The Portland Gherkins are a collegiate woodbat baseball team based in Portland, Oregon. They are charter members of the

Wild Wild West League The Wild Wild West League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league based out of Portland, Oregon. It serves as a developmental minor league and is owned and operated by the Portland Pickles collegiate baseb ...

, a short-season developmental

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

league owned by Rose City Baseball, LLC, and operated by the Portland Pickles baseball club of the West Coast League. They play their home games at Walker Stadium in Portland's Lents Park and are the Pickles' farm club.

History

The Gherkins were founded in 2019 by Rose City Baseball, LLC, as a farm team for the Portland Pickles baseball club of the West Coast League. The original plans were to have the Gherkins play an independent schedule as a way to enhance talent to play in the WCL. However, on June 5, 2020, the WCL's board of directors voted to cancel ''their'' 2020 season due to COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Pickles organization founded the

in response to the WCL season cancellation, playing in Bob Brack Stadium at North Marion High School in

Aurora, Oregon Aurora is a city in Marion County, Oregon, United States. Before being incorporated as a city, it was the location of the Aurora Colony, a religious commune founded in 1856 by William Keil and John E. Schmit. William named the settlement after ...

. As previously planned, the team plays fellow teams in the WCL, including the Pickles, with Gherkin players given the opportunity to move up to the Pickles roster based on ability.

Wild Wild West League (2020-present)

2020: "The Pandemic Season"

The

consisted of four teams: the Pickles, Gherkins,

Gresham GreyWolves The Gresham GreyWolves are a collegiate woodbat baseball team located in Gresham, Oregon. The GreyWolves play at Oslund Field on the campus of Mount Hood Community College and were a member of the West Coast League (WCL), a collegiate summer b ...

, and

West Linn Knights The Wild Wild West League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league based out of Portland, Oregon. It serves as a developmental minor league and is owned and operated by the Portland Pickles collegiate baseball club of the West Coast ...

. Games ran in a short-season format from July 11 to August 7 with playoffs on August 8 and a final championship game on August 9, which was won by the Knights after eliminating the Gherkins in the semi-finals.

2021: New Home, New Direction

In the summer of 2021, the Gherkins ''and'' the WWWL were such a hit that the league and all teams relocated to Walker Stadium in east Portland, the Pickles' home field, to start their second season. The Gherkins were eliminated from the championship game a second time, this time by the expansion

Willamette Wild Bills The Wild Wild West League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league based out of Portland, Oregon. It serves as a developmental minor league and is owned and operated by the Portland Pickles collegiate baseb ...

2022: First Championship

After failing to make the title game the first two years, the Gherkins finally won the 2022 Wild Wild West League Championship defeating the

9-7. Kane Kiaunis was named the game's most valuable player. They are the second Portland team to win a championship with the Portland Rosebuds winning the previous season.

Sponsorship

Largely made up of local players, the Gherkins have partnered with the Milwaukie, Oregon-based company

Dave's Killer Bread Dave's Killer Bread is an American brand of organic whole-grain products. Flowers Foods purchased the brand in 2015 for $275 million. The brand was founded in 2005 in Milwaukie, Oregon by Dave Dahl, who learned the baking trade growing up in h ...

for the latter to act as the official broadcast partner.New for 2020: Portland Gherkins
''Ballpark Digest'', December 11, 2019 In 2022, they partnered with Portland-based Pickle Finance as a team sponsor.

Broadcast

Gherkins games are broadcast on the Portland Pickles' Facebook Live and YouTube channels with play-by-play announcers changing year to year. The initial Wild Wild West League announcer was Mike Chexx for the 2021 season, but moved up to the Pickles announcer's booth in 2022.

Results by season

References

External links

Portland Gherkins' Wild Wild West League website page

Wild Wild West League official website
{{Oregon Sports 2019 establishments in Oregon Amateur baseball teams in Oregon Baseball in Portland, Oregon Sports clubs and teams in Portland, Oregon Baseball teams established in 2019