Joe Martin Stadium is a

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, located in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (lo ...

. It was a

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in N ...

ballpark 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 (cre ...

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 Basebal ...

for 24 seasons, from 1973 through 1996. The ballpark hosted three different NWL teams. The

Bellingham Dodgers The Bellingham Dodgers were a Minor League Baseball team in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, based in Bellingham, Washington. The franchise played four season as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1973-1976. In 1977 the team w ...

arrived in 1973 and stayed for four seasons. They were replaced in 1977 by the most well-known tenant, the

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 B ...

(or "Baby M's"), who played from 1977 through 1994 and gave big-league Mariners fans a glimpse of the future with players like

Ken Griffey Jr. George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Marin ...

Edgar Martínez Edgar Martínez (born January 2, 1963), nicknamed "Gar" and "Papi", is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a designated hitter and third baseman for the Seattle Mariners from 19 ...

Dave Henderson David Lee Henderson (July 21, 1958 – December 27, 2015), nicknamed "Hendu", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletic ...

, and

Dave Valle David Valle (; born October 30, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Texas Rangers from to . He attended ...

. After 18 seasons and four league championships, the Mariners moved their NWL ballclub closer to Seattle at Everett. The

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

brought their affiliate to town where they played for two years (1995–96), then moved south to

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

and became the

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their h ...

in 1997. In 1999, it became the home of the

Bellingham Bells The Bellingham Bells are a collegiate summer baseball team in the West Coast League. The team is composed of college baseball players from teams around the U.S. In recent years, the Bells have produced a number of Major League players includin ...

of the Pacific International League (PIL). The Bells played in the PIL for six years. In 2005, the team chose to become one of the founding franchises of the

West Coast Collegiate Baseball League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCB ...

. Today, the league was later renamed the

West Coast League The West Coast League (WCL) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 2005, comprising teams from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta. The WCL was previously named the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCC ...

and features some of the finest collegiate players in the country. Each summer the Bells play around 30 home games at Joe Martin Field as part of their WCL schedule which features teams from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. In 2014, the natural grass playing surface was replaced with synthetic FieldTurf; the renovation cost about $1.44 million and was completed in March 2015. The field has an unorthodox southwest alignment (home plate to center field); the recommended alignment is east-northeast, nearly opposite. Its

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

Notable People that played at Joe Martin Stadium

References

{{reflist

External links

Bellingham Bells
Buildings and structures in Bellingham, Washington 1964 establishments in Washington (state) Baseball venues in Washington (state)