Portland Beavers (1906-1972)

Pacific Coast League (1906-1917 & 1919-1972)

Background

The original Portland Beavers baseball team traces it origin story back to the foundation of the Pacific Coast League in 1903. The iconic circuit began play that spring as a six-team association with ball clubs in Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacrament, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. The Portland club played as the Browns (1903-1904) and the Giants (1905) before settling on the classic Beavers name in 1906.

The Beavers were quite successful in their early years, claiming five PCL titles in the years before World War I. The team went dark for the 1918 season, but returned to play the following year. Pennants became scarcer though. The Beavers would win only two more Pacific Coast League crowns (in 1936 and 1945) over the next 54 seasons.

Notable Names

In 1953, as Portland headed into its 50th season in the Pacific Coast League, the team published an “Old Timers All-Star Team” in its souvenir program, proposing the top Beavers at each position over the decades. The line-up included:

• Catcher Mickey Cochrane (Beavers ’24)
• First Baseman Jim Poole (Beavers ’21 – ’24)
• Second Baseman Ed Basinski (Beavers ’47 – ’57)
• Shortstop Dave Bancroft (Beavers ’12 & ’14)
• Third Baseman Pinky Higgins (Beavers ’32)
• Left Fielder Ken Williams (Beavers ’17)
• Center Fielder Bob Johnson
• Right Fielder Buddy Ryan (Beavers ’08-’11 & ’14)
• Right Handed Pitcher Ad Liska
• Left Handed Pitcher Vean Gregg

Cochrane and Bancroft spring boarded to storied Major League careers after playing in Portland. Both would ultimately earn election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Basinski was the Beavers all-time Iron Man, playing in astonishing 1,467 games over parts of 11 seasons. The PCL played marathon schedules in Basinski’s era. In 1950, the second baseman appeared in all 202 (!) of Portland’s games.

Higgins, like Cochrane and Bancroft, was a product of the 1925-1934 era when Philadelphia Athletics owner John Shibe backed the Beavers financially and helped himself to the team’s best players. After playing one summer in Portland in 1932, Higgins went on to become a 3-time All-Star in the Majors as a player and later became the field manager and general manager of the Boston Red Sox in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Had this All-Time Team been published 20 years later, however, it’s doubtful Higgins would have been included. He was widely reported as a virulent racist whose presence contributed to Boston’s shameful record as the last Major League team to integrate its roster. And in 1968, he was convicted in a fatal drunk driving incident. Paroled after serving just two months, Higgins dropped dead of a heart attack on the day of his release from prison.

Portland Beavers Shop

Links

Pacific Coast League Media Guides

Pacific Coast League Programs