The Volcanoes history begins in Bellingham, Washington where the franchise played for eighteen season as an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

[3] In 1996, Bellingham Giants co-owners Jerry Walker and William Tucker announced that they were moving the franchise to Keizer, Oregon, a city of 22,000 people located immediately north of Salem.

City officials, led by Mayor Dennis Koho, and civic leaders worked toward getting a new baseball stadium located and built in Keizer.

The area had lacked a suitable facility for pro baseball since the early 1960s, when the Salem Dodgers vacated historic Waters Field (which burned down in 1966).

The new franchise was designated as a "Salem-Keizer" team, despite its location, in order to incorporate both the history and the prestige of the larger city and state capital.

In an effort to three-peat as Northwest League champions, the team came up short a dropped the championship series to the Spokane Indians.

Led by a pitching staff that recorded a 0.69 ERA over the four-game set, the Volcanoes defeated the Tri-City Dust Devils to with the league championship.

In the first decade of the new millennium the Volcanoes made an unprecedented six postseason appearances, winning four Northwest League championships.

The facility was built in less than a year, in time for the debut of the Volcanoes, on a tract of land adjacent to Interstate 5 just northwest of the Keizer interchange.

The Salem franchise played as the Senators until 1960, when it became a Class A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers and adopted the parent club's nickname.

In 1977, former Stockton Ports owner/manager Carl Thompson purchased the Salem franchise and put it back on the field as an NWL member and Dodgers farm club.

The Salem club had played its home games at the Chemeketa Community College field, which lacked a grandstand, permanent concession stands and other amenities.

Two former Volcanoes also played in the inaugural 2006 World Baseball Classic: Joe Nathan (U.S.) and Jonathan Sánchez (Puerto Rico).