The Bellingham Mariners 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 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 ...

, 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 (loc ...

. The club served as the

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) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

' short-season affiliate from 1977 to 1994.

History

Major League Baseball 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 o ...

in 1977 with the expansion Mariners of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

. Bellingham signed a player development contract with the Seattle and adopted their parent club's identity, taking the name Mariners. Also referred to as Baby M's, the team would serve as Seattle's only affiliate in their inaugural season. The Northwest League had two divisions, one for teams with affiliations and the other for independents. Bellingham won the affiliate division with a 42–26 record and played the

Portland Mavericks The Portland Mavericks are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league created in 2021. The entire league, including the Mavericks, will play their games at V ...

for the league championship. In a best of three series, Bellingham and Portland split the first two games. The Baby M's held off the Mavericks by a score of 4–2 in the decisive game to claim the 1977 Northwest League crown. Bobby Floyd earned the league's manager of the year award. The Mariners continued their on-field success with nearly identical records going 41–30 and 41–31 in consecutive seasons. In 1980, Bellingham amassed a 45-25 en route to a North Division title. The Baby M's faced 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 thei ...

in the league championship series, which they split during the first two games. The decisive third game was cancelled due to rain; as a result, the Mariners and Emeralds were named co-champions of the Northwest League. The club witnessed a significant jump in attendance with 42,292 passing through the turnstiles. Seeking to repeat as league champions the Baby M's claimed the north division. Bellingham faced the Medford A's in the championship series, but were swept in two games. Two seasons later in 1983, with a roster that included future Hall of Famer

Edgar Martinez Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval per ...

, the Mariners claimed the division title with a 40-28 record. Bellingham was again swept by Medford in the championship series. In 1984 and 1985 the Baby M's posted mirror finishes at 39-35 taking second in the Washington division standings. In 1987, 17-year-old

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 M ...

hit his first professional home run while on the road at Everett Memorial Stadium on June 18. A plaque was placed on the sidewalk outside the stadium where the ball landed. Despite on-field success and a steady stream of Mariners prospects, the club struggled with poor attendance. Following the 1994 season, the Mariners ended their relationship with Bellingham. Seattle moved their affiliation south to Everett were the team assumed a new identity as the Everett AquaSox. Everett, who had been affiliated with 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 ...

swapped with Seattle and moved their short-season affiliation to Bellingham. Bellingham assumed their parent club's moniker to become the

Bellingham Giants The Bellingham Giants were a Minor League Baseball team in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, based in Bellingham, Washington, for two seasons (1995, 1996), and were an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. After years of struggling atte ...

in 1995. The city government demurred on funding $100,000 in renovations to the team's ballpark amid the affiliation change.

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 tha ...

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

Hall of Fame alumni

(1987) Inducted, 2016 *

(1983) Inducted, 2019

Notable players

Phil Bradley Philip Poole Bradley (born March 11, 1959), is an American former professional baseball outfielder / designated hitter who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the American League (AL) Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, and Chicago White S ...

* Iván Calderón *

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 Athleti ...

Raúl Ibañez Raúl Javier Ibañez (; born June 2, 1972) is a Cuban-American former professional baseball left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) now serving as Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations for MLB. He played 11 of his 19 big league seaso ...

Mark Langston Mark Edward Langston (born August 20, 1960) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He pitched for the Seattle Mariners (1984–1989), Montreal Expos (1989), California / Anaheim Angels (1990–1997), San Diego Padres (1 ...

Derek Lowe Derek Christopher Lowe (born June 1, 1973) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. During his career, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland I ...

Joe Nathan Joseph Michael Nathan (born November 22, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, and Chicago Cu ...

* Russ Ortiz *

Jim Presley James Arthur Presley (born October 23, 1961) is a former Major League Baseball infielder with an eight-year career from 1984 to 1991. He played for the Seattle Mariners of the American League and the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres of the Na ...

* Dave Stewart MLB All-Star *

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 ...

Omar Vizquel Omar Enrique Vizquel González (; born April 24, 1967), nicknamed "Little O", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop. During his 24-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, Vizquel played for the Seattle Mariners, Cleveland I ...

MLB All-Star

References