of first. In 1956, the Beavers left the now-demolished Vaughn Street Park to move into 25,000-seat Multnomah Stadium, today's Providence Park. Throughout most of the 1960s, the Beavers were the Triple-A affiliate of the American League Cleveland Indians, nurturing such future stars as "Sudden" Sam McDowell, Lou "Mad Dog" Piniella, and Luis "El Gigante" Tiant. Later major league affiliations included the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies. In 1961, the Beavers signed the 56-year-old Satchel Paige. He pitched 25 innings for the Beavers, striking out 19 and giving up 18 earned runs without recording a decision. Following the 1972 season, principal owner Bill Cutler moved the team northeast to Spokane, who had lost their PCL team to Albuquerque after the 1971 season. For the next five seasons, Portland was in the short-season Class A Northwest League (NWL) with the independent and non-conforming Portland Mavericks, owned by actor Bing Russell. Triple-A returns to Portland: 1978–1993 The PCL expanded in 1978 and added a new team in Portland, calling themselves the Beavers, displacing the single-A Mavericks. The new Beavers played in Civic Stadium for sixteen seasons through 1993. In 1983, the Beavers won the PCL pennant, the first for Portland in 47 years. Though tied for third overall during the regular season, the Beavers won the second half division title by four games, defeated first-half winner Edmonton Trappers in four games (3–1) to take the Northern Division title, then swept the three-time defending champion Albuquerque Dukes in three games in the finals to capture the league championship. As PCL champs in 1983, the Beavers participated in the first Triple-A World Series, a three-team round-robin competition in Louisville with the champions of the International League and the American Association. Each team played the others twice and it was won by the Tidewater Tides of the IL with three wins. Portland was second, splitting with both teams, and the Denver Bears were 1–3. A decade later, Beavers owner Joe Buzas moved the team after the 1993 season east to Salt Lake City, where they became the Salt Lake Buzz in 1994 in a brand new ballpark. The team was renamed the Stingers in 2001, and have been the Bees since the 2006 season. For the first time since 1894, Portland was without professional baseball. After being without a team in 1994, the Class A Rockies of the Northwest League relocated from Bend for the 1995