks. That was after the state pledged the cash.
As a candidate, Blagojevich complained about pork barrel spending, arguing such grants were a waste of taxpayer money and often benefited political insiders. He has since backtracked and justified the Marion money as a way to boost tourism in an economically depressed region.
It’s hard to see how an empty ballpark will do much for Southern Illinois. Sure, Simmons could still lure another team, but the Midwest League appeared to be his best bet. Marion is too small a market to have much chance of landing a team higher up the minor league rungs.
The administration is working out details of its stadium grant, which technically would go to Marion and not Simmons. But a spokesman for Blagojevich’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity said the agency is proceeding and is not bothered that Simmons didn’t share the Midwest League’s concerns earlier.
Marion Mayor Bob Butler insists taxpayer money won’t go to waste even if the ballpark idea eventually is abandoned. The site work could be adapted to other uses, he told the Tribune’s Christi Parsons, adding that Simmons and his investors still could make a profit selling the land. “I’m sure it would be very attractive to some major retail developers,” he said.
Blagojevich didn’t commit state money to build a strip mall or help a political insider with a land deal. He promised a baseball stadium.
But this whole sorry episode is turning into a field of nightmares.
