Portland Beavers

Franchise history

Many baseball teams have been known as the Portland Beavers; the most recent club, which began operating in 2001, recognized the history of all previous incarnations as its own, stating it was established in 1903, the same year the Pacific Coast League was established. The "Beavers" originated in 1906 following a newspaper contest to rename the existing Portland team that had been created in 1901 when a group of Portland businessmen founded the Portland Baseball Club.

Along with the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Rainiers, a Portland Beavers club was a charter member of the Pacific Coast League in 1903. Portland and Sacramento were the only two charter cities that had a team in the PCL as of 2010, the other cities having been taken over by Major League Baseball franchises.

Following the 2010 season, the Beavers were placed for sale and relocation because of the lack of a suitable stadium in Portland, as PGE Park was being remodeled into a soccer-only configuration for Major League Soccer's 2011 expansion Portland Timbers. In 2010, the Beavers were sold to Jeff Moorad, owner of the San Diego Padres. The team temporarily moved to southern Arizona and became the Tucson Padres while awaiting a new purpose-built stadium in their planned future home of Escondido, California. After the 2013 season, the Padres instead moved them to El Paso, Texas, and became the El Paso Chihuahuas.

Establishment of a Portland team: 1903–1918

On December 10, 1902, Henry Harris, the owner of the California League's San Francisco team announced that the Pacific Northwest League team from Portland, the Portland Webfoots, and a new team from Seattle were joining with the California League to create the Pacific Coast League (PCL). Before the Portland franchise joined the PCL, the president of the Pacific Northwest League, Henry Lucas, was adamant in keeping the Portland franchise in his league. A team in the Pacific Northwest League was formed called the Portland Green Gages, which folded early in its first season. When the Portland PCL team first started playing, they were known as the Portland Browns. In their first season, classified as an independent league, the PCL featured six teams including the Browns. The Browns finished their first season fifth in the PCL. During the 1904 season, the Browns finished with a record of 79–136. The 136 losses still stands as a record in the PCL for most losses by a team in a single season. Other records for that season include the most errors in a season (669), and the lowest single-season team fielding percentage (.929).

Before the 1905 season, professional baseball player Walter McCredie and former Republican U.S. House member from Washington Judge William Wallace McCredie purchased the Portland franchise. The team was then renamed the Portland Giants and Walter McCredie was named the player-manager of the team. During the 1905 season, the PCL was re-classified as a Class-A league in minor league baseball. In 1906, the team was renamed the Portland Beavers after a newspaper contest was started to decide the new name of the team. That season, the Portland team won its first pennant in the PCL. Beavers player Mike Mitchell led the PCL in home runs with six, the fewest ever to lead the PCL. Mitchell also led the league in batting average. The 1906 Beavers were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time.

The Beavers finished last in 1907, and second in 1908 and 1909. In 1910, Portland won another pennant behind the pitching of Vean Gregg and Gene Krapp. Gregg finished the season with a 32–18 record and 14 shutouts while Krapp had a 29–16 record for the season. Portland repeated as PCL champs in 1911 fielding four 20-game-winning pitchers. In 1912, Judge McCredie helped get a new 12,000-seat grandstand built at Vaughn Street Park. His obituary later read that the ballpark was "the sensation of baseball, because it inaugurated a minor league precedent of providing individual grandstand seats, which fellow magnates called an extravagance and a dangerous innovation." The NAPBL made a change to league classifications in 1912, making Double-A the top tier. The PCL, and the Portland Beavers, moved into this new classification from the previous top tier Class A league.

Return to the Pacific Coast League: 1919–1972

With the McCredies still at the helm, Portland was offered an expansion franchise and re-entered the PCL in 1919. The team finished in seventh place, only ahead of last-place Seattle who was also an expansion team that year. Portland finished in last place in 1920 and again in 1921. After the 1921 season, the McCredies sold the team to Walter Klepper who had been president of the Seattle team. Klepper brought in the 35-year old Jim Thorpe, who played outfield and first base with the Beavers in 1922, paying him a then-unheard of minor league salary of US$1,000 per month.

It was not long before Klepper was in the middle of a dispute with Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Klepper had brought Seattle player-manager Bill Kenworthy down to manage the Beavers, only Seattle claimed Kenworthy was still under contract and that Klepper had tampered in the matter. Landis suspended Klepper until January 1, 1925, and declared Kenworthy ineligible to play or manage Portland until 1924. According to The Portland Beavers, a book by Kip Carlson and Paul Andresen, "The feisty Klepper went to court and had the decision overturned, supposedly the only time that Landis ever had a ruling reversed." Kenworthy did manage the Beavers in 1924, replacing popular player-manager Jim Middleton. He was fired mid-season, though, as he was not able to generate support from the players. The 1924 season was also noteworthy in that future Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane played on the team.

After 1924, the Beavers officially became a farm team for a major league team for the first time when Philadelphia Athletics owners John and Tom Shibe purchased the Beavers as well as Vaughn Street Park. Despite having Duffy Lewis on the team in 1925 (winning the PCL batting title), Elmer Smith in 1926 and 1927 (leading the PCL in home runs in 1926 and all of minor league baseball in home runs in 1927), and Ike Boone in 1928, the Beavers continued to finish in the bottom half of the league.

