Bellingham Dodgers | |
---|---|
Minor league affiliations | |
Class | Class A-Short Season |
League | Northwest League |
Major league affiliations | |
Previous teams | Los Angeles Dodgers |
Minor league titles | |
Division titles (1) | 1974 |
Team data | |
Colors | Dodger blue, white |
Previous parks | Joe Martin Field |
Manager | Bill Berrier |
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 to 1976. In 1977 the team would change names to Bellingham Mariners representative of their new parent club.
The franchise arrived in 1973 as the Bellingham Dodgers, affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After three seasons in Medford and one season in Spokane 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 team gained unwanted national notoriety in 1975 when it opened the season with 25 straight losses; [1] [2] [3] they finished at 17–61 (.218). 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 Los Angeles Dodgers shifted their short season affiliation to Lethbridge, where they would play as the Lethbridge Dodgers of the Pioneer League.
The Bellingham franchise played at Joe Martin Field, a venue with a seating capacity near 1,600. The park is currently the home of the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast League. [4]
Season | PDC | Division | Finish | Wins | Losses | Win% | Post-season | Manager | Attendance | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bellingham Dodgers | ||||||||||
1973 | LAD | South | 2nd | 42 | 37 | .638 | Bill Berrier | 38,396 | ||
1974 | LAD | West | 1st | 52 | 32 | .619 | Lost to Eugene in championship series 1-2 | Bill Berrier | 30,350 | |
1975 | LAD | North | 6th | 17 | 61 | .217 | Bill Berrier | 21,357 | ||
1976 | LAD | South | 6th | 30 | 42 | .416 | Bill Berrier | 23,225 | ||
Division winner | League champions |
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 Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league operated as the High-A West in 2021, then resumed its original moniker in 2022.
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and play their home games at LoanMart Field.
The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Spokane plays its home games at Avista Stadium, which opened in 1958 and has a seating capacity of 6,752.
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 home games at Volcanoes Stadium. From 1997 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's Northwest League as the Class A Short Season affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. With the reorganization of baseball after the 2020 season, the Volcanoes were not offered a player development license with any Major League Baseball club, though the Volcanoes promised to continue play in 2021, a promise they kept in forming the Mavericks League.
James Kenneth Lefebvre is a former major league baseball player, coach, and manager. An infielder, he was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1962.
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 Volcanoes Stadium in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. The owners of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a former San Francisco Giants' Minor League Baseball affiliate, bought the rights to the Mavericks to help create the league after the Giants ended the affiliation in 2020.
Avista Stadium is a baseball park in the northwest United States, located in Spokane Valley, Washington. It is the home ballpark of the Spokane Indians, a minor league baseball team in the High-A Northwest League.
Thomas Edward Niedenfuer, is an American former professional baseball right-handed pitcher. Exclusively a reliever during his ten-year career, he played his first six-plus seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers, then finished out with the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, and St. Louis Cardinals.
The Lethbridge Black Diamonds were a minor league baseball team located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. The team was previously known as the Lethbridge Mounties from 1992–1995 before becoming the Lethbridge Black Diamonds from 1996–1998. They were one of the first two farm clubs of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Only 16 months after Arizona was granted a major league baseball franchise, the first farm club — the Lethbridge Black Diamonds — took the field. The team started playing two years before their parent club even played a game. The team played their first game in June 1996, whereas the Arizona Diamondbacks started playing in April 1998. The team played in the Pioneer League, which is a rookie league, with a shortented season, in Minor League Baseball. Their home stadium was Henderson Stadium. In 1999, the team was moved and became the Missoula Osprey.
John Charles Moses is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1982 to 1992. After his retirement as a player, he was an MLB coach and subsequently a minor league manager. As a player, he was listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 165 pounds (75 kg); he threw right-handed and was a switch hitter.
The 1983 Major League Baseball season was the seventh season in the history of the Seattle Mariners. They were seventh in the American League West at 60–102 (.370), 39 games behind, with the worst record in the major leagues.
The Everett Giants were a minor league baseball team based in Everett, Washington, north of Seattle. The Giants were members of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League from 1984 through 1994 and were an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
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.
The Bellingham Giants were a Minor League Baseball team in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, based in Bellingham, Washington, for two seasons, and were an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. After years of struggling attendance, co-owners Jerry Walker and William Tucker moved the franchise south to Keizer, Oregon, and began play in 1997 as the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
Kevin Patrick Pasley is a retired professional baseball player whose career spanned 12 seasons. For parts of four seasons, Pasley, a catcher, played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Seattle Mariners (1977–78). Over his career in the majors, he compiled a .254 batting average with eight runs scored, 31 hits, seven doubles, one home run, and nine runs batted in (RBIs). Pasley hit his only career major league home run in what would prove to be his final at-bat in the majors on October 1, 1978.
The Medford Dodgers were a minor league baseball team based in Medford, Oregon, that played in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League from 1969-1971. Prior to 1970, the club played as the Rouge Valley Dodgers.
The Tri-City Atoms were a minor league baseball team located in Kennewick, Washington. The Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington, which include Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, fielded a number of minor league teams in the Northwest League and its predecessor, the Western International League, from 1955 to 1974.
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, the franchise relocated to Hillsboro, Oregon, and became Hillsboro Hops.
Joe Martin Field 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 Bellingham Chinooks were a minor league baseball team based in Bellingham, Washington. In 1938 and 1939. The Chinooks played as members of the Class B level Western International League, winning the 1938 league championship and hosting home games at Battersby Park. The Bellingham Chinooks were succeeded in Bellingham by the 1973 Bellingham Dodgers, who began play as members of the Northwest League.