The Klamath Falls Gems were a collegiate wood bat

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team based in

Klamath Falls, Oregon Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was ...

. They began as an expansion team in the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

in 2011 and played their home games at

Kiger Stadium Kiger Stadium, formerly known as Gem Stadium, is a baseball stadium in the Altamont area of Klamath Falls, Oregon, United States. Construction began in late 1947 at the Crest Street site of Kiger Stadium, with a goal of opening in Spring 1948 fo ...

, which is also the home of the

Oregon Tech Owls The Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech) is a public polytechnic university in Oregon with a residential campus in Klamath Falls, Oregon, an urban campus in Wilsonville, Oregon, and additional locations in Salem and Seattle. Oregon Tec ...

. They were named after the former Class-D Far West League affiliate of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

that played from 1948 to 1951. They previously played in the

Golden State Collegiate Baseball League The Golden State Collegiate Baseball League (GSCBL) is a collegiate wood-bat baseball league based out of San Jose, California. It is a 5-team league that was created in 2012 following the folding of the Pacific West Baseball League, and featu ...

from 2016 to 2017 and were members of the

Great West League The Great West League (GWL) was a collegiate summer baseball league founded in 2014, comprising teams from California and Oregon. The league was designed to develop college talent, and only current college eligible players are allowed to parti ...

, having joined that league in October 2017 and played during the 2018 season. They were without a league as the GWL suspended operations on October 4, 2018, and have eventually ceased operations themselves without notice. The owner Joe O'Connor is being given until December 31, 2018, to renew the lease or the team will be considered defunct.

History

The Gems were founded in 2011 by a group of local sports personalities including longtime

men's basketball coach and athletic director

Danny Miles Danny Miles (born October 9, 1945) is a retired American basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Oregon Institute of Technology for 45 years from 1971 to 2016. Miles has led the Hustlin' Owls to three NAIA Division II ...

, Howard Morris, Don Gresdel and Eric Baker. They named Chuck Heeman as the team's inaugural general manager. They were named for the original Klamath Falls Gems that played in the original Far West League from 1948 to 1951. History
Gems website at Wayback Machine, Retrieved September 3, 2021

Front office staff

* Joe O'Connor - Owner * Nick Winstead - Assistant General Manager * DJ Harryman - Marketing Intern

Broadcasting

All games, home and away, were broadcast live on

KLAD-AM KLAD (960 AM broadcasting, AM, "ESPN 960 & 104.3") is a radio station city of license, licensed to serve Klamath Falls, Oregon, United States. The station, which began broadcasting in 1955, is currently owned by Basin Mediactive, LLC. Programmin ...

960 & FM 99.3

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

and streamed live at the station's website.

Year-by-year records

West Coast League

Golden State Collegiate Baseball League

Great West League

References

External links

Klamath Falls Gems official website

Great West League official website
Klamath Falls, Oregon Amateur baseball teams in Oregon 2011 establishments in Oregon Baseball teams established in 2011 {{Oregon-baseball-team-stub