Tombstone
Born: 1969 – Re-branded from Medford Giants
Moved: 1971 (Spokane Indians)
First Game: June 20, 1969 (W 3-2 vs. Lewiston Broncs)
Last Game: August 31, 1971 (L 6-3 @ Tri-City Padres)
Northwest League Champions: 1969
Stadium
Ownership & Affiliation
Owners: Fred Priddle, Cleatis Mitchell, Bill White & Marty Crum
Major League Affiliation: Los Angeles Dodgers
Attendance
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Source: The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.), Lloyd Johnson & Miles Wolff, 2007. Page 547-555.
Background
The Medford Dodgers were a Class A farm club of the Los Angeles Dodgers based out of Medford, Oregon from 1969 through 1971. The previous two seasons, the franchise was a San Francisco Giants affiliate known as the Medford Giants.
During the 1969 season, the ball club was formally known as the “Rogue Valley Dodgers”. However, several newspapers that covered the Northwest League beat, including The Tri-City Herald, The Corvallis Gazette-Times and both of Spokane’s dailies either referred to the club as “Medford” or used the names interchangeably.
In 1969, Rogue Valley posted a 50-29 record and ran away with the Northwest League pennant. Granted there were only four teams in the NWL that summer, making it the smallest circuit among the 21 pro leagues that operated in the U.S. and Mexico in 1969. The Dodgers outpaced the second place Tri-City A’s by 9 games in the final standings. No playoffs were held.
In each of the following two seasons, the Medford Dodgers would finish last place in their division in what was now a six-team Northwest League loop.
On The Field
Only three Rogue Valley/Medford Dodgers ever graduated to play in the Major Leagues. 20-year old pitcher Bob Rauch (Rogue Valley ’69) made 19 relief appearances for the New York Mets during the 1972 season. Pitcher Greg Shanahan (Medford ’70) and catcher Kevin Pasley (Medford ’71) both had cups of coffee in the Majors in the mid-1970’s, but neither played a full season in The Show.
Rogue Valley’s 21-year old third baseman Bobby Buckner, older brother of future Major League star Bill Buckner, led the Northwest League in batting in 1969 with a .348 average.
20-year old Eduardo Acosta threw a 7-inning perfect game in the front end of a doubleheader against the Walla Walla Bears at Miles Field on July 7th, 1969. Acosta, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, became a top flight pitcher in the Class AAA Mexican league during the early/mid 1970’s.
17-year old rookie Al Dawson, Los Angeles’ 3rd round draft pick in the June 1969 MLB Amateur Draft, led the NWL in wins in 1969 while posting a 10-1 record with a 2.56 ERA. Dawson was even more spectacular the following season with Bakersfield in the California League, going 17-6 with a 2.47 ERA while striking out 244 in 182 innings pitched. Dawson spent most of 1971 at the Dodgers’ Class AAA club in Spokane, Washington. But his career short-circuited soon afterwards and Dawson was out of baseball for good at the end of the 1972 season at age 20.
Name Change & Departure
The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled out of Medford and shifted their Northwest League operation to Spokane prior to the 1972 season.
Pro baseball returned to Miles Field with the arrival of the Northwest League’s Medford A’s in 1979.
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