From the March 5, 2015 edition of the Portland Tribune

The fledgling Great West League, featuring wood-bat baseball for college players, is considering awarding a franchise to Portland.

The league plans to begin play in early June 2016. Chico and Lodi in California already have secured teams, and the GWL is looking to add more in the Portland area, Oregon and California.

The league plans to begin play in early June 2016. Chico and Lodi in California already have secured teams, and the GWL is looking to add more in the Portland area, Oregon and California.

The Great West League’s co-founders are Ken Wilson and Pat Gillick.

Wilson was the first president of another summer wood-bat league for collegians, the West Coast League, serving from 2008-13. He is a former major league and NHL broadcaster now living in Portland. He was an MLB voice for 24 years, including six seasons with legendary play-by-play man Dave Niehaus and the Seattle Mariners.

Gillick, a National Baseball Hall of Fame member, is president of the Philadelphia Phillies. He has been general manager of four MLB teams, including the Mariners (200-03) and led the Toronto Blue Jays to two World Series championships and the Phillies to one World Series title.

Wilson says the Great West League “has received about a dozen serious inquiries from individuals and groups interested in owning a team. The league’s focus is on serving the Western United States and growing the opportunity for top college baseball players.”

Portland lost pro baseball when owner Merritt Paulson sold the Triple-A Portland Beavers after the 2010 Pacific Coast League season and turned PGE Park (now Providence Park) into a soccer-dominated stadium.

With limited baseball facility options in Portland, the GWL likely would play its home games at one of the city-managed ballparks, Walker Stadium in Lents Park or Sckavone Stadium in the Sellwood area.

A few years ago, Paulson looked at Lents Park as a possible site for a new Beavers stadium, but he wound up selling to a group that moved the franchise to Tucson and then to its current location, El Paso, Texas.

Walker Stadium, built in 1956, would require some upgrades in order to host a GWL team playing a 60-game schedule (30 home games). But, with renovations Walker Stadium has the infrastructure and room for the needed seating capacity of about 1,500 and accompanying concessions, press box and other amenities. And, Walker is close to the I-205 freeway and MAX light-rail.

The GWL is promoting baseball in a minor league-like atmosphere of family entertainment. The league hopes to begin with six teams, all to be named by the end of the summer.

The Chico Heat will play at Nettleton Stadium, capacity 4,200 and also home to the Cal State Chico baseball team. Gillick, a Chico native, is one of the team owners.

The yet-to-be-named Lodi team owner is Jack Donovan, a former president and co-owner of the Portland Winterhawks who has years of minor league baseball front-office experience in the PCL and elsewhere. Lodi will play at the 1,337-seat Tony Zupo Field, which is run by the Lodi Parks and Recreation Commission.