The Bellingham Giants 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 (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (bas ...

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 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 (loca ...

, 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, 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 Yo ...

. After years of struggling attendance, co-owners Jerry Walker and William Tucker moved the franchise south to

Keizer, Oregon Keizer () is a city located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, along the 45th parallel. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 36,478. It lies in the Willamette Valley, and is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Ar ...

, and began play in 1997 as 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 hom ...

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

. When

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

returned to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...

in , the

expansion Expansion may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''L'Expansion'', a French monthly business magazine * ''Expansion'' (album), by American jazz pianist Dave Burrell, released in 2004 * ''Expansions'' (McCoy Tyner album), 1970 * ''Expansio ...

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 ...

, but were commonly referred to as the "Baby M's." Bellingham enjoyed a long affiliation with the Mariners, lasting eighteen years, through

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. 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 'gi ...

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 Garden City, Idaho, a small city surroun ...

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 The Yakima Bears were a minor league baseball team in the northwest United States, located in Yakima, Washington. The Bears competed at the Class A Short Season level as members of the Northwest League from 1990 to 2012. Following the 2012 season ...

. Attendance woes continued as the Giants failed to eclipse fifty thousand in attendance. Following the season, the franchise relocated to

, 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 the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

in 1997, and rebranded as the

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 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 (WCC ...

Season-by-season record

Former players

* Bellingham Giants players (1995–1996)

References

External links

Stats Crew
Bellingham 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