The Bellingham Giants 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, ...
, for two seasons (1995, 1996), and were an affiliate of the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
. After years of struggling attendance, co-owners Jerry Walker and William Tucker moved the franchise south to
Keizer, Oregon, and began play in 1997 as the
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
History
The franchise arrived in 1973 as the
Bellingham Dodgers, affiliated with 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 ...
. When
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
returned to
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
in , the
expansion Mariners placed their first minor league affiliate in Bellingham. The club adopted the moniker of their parent club, taking the name
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 ...
, but were commonly referred to as the "Baby M's."
Bellingham enjoyed a long affiliation with the Mariners, lasting eighteen years, through
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
. Following that season, the Mariners signed a player development contract with Everett, who had been a
Giants
A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore.
Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to:
Mythology and religion
*Giants (Greek mythology)
* Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...
affiliate since 1984, and Everett became the
AquaSox. Seattle and San Francisco, essentially swapped affiliates as Bellingham inked an agreement with the Giants. Like their predecessors, who mirrored their parent clubs, the team took the name Giants.
Bellingham went in 1995 to earn the top spot in the north division, and the Giants faced the
Boise Hawks
The Boise Hawks are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. Home games are played at Memorial Stadium in unincorporated Ada County, Idaho, near ...
for the league crown. Boise bested Bellingham in the deciding game of the best-of-three NWL championship series. Despite winning a division title, the Giants struggled at the gate, and were last in the league in attendance.
The Giants returned in 1996 and were , a half-game behind the division winning
Yakima Bears. Attendance woes continued as the Giants failed to eclipse fifty thousand in attendance. Following the season, the franchise relocated to
Keizer, Oregon,
opened a new $7 million
ballpark
A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...
in 1997, and rebranded as the
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
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
Former players
*
Bellingham Giants players (1995–1996)
References
External links
Stats CrewBellingham Giants
{{s-end
Defunct Northwest League teams
San Francisco Giants minor league affiliates
Defunct minor league baseball teams
Baseball teams established in 1995
Defunct baseball teams in Washington (state)
Baseball teams disestablished in 1996
Bellingham, Washington