Class
AAA farm team of the
San Francisco Giants, in
Fresno, CA. The
Grizzlies play their
home games at
Beiden Field. They compete in the
Southern Division of the
Pacific Coast League.
Fresno had a team called the Fresno Tigers that competed in the Pacific Coast League in the PCL's 1904 inaugural season. The Tigers finished with a 5-14 record and immediately folded. Between 1905 and 1914 the city was host to several professional baseball teams, including the Fresno Raisin Eaters, but they did not fare well. In 1922, a baseball stadium called Fireman-Policeman Park was built to host several semi-pro teams and an annual game between the city's firemen and policemen. Gate proceeds went to the families of these hard-working civil servants. Ironically, the stadium burned down just ten years after it was built.
When St. Louis