Category: California League

1973 Visalia Mets baseball program from the California League

Visalia Mets

The Visalia Mets were a Class A farm club of the National League’s New York Mets for eight summers between 1968 and 1975. The Mets’ arrival in 1968 marked the return of professional baseball to Visalia’s Recreation Park for the first time in five seasons, following the departure of the Visalia White Sox at the end of the 1962 season. In their finest season as a Mets’ affiliate, Visalia the 1971 California League championship, sweeping the Fresno Giants in two games.

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Stockton Mariners

The Stockton Mariners were a One-Year Wonder that played in Minor League Baseball’s Class A California League during the summer of 1978. During a postseason franchise and affiliation shuffle, the Stockton club changed hands and went back to the city’s traditional “Stockton Ports” identity prior to the 1979 California League season.

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1999 Bakersfield Blaze baseball program from the California League

Bakersfield Blaze

Bakersfield, California was a mainstay of the Class A California League for 75 years, missing only four seasons that the league played between 1941 and 2016. The Blaze were the last of Bakersfield’s Cal League ball clubs, playing at Sam Lynn Park for 22 summers between 1995 and 2016.

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Riverside Pilots California League Baseball

Riverside Pilots

This Seattle Mariners Class-A farm club played terrific baseball in the California League for three seasons from 1993 to 1995. But the southern California city of Riverside was an ill-fit from the start, with club owners openly seeking a new ballpark in neighboring cities and local residents successfully opposing an alcoholic beverage license for the team at the Riverside Sports Complex.

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1963 San Jose Bees baseball program from the California League

San Jose Bees (1962-1976)

California League (1962-1976) Born: 1962 Displaced: October 1976 – The Bees are displaced by the arrival of Class AAA baseball in San Jose First Game: April

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