Longtime head groundskeeper Rocky Benevento started working for the Beavers in 1927. Benevento was so popular with the fans that they took up a collection for him in 1956 to send him to the World Series. Benevento retired at the end of the 1966 season and was given a new car. When Benevento died in 1969, The Oregonian stated, "He adored kids...he loved baseball...and most of all he loved people." His funeral had an overflowing crowd that included Oregon Governor Tom McCall. Benevento stayed with the team 40 years, spanning 30 managerial changes and five ownership changes. While the former location of Vaughn Street Park is now a parking lot, there is a plaque honoring Benevento for his efforts in furthering baseball in Portland.

Triple-A returns to Portland: 1978–1993

The PCL expanded in 1978 and added a new team in Portland, calling themselves the Beavers, displacing the single-A Mavericks. The new Beavers played in Civic Stadium for sixteen seasons through 1993. In 1983, the Beavers won the PCL pennant, the first for Portland in 47 years. Though tied for third overall during the regular season, the Beavers won the second half division title by four games, defeated first-half winner Edmonton Trappers in four games (3–1) to take the Northern Division title, then swept the three-time defending champion Albuquerque Dukes in three games in the finals to capture the league championship. As PCL champs in 1983, the Beavers participated in the first Triple-A World Series, a three-team round-robin competition in Louisville with the champions of the International League and the American Association. Each team played the others twice and it was won by the Tidewater Tides of the IL with three wins. Portland was second, splitting with both teams, and the Denver Bears were 1–3.

A decade later, Beavers owner Joe Buzas moved the team after the 1993 season east to Salt Lake City, where they became the Salt Lake Buzz in 1994 in a brand new ballpark. The team was renamed the Stingers in 2001, and have been the Bees since the 2006 season. For the first time since 1894, Portland was without professional baseball.

After being without a team in 1994, the Class A Rockies of the Northwest League relocated from Bend for the 1995 season. The Portland Rockies played in the Rose City for the next six seasons and served an important role for the city, whose demand for a major league team was growing. They were league champions in 1997. Portland's support for the Rockies paved the way for the return of the Triple-A PCL in 2001.

The Beavers return: 2001–2010

Following the 2000 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres swapped Triple-A affiliates. The Albuquerque Dukes (a charter franchise of the PCL in 1903 as the Los Angeles Angels from 1903 to 1958, and later the Spokane Indians from 1958 to 1971) moved to Portland and became the Beavers, as the Padres' top affiliate. As part of the relocation agreement, Civic Stadium was renovated in 2000 and renamed PGE Park. The Las Vegas Stars (the 1919–72 Beavers) became the Dodgers' top affiliate; they were renamed the 51s for 2001. The single-A Portland Rockies moved up the Columbia River to Pasco and became the Tri-City Dust Devils in 2001.

In 2007, owner Merritt Paulson announced that he was considering changing the name of the team to prevent confusion with the Oregon State University teams from Corvallis. Possible new names and logos were unveiled, and a vote was staged on the team website. "Portland Beavers" won the contest, and the team unveiled new logos and colors on January 29, 2008. The Beavers emphasized their connection to the three prior franchises with the notation "Est. 1903" on their primary logo. The team also brought back the name "Lucky Beavers" as part of a sleeve patch on their alternate jersey.

In 2009, the city of Portland was awarded a Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion franchise for 2011, to be named the Portland Timbers. The Portland City Council approved a $31 million agreement to renovate PGE Park to a soccer- and football-only stadium, with the condition that a new ballpark be built in Portland for the Beavers by 2011.

Initial plans called for the new ballpark to be built at the site currently occupied by the Memorial Coliseum, which would have been torn down, but public outcry about demolishing a Portland landmark led Portland mayor Sam Adams to propose a second site in the Rose Quarter area north of Memorial Coliseum. The site, however, proved to be too small. Another location on the site of Charles D. Walker Stadium in the Lents neighborhood in southeast Portland was also rejected due to objections from neighbors. That was until the Portland Pickles collegiate wood bat team began play in 2016 at Walker Stadium.

In June 2009, the Portland City Council voted to separate the soccer and baseball projects, allowing renovation of PGE Park to proceed without completed plans for a baseball stadium in place. Other locations in the Portland area were considered for the ballpark, including a vacant terminal at the Port of Portland, Delta Park, the Portland Expo Center, Portland Meadows, the Westwood Corporation Heliport site, a building owned by Portland Public Schools near the Rose Quarter, and suburban locations in Beaverton, Clackamas, and Vancouver, Washington. None of these sites progressed past initial discussions.

Notable alumni

Eddie Basinski, infielder, inductee in Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame

Kyle Blanks, outfielder

Craig Breslow, pitcher

Sean Burroughs, pitcher, Olympic gold medalist in 2000

Mickey Cochrane, Hall of Fame catcher

Shawn Estes, pitcher, pitched in 12 games of rehab between 2006 and 2008

Ray Fosse, catcher, 1967–1968

George Freese, infielder

Josh Geer, pitcher

Chase Headley, infielder

Ramón Hernández, catcher, played 7 games of rehab

Tommy John, pitcher, 1964

Wade LeBlanc, pitcher

Pat Mahomes, pitcher

Sam McDowell, pitcher, 8–0 1964

Xavier Nady, outfielder and first baseman

Satchel Paige, pitcher, 5 starts, 2.88 ERA

Lou Piniella, outfielder, 1966–1968

Aaron Poreda, pitcher

Jeff Richards, a.k.a. Dick Taylor, shortstop; then became an actor

Richie Scheinblum, All Star outfielder