Fresno Grizzlies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fresno Grizzlies | ||
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| League | Pacific Coast League | |
| Division | Pacific Conference | |
| Year founded | 1998 | |
| Major League affiliation | San Francisco Giants | |
| Home ballpark | Chukchansi Park | |
| Previous home ballparks | Pete Beiden Field | |
| City | Fresno, California | |
| Current uniform colors | pine, cedar, light gold, dark gold, orange | |
| Previous uniform colors | black, purple | |
| Logo design | The wordmark "the Fresno Grizzlies" in dark gold and light gold in script. Centered above the wordmark is a pine-colored shield outlined in dark gold and light gold with a sunburst crest on top. Superimposed over the shield is a large, scripted "G" in dark gold and light gold with a Grizzly's footprint. | |
| Division titles | ||
| League titles | ||
| Manager | Dan Rohn | |
| Owner | ||
The Fresno Grizzlies are a minor league baseball team based in Fresno, California. The team, which plays in the Pacific Coast League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club. The Grizzlies play in Chukchansi Park (cap. 12,500), located in downtown Fresno and constructed in 2002. Team colors, as revamped in 2005, are Pine, Cedar, Light Gold, Dark Gold and Orange. During the naming rights announcement on September 13, 2006, the team owners stated that the Grizzlies' logos, uniforms, and colors will be redesigned after the 2007 season. All games are broadcast on KXEX 1550 Sporting News Radio with Doug Greenwald handling the play by play.
Professional baseball first came to Fresno in 1898 when it had a team in the original California League. The team dropped out of the league after that year, but returned in 1905. In 1906, the Tacoma Tigers of the Pacific Coast League moved to Fresno, playing as the Fresno Raisin Eaters for one season before moving to Sacramento for the 1907 season. In the intervening years before the arrival of the Grizzlies, Fresno fielded teams in the California State League in 1910 and 1913, and in the current California League from 1941 through 1988, including the Fresno Cardinals (1941-1956), Fresno Sun Sox (1957), Fresno Giants (1958-1987),and Fresno Suns (1988).
When the Arizona Diamondbacks expansion franchise was awarded to Phoenix by Major League Baseball to begin play in 1998, the existing Phoenix Firebirds PCL team, at the time the Giants' Triple-A affiliate, was forced to relocate. In a complicated series of events, the owners of the Firebirds moved their team to Tucson and became the Tucson Sidewinders, dropping their affiliation with the Giants in favor of the expansion Diamondbacks. The owners of the existing Tucson Toros then moved their franchise to Fresno, thus ending a 92-year hiatus of PCL baseball in Fresno. The transplanted Toros, renamed the Grizzlies, became the Giants' new PCL affiliate. From 1998 through 2001 the Grizzlies played at Pete Beiden Field at California State University, Fresno.
During the team's eight-year tenure in Fresno, it has had a number of different owners. In October, 2005 it was announced the team had been sold again, this time to Fresno Baseball LLC, headquartered in Stoneham, Massachusetts.
| San Francisco Giants Franchise | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AAA | AA | A | Rookie |
| Fresno Grizzlies | Connecticut Defenders |
San Jose Giants Augusta GreenJackets Salem-Keizer Volcanoes |
Scottsdale Giants |
| Pacific Coast League | ||
| American Conference North | Pacific Conference North | |
|---|---|---|
| Iowa Cubs | Memphis Redbirds | Nashville Sounds | Omaha Royals | Colorado Springs Sky Sox | Portland Beavers | Salt Lake Bees | Tacoma Rainiers | |
| American Conference South | Pacific Conference South | |
| Albuquerque Isotopes | New Orleans Zephyrs | Oklahoma RedHawks | Round Rock Express | Fresno Grizzlies | Las Vegas 51s | Sacramento River Cats | Tucson Sidewinders | |
