The Bend Rockies were a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team that played in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in central Oregon and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is located to the east of the Cascade Range, on the Deschutes River. The site became known by pioneers as a ford (cros ...

. The Rockies were members of the

Class A-Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (crea ...

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...

for three years, from 1992 through 1994 and were affiliated with the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

. Prior to 1995 season the franchise relocated to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, where they continued play as the Portland Rockies.

History

Following two seasons operating as a co-op club, the bend franchise signed player development contract with the expansion

. Bend was the first affiliate for the Colorado, who would not begin play until the following season in 1993. Bend, who had been named the Bucks for the past five years changed their moniker to mirror their parent club. The Bend Rockies began play in 1992. The Rockies posted a record of 43–33 on the year to win the south division title. Bend faced the

Bellingham Mariners The Bellingham Mariners were a Minor League Baseball team in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, based in Bellingham, Washington. The club served as the Seattle Mariners' short-season affiliate from 1977 to 1994. History Major League Ba ...

for league championship, but were swept by the Baby M's in the three game championship series. After reaching the peak of the Northwest League in their inaugural season, Bend would be unable to match the same level of success. The Rockies posted consecutive last place division finishes in 1993 and 1994. The 1994 season would the club's last in Bend. Portland, Oregon had been vacant since 1993 when then-owner

Joe Buzas Joseph John Buzas (October 2, 1918 – March 19, 2003)Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams h ...

of the Class

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. With Oregon's largest city open, the franchise opted to fill the void by relocating. Since the departure of the Bend Rockies, affiliated professional baseball has yet to return to

Central Oregon Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards t ...

. The only professional team to play in Bend since was the Bend Bandits of the

Western Baseball League The Western Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in the Western United States and Western Canada. Its member teams were not associated with any Major League Baseball teams. It operated from 1995 to 2002. The league was fou ...

; the Bandits folded in 1998.

Ballpark

The Rockies played at Vince Genna Stadium located in Bend, Oregon.

Identity

Initially, owner Jack Cain wanted to maintain the Bend Bucks . At the insistence of the Colorado Rockies general manager Bob Gebhard, Bend adopted the nickname of their parent club. The team's colors were purple, black, silver, and white and their uniforms were nearly identical to what the big club Rockies would wear with the exception of pinstripes. The new identity for Bend was an instant success as the club sold more merchandise on opening night than the Bucks had sold in the entire previous season.

Season-by-season record

Former players

* Bend Rockies players (1992–1994)

References

External links

Stats Crew
Bend Rockies {{coord, 46.077, -118.336, type:event, display=title Defunct Northwest League teams Colorado Rockies minor league affiliates Defunct baseball teams in Oregon Professional baseball teams in Oregon Sports in Bend, Oregon Baseball teams disestablished in 1994 Baseball teams established in 1992