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 League Baseball 's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the Low-A West before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.
14-477: The Anaheim Aces were a charter member of baseball's California League , founded in 1941 as a Class "C" minor league . The other charter teams were the Bakersfield Badgers , Fresno Cardinals , Merced Bears , Riverside Reds , San Bernardino Stars , Santa Barbara Saints , and Stockton Fliers . The Aces folded after the 1941 season, with America's entry into World War II . This article about
28-519: A California League team longer than any other city, hosting a team in all but seven of the CL's 82 seasons. Active team Former team The California League inducted its first class of 15 inductees into its Hall of Fame in 2016. The California League Most Valuable Player Award was established in 1941. For award winners, see footnote For award winners, see footnote For award winners, see footnote The Doug Harvey Award—established in 2010—is for
42-654: A baseball team in California is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . California League Before the COVID-19 pandemic , league attendance continued to increase each season, with over one million fans attending games per year, part of a general nationwide growth and expansion to smaller towns, cities, and regions below those in the National League or American League with Minor League Baseball at various levels of play in growing popularity in
56-591: A lease dispute with the city of Adelanto , were folded; the High-A level replaced them by expanding the Carolina League to ten teams. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. As part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues, the California League was demoted to Low-A and temporarily renamed
70-593: A new ballpark would be ready for the 2014 season. However, financing plans for a new stadium failed to meet the $ 30 million target and team ownership was reclaimed by former owner D. G. Elmore. As a result, the California League began looking for a new home for the team. However, in August 2016, the California League announced that the Blaze would not be returning for the 2017 season. The team played its final game on September 12, 2016. The Fayetteville Woodpeckers replaced
84-465: A result of World War II, the league dropped to four teams, then ceased and suspended operations altogether, although major league baseball and some minor leagues continued as much as possible with limited availability of players during the war years. It reorganized and came back in 1946, adding teams in Visalia , San Jose , and Ventura by 1947. Further east, Reno, Nevada joined the league in 1955 with
98-525: The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues , an organization of minor leagues was formed in 1902, (following the "truce" and agreements between the older National League of 1876 and the newly "upstart" American League of 1901), the California League operated outside the NAPBL system as an independent league in 1902 and again from 1907 to 1909. This led to huge differences in
112-608: The umpire of the year. Bakersfield Blaze The Bakersfield Blaze were a minor league baseball team in Bakersfield, California . They played in the California League at the Class A-Advanced level, hosting home games at Sam Lynn Ballpark . Opened in 1941, the stadium is well known for facing the setting sun and its shallow 354-foot (108 m) center field fence, and seats 3,500 fans. Near
126-587: The "Low-A West" for the 2021 season. Following MLB's acquisition of the rights to the names of the historical minor leagues, the Low-A West was renamed the California League and reclassified as a Single-A league effective with the 2022 season. Year by Year list of league champions: The Los Angeles area, Riverside, San Bernardino, Palm Springs, Yuma (AZ) and Las Vegas (NV) were also major league spring training site cities, as well possessed California League teams on different occasions. Modesto has hosted
140-576: The early eighties, then reached ten in 1986 and held that configuration for thirty-one seasons. From 1996 to 2016, the league had a remarkably stable alignment for Class A baseball, with no teams moving or folding for twenty-one years. After the 2016 season, the Bakersfield Blaze , long dogged by inadequate facilities and unable to negotiate significant repairs, and the High Desert Mavericks , suffering from falling attendance and
154-589: The end of the 2008 season, it was rumored that the Blaze would move to the Carolina League after the following season. However, Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Conner announced in February 2009 that they would remain in the California League. The Blaze were sold to local Bakersfield businessmen Gene Voiland and Chad Hathaway just prior to the 2012 season. The new ownership renovated Sam Lynn Ballpark in time for Opening Day and announced in November 2012 that
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#1732790644626168-574: The last few decades. There were various attempts in the late 1800s and early 1900s to form a "California League" on the West Coast , considering the distance of the two current major leagues which generally had teams only in the Northeast and were restricted at first until World War I by long-distance train travel. The first organized California League lasted from 1887 to 1889, then another followed in 1891, and 1893, and finally in 1899–1902. After
182-535: The movement of the old Channel Cities Oilers in Santa Barbara and continued as a member for 37 years. Though nicknames and affiliations shifted, the California League's postwar configuration was largely stable by the late 1950s; four of the six cities in the league in 1960 would still be part of the league 50 years later. The league reached eight clubs in 1966 and would hold that for ten years, briefly dipped to six before wavering between eight and nine clubs in
196-627: The quality of teams competing with each other. In 1907, the San Francisco team was 3–34, while later in 1908 San Francisco was 9–67 and Oakland was 4–71. Oakland and San Francisco competed in every year of these various state leagues, with San Francisco having two teams during 1887–88. The latest version of the California League was founded in 1941, and included teams in Anaheim , Bakersfield , Fresno , Merced , Riverside , San Bernardino , Santa Barbara , and Stockton . The following year, as
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