Portland Beavers

Franchise history

The Portland Beavers name has been used by multiple baseball teams, with the most recent version starting in 2001. This club claimed the history of all earlier Portland teams as its own, saying it was founded in 1903, the same year the Pacific Coast League began. The Beavers nickname itself came from a 1906 newspaper contest to rename the existing Portland team, which had been created in 1901 when local businessmen formed the Portland Baseball Club.

A Portland Beavers team was one of the original members of the Pacific Coast League in 1903, alongside the Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks, Sacramento Solons, San Francisco Seals, and Seattle Rainiers. As of 2010, Portland and Sacramento were the only two cities from the original charter group still fielding a PCL team, as the other cities had been taken over by Major League Baseball franchises.

After the 2010 season, the Beavers were put up for sale and moved because Portland lacked a suitable stadium. PGE Park was being converted into a soccer-only venue for the Portland Timbers, who joined Major League Soccer in 2011. That same year, the Beavers were bought by Jeff Moorad, owner of the San Diego Padres. The team temporarily relocated to southern Arizona, becoming the Tucson Padres, while waiting for a new ballpark to be built in their planned permanent home of Escondido, California. However, after the 2013 season, the Padres moved the team to El Paso, Texas, where it became the El Paso Chihuahuas.

The Pacific Coast League was created on December 10, 1902, when Henry Harris, owner of the California League's San Francisco team, announced that the Portland Webfoots from the Pacific Northwest League and a new Seattle team would join the California League. Before Portland joined the PCL, Henry Lucas, president of the Pacific Northwest League, fought hard to keep the Portland franchise in his league. A team called the Portland Green Gages was formed in that league but folded early in its first season. When the Portland PCL team began play, it was known as the Portland Browns. That first season, the PCL was an independent league with six teams, and the Browns finished fifth. In 1904, the Browns posted a record of 79–136. Those 136 losses remain a PCL record for most losses in a single season. That same season also set league records for most errors in a year (669) and the lowest team fielding percentage (.929).