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Viewpoint: Quad-Cities misses its 'fan of the century'

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By Steve Batterson | Saturday, May 10, 2008 8:45 PM CDT | () comments

CROWDS at early-season Midwest League games in the Quad-Cities have been noticeably larger this season, but something has been missing.

The constant smile and persistent optimism of Dorothy Wulf has been absent at Modern Woodmen Park, Davenport’s riverfront baseball stadium, a home-away-from-home for Wulf since her childhood years.

Wulf was in the stands in 1931 when the first pitch at spanking-new Municipal Stadium was thrown, and when the renovated facility opened in 2004, Wulf and her husband, Frank, were there to root, root, root for the home team.

“We’ll get them tomorrow,’’ Wulf offered as encouragement to reporters working their way toward the clubhouse after a Quad-Cities loss.

That spirit and the confidence that another pennant was just around the corner typified Wulf, who cherished the friendships and memories she collected with every pitch and every at-bat along the way.

Family and friends gathered Saturday morning at Newcomb Presbyterian Church in northwest Davenport to celebrate Wulf’s life.

She passed away at the age of 91 on March 27, one week shy of opening day for the Quad-Cities River Bandits.

A moment of silence took place at the team’s season opener in remembrance of Wulf, whose memories and mementos chronicled more than 70 years of baseball in Davenport.

Earlier that day, former Chicago White Sox general manager Roland Hemond had phoned Frank Wulf to pass along his condolences, recalling the times he shared with the Wulfs while working as the farm director of the Angels when Quad-Cities was an affiliate of that organization.

That shouldn’t be a surprise.

People remembered Dorothy as much as Dorothy remembered people.

Wulf’s collection of autographed baseballs and bats would be the envy of any collector.

Worth even more were the memories chronicled in the pages of scrapbooks she kept, filled with clippings from newspaper articles and photographs she and Frank had snapped over the years.

Wulf worked in the front office for the Quad-Cities club for years, taking a secretarial position with the organization in 1963 when a young coach, Chuck Tanner, was taking on his first managerial assignment with the Quad-City Angels.

“We used to kid that we both got our start together, and I still have a great deal of admiration for him,’’ Wulf recalled in a 1991 interview with the Quad-City Times.

“Frank and I were at a game at Wrigley Field a few years ago and Chuck was talking with Harry Caray down on the field and we yelled down. He turned around and yelled, ‘Hey, Frank and Dorothy!’ Memories like that you never forget. This game has given us a lot of friends.’’

If a Quad-Cities minor-league player put together a 10-game hitting streak, struck out 10 batters or had achieved something special, it was the norm for the Wulfs to invite the player to their home and grill steaks to celebrate the occasion.

Snapshots were taken and pasted into scrapbooks that warmed many a cold winter night years later.

When former team president Kevin Krause decided to put together an all-century team in 2000, it was a given that Wulf was going to be named the team’s “fan of the century.’’

She was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch on opening day in 1991, the first time the Quad-Cities club took the field after winning its most recent pennant.

Mike Tatoian, the club’s general manager at the time, said Wulf was chosen because of the way she epitomized the spirit of the game.

“I couldn’t imagine a summer without baseball,’’ Wulf said in an interview at the time.

Those who knew her have found it difficult to imagine a summer without baseball and Wulf.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.