Civic Stadium

The left-field gate at what was then PGE Park, Aug-2004.

A new press box and luxury boxes were installed for 2001.

The Multnomah Athletic Club overlooks the field.

Chronological Tour: Stop 282

• Location: Morrison Avenue at SW 18 Street, Portland, Ore. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1926 as Multnomah Stadium (1956 for baseball) (last renovated 2001)
• Additional names: Portland Civic Stadium (1956); PGE Park (2001), Jeld-Wen Field (2011)
• Home team: Portland Beavers, Pacific Coast League (1956-72, 1978-93, 2001-10); Portland Mavericks (1973-77), Rockies (1995-2000), Northwest League; Portland Timbers, North American Soccer League (1975-82), Western Professional Soccer League (1985-90), A-League (2001-04), United Soccer League (2005-09), US Soccer Federation (2010), Major League Soccer (2011-present)
• Capacity: 26,912 (1985); 19,810 (2001)

Rating: 2 baseballs

The park later became known as PGE Park, with the utility Portland General Electric lending its name to help finance the renovations that led to the Albuquerque Dukes moving here for the 2001 season.

The original exterior remains, as do the upper-level seats. The roof was replaced, as were the lower-level seats, and new luxury boxes now take up the entire upper level behind the plate with the exception of the press box. The park also features a new, completely manual scoreboard, with sliding panels revealing the number of balls, strikes, and outs. According to site visitor Roger Carpenter, these panels are changed at the scoreboard by an operator using a cable-and-pulley system. This is unique; most parks with manual scoreboards use lighted bull’s-eyes or (as at Wrigley Field) another electromechanical system.

Unfortunately, the park also features artificial turf. A surface that appeared to be NexTurf (I didn’t find out for sure) supports not only the Beavers, but several high school baseball and football games, Portland State football, and the Portland Timbers, an A-League soccer team.

The city of Portland was intent on making the park, which played small in the one game I saw here (yielding six balls over the fence), into a full-time soccer facility, and there was no move afoot to build a new home for the Beavers. The Triple-A club was relocated to Tucson, Ariz., for 2011-13, prior to moving on to El Paso for 2014. That leaves the Timbers, now in Major League Soccer and hosting the 2014 MLS All-Star Game, as the main tenant. The metropolitan area is now served by the Hillsboro Hops, 14 miles to the west.