1969--Professional Baseball Comes To Walla Walla

In 1969, Walla Walla was granted a Northwest League Franchise.  The team was a Class A farm club for the Philadelphia Phillies.  They started as the Walla Walla Bears, but the next season, they became the Walla Walla Phillies.  Their tie with the Phillies meant that many potential Major Leaguers were with the team.

The Portland Mavericks Remembered

Larry Stone writes an excellent piece on  "..the nuttiest baseball team the Northwest has ever seen" in today's Seattle Times.  Stone talks about the Portland Mavericks, so named because they had no Major League affiliation.  They were in the Northwest League with the Walla Walla Padres and became the team everyone loved to hate.  I had been wanting to do a post on the team, but really did not know where to begin.  You can read Larry's story by clicking here.

Northwest League Baseball--The Walla Walla Islanders

Walla Walla would get Minor League Baseball in 1969, the same year Major League Baseball first came to the Seattle (The Pilots).  At first, the Walla Walla Bears were affiliated with Philadelphia. When that tie ended, Walla Walla began an unusual affiliation with a Pacific Coast League team, The Hawaii Islanders.  The season before, Hawaii had the Bend Rainbows in the Northwest League. In the picture above, actor Kurt Russell, who at the time was appearing in Disney films, was trying to make a second career as a baseball player.  Tom Trebelhorn, would later have success as a manager in the "bigs".  Team Owner, Verne Russell (no relation to Kurt) is also pictured on the left in a tie.  The team played at Borleske Stadium.  It was a great place to spend a summer evening. 
The next season,  the team would begin a long affiliation with the San Diego Padres.