The San Jose Giants are a
Minor League Baseball team of the
California League
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
and the
Single-A
Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classif ...
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 Yor ...
. Located in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
, the Giants play their home games at
Excite Ballpark
Excite Ballpark, previously known as San Jose Municipal Stadium or Muni Stadium, is a baseball park in San Jose, California. It is the home of the Minor League Baseball San Jose Giants, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. The team plays in ...
.
Games
![Minor league](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Minor_league.jpg)
San Jose Giants games are very much rooted in the older traditions of baseball. Fans sit very close to the field, general admission seating is available for games, players sign autographs before every game, and the outfield walls are lined with advertisements much like the stadiums of the 1920s and 1930s were. A simple scoreboard shows basic game data like runs, strikes, balls, and outs. This was updated in 2005 to feature lights to denote the count (three lights for
strikes and four for
balls) rather than numbers. The out-of-town scoreboard displaying other California League game scores was manually operated using hand-hung number cards. In 2006, the simple scoreboard was replaced with a 21-by-15-foot video screen costing $500,000, and the out-of-town scoreboard was no longer used. Between innings, fans are treated to a variety of games and entertainment, such as kids' air guitar, a child footrace around the bases, or throwing a baseball at a truck's headlights for prizes. The San Jose Giants also added a mascot, Gigante, for the 2006 season. Before Gigante's introduction, San Francisco Giants mascot
Lou Seal
This is a list of current and former Major League Baseball mascots, sorted alphabetically.
The tradition in the Major League Baseball mascot began with Mr. Met, introduced for the New York Mets when Shea Stadium opened in 1964. Although some masc ...
made occasional appearances.
San Jose Giants games were often the home of
Krazy George. George was a well known "fan" in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
who attended not only SJ Giants games, but also many of the MLB, NFL, NHL, and NCAA football games in the region. His claim to fame is being the creator of "
the wave" in Oakland on October 15, 1981, where fans rise and wave their arms in sequence around a stadium thus created a wave-like effect when viewed from a distance.
History
San Jose has hosted multiple minor league baseball teams throughout its history. The current lineage can be traced back to the San Jose Bees who joined the
California League
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
in 1962 as an affiliate of the expansion
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...
. They switched to a
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
affiliate from 1970–1974 and a
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
affiliate in 1975–1976. Many players on the Kansas City Royals teams of the 1970s and 1980s, including
George Brett
George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player who played all of his 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman for the Kansas City Royals.
Brett's 3,154 career hits are second-mo ...
,
Amos Otis
Amos Joseph Otis (born April 26, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a center fielder from to , most prominently as an integral member of the Kansas City Royals team that won t ...
, and
Dennis Leonard
Dennis Patrick Leonard (born May 8, 1951) is a former pitcher for the Kansas City Royals in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He retired in 1986 due to injuries.
Born in Brooklyn, Leonard attended Oceanside High School on Long Island, then playe ...
played in San Jose.
The
Sacramento Solons
The Sacramento Solons were a minor league baseball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Pacific Coast League during several periods (1903, 1905, 1909–1914, 1918–1960, 1974–1976). The current Sacramento River Cats began pl ...
then leased the San Jose affiliate for two seasons, when they were known as the San Jose Missions and played in the
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
as an affiliate of the
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
and
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 ...
. In 1982 the club became affiliated with the
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
and was known as the San Jose Expos. The Expos ended their affiliation after one year and the renamed Bees became an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
club.
As an independent club, the Bees were free to sign players from
Nippon Professional Baseball
or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''.
Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...
; the
Seibu Lions
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, w ...
sent several players to the Bees on loan in this period including
Norio Tanabe and
Kimiyasu Kudo.
The 1986 Bees employed five decorated former Major Leaguers who struggled with drugs and alcohol and were effectively blacklisted by Major League Baseball:
Steve Howe
Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to le ...
,
Mike Norris,
Ken Reitz
Kenneth John Reitz (June 24, 1951March 31, 2021) was an American baseball third baseman who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed " Zamboni", he played for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, and ...
,
Todd Cruz
Todd Ruben Cruz (November 23, 1955 – September 2, 2008), was an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between and with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kansas City Royals, Cal ...
and
Daryl Sconiers
Daryl Anthony Sconiers (born October 3, 1958) is an American former professional baseball first baseman.
Sconiers attended Fontana High School in Fontana, California though he told the ''Los Angeles Times'' his friends were not interested in sch ...
. The mix of disgraced former stars and Japanese imports attracted attention from such publications as ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''.
San Jose Giants (1988–present)
The team was sold to a group led by Winston H. Cox in 1987.
