The Bellingham Dodgers were a

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team in 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 ...

, based in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

. The franchise played four season as an affiliate of the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

from 1973 to 1976. In 1977 the team would change names to

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 ...

representative of their new parent club.

History

The franchise arrived in 1973 as the Bellingham Dodgers, affiliated with the

. After three seasons in Medford and one season in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south ...

in 1972, the Dodgers moved their Northwest League affiliate to Bellingham for 1973. In their first season the Dodgers posted a record of 42–37. The Dodgers would build upon their initial success. Bellingham went 52–32 on the year to win the West Division title. In the best of three games league championship series, the Dodgers fell to the Eugene Emeralds. The team gained unwanted national notoriety in 1975 when it opened the season with 25 straight losses; they finished at . The Dodgers would again find themselves at the bottom of the league standings in 1976. Following the season the franchise signed a player development contract with the expansion

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. The Los Angeles Dodgers shifted their short season affiliation to

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

, where they would play as the Lethbridge Dodgers of the Pioneer League.

Ballpark

The Bellingham franchise played at Joe Martin Field, a venue with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

near 1,600. The park is currently the home of the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast League.

Season-by-season record

References

External links

Baseball Reference
{{s-end Defunct Northwest League teams Los Angeles Dodgers minor league affiliates Defunct minor league baseball teams Professional baseball teams in Washington (state) Baseball teams established in 1973 Defunct baseball teams in Washington (state) Baseball teams disestablished in 1976

History

Ballpark

Season-by-season record

See also

References

External links