The Bellingham Dodgers were a Minor League Baseball 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 (cre ...

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Pacific Northwest, 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 Maj ...

, based 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 (locat ...

. 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 (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

from 1973-1976. 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 B ...

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

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 Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays their ...

. 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. They 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 League ...

. 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 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

, where they would play as the

Lethbridge Dodgers __NOTOC__ The Lethbridge Dodgers were a team in Minor League Baseball based in Lethbridge, Alberta, that competed from 1975 to 1983. After the 1983 season, the team relocated to Idaho and became the Pocatello Gems. History The Dodgers arrived in ...

of the Pioneer League.

Ballpark

The Bellingham franchise played at

Joe Martin Field Joe Martin Stadium is a baseball park in the northwest United States, located in Bellingham, Washington. It was a minor league ballpark in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League for 24 seasons, from 1973 through 1996. The ballpark hosted ...

, 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 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 including ...

of 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 (WCCB ...

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