The current affiliation 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 Yor ...
began in 1988. Since the team's inception, the San Jose Giants have been one of the more successful teams in the California League. They captured the league championship in 1998, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, and most recently in 2021. In 2005 and once again in 2007 after being down 0–2 in the best of 5 series, came back home and won the final three games over Lake Elsinore Storm to claim the Championship Series 3–2. (In 2001 the Giants were declared co-champions with the
Lake Elsinore Storm
The Lake Elsinore Storm are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The Storm plays their home games at Lake Elsinore Diamond (Pete Lehr Field), which opened in 1994; the park se ...
after the final series was canceled after the September 11 terrorist attacks). The team has also made the California League playoffs numerous times and won the Northern Division championship 8 times. The Giants also had the best record of any minor league class A team in the 1990s.
The Giants success has shown at the turnstile as attendance has increased 14 of the last 17 years. The SJ Giants are now in their 24th season being 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 Yor ...
. This makes the SJ Giants affiliation the longest currently enjoyed by a team in the California League. 2008 marked a second highest team record attendance of 183,788 for the season.
The San Jose Giants have developed more than 190 major league players, including
Buster Posey
Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey III (born March 27, 1987) is an American former professional baseball catcher. Posey spent his entire twelve-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the San Francisco Giants, from 2009 until his retirement at ...
,
Tim Lincecum
Timothy Leroy Lincecum ( ; born June 15, 1984), nicknamed "The Freak", "The Franchise", "The Freaky Franchise" and "Big Time Timmy Jim", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San ...
,
Jonathan Sánchez
Jonathan Omar Sánchez (born November 19, 1982), nicknamed "The Kid" and "The Comeback Kid", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball pitcher. He is one of only three Puerto Rican players to throw a no-hitter game in MLB, the others bein ...
,
Matt Cain
Matthew Thomas Cain (born October 1, 1984), nicknamed "The Horse", "Big Daddy", "Big Sugar" and "Cainer", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the San Francisco Giants ...
,
Brian Horwitz
Brian Jeffery Horwitz, nicknamed "The Rabbi", (born November 7, 1982) is an American former baseball outfielder who played for the San Francisco Giants in 2008, and won two minor league batting titles.
Baseball career
High school
A native of San ...
,
Noah Lowry
Noah Ryan Lowry (born October 10, 1980) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants from 2003 to 2007.
College and the MLB Draft
Lowry was first drafted out of Nordhof ...
,
Merkin Valdez
Merkin R. Valdéz Mola (born November 10, 1981) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. Valdez graduated from Escuela Rural Palenque High School in his native Dominican Republic.
Career
Atlanta Braves
Valdez was signed by the Atla ...
,
Chad Zerbe
William Chad Zerbe (born April 27, 1972) is a former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants from 2000 to 2003.
Career
Zerbe played nine seasons in minor league baseball before making ...
,
Russ Ortiz
Russell Reid Ortiz (born June 5, 1974) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Ortiz during his career played for the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodger ...
,
Bill Mueller
William Richard Mueller ( ; born March 17, 1971) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Mueller's MLB playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000, 2002), Chic ...
,
Doug Mirabelli
Douglas Anthony Mirabelli (born October 18, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000), Texas Rangers (2001), Boston Red Sox (2001–2005), and San Diego Padres (2006) before returning to ...
,
Rod Beck
Rodney Roy Beck (August 3, 1968 – June 23, 2007), nicknamed "Shooter", was a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the San Francisco Giants (–), Chicago Cubs (–), Boston Red Sox (1999–) and San Diego Padres (–). He batte ...
,
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 ...
,
Francisco Liriano
Francisco Liriano Casillas (born October 26, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, ...
,
Shawn Estes
Aaron Shawn Estes (born February 18, 1973) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.
High school
Estes attended Douglas High School in Minden, Nevada. As a senior in 1991, he was named Gatorade's Nevada State Baseball Player of the Year and fi ...
,
Emmanuel Burriss
Emmanuel Allen Burriss (born January 17, 1985) is an American former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, and Philadelphia Phillies. He is a switch-h ...
,
Andrés Torres,
Pablo Sandoval
Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes (born August 11, 1986) is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman for the Olmecas de Tabasco of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, ...
,
Madison Bumgarner
Madison Kyle Bumgarner (born August 1, 1989), commonly known by his nickname, "MadBum", is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously, he pitched for the San Francisco Giants ...
and
Adam Duvall
Adam Lynn Duvall (born September 4, 1988) is an American professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He played college baseball at the University of Louisville. Duvall was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 11th round of the 201 ...
.
In conjunction with
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), ...
's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Giants were organized into the
Low-A West
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...
.
In 2022, the Low-A West became known as the California League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization, and was reclassified as a
Single-A
Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classif ...
circuit.
Roster
Notable alumni
References
External links
*
Statistics from ''Baseball Reference''
![SanJoseGiantsCap](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/SanJoseGiantsCap.png)
{{California sports
San Francisco Giants minor league affiliates
Baseball teams in San Jose, California
California League teams
Professional baseball teams in California
California Angels minor league affiliates
Cleveland Guardians minor league affiliates
Kansas City Royals minor league affiliates
Los Angeles Angels minor league affiliates
Montreal Expos minor league affiliates
Oakland Athletics minor league affiliates
1962 establishments in California
Baseball teams established in 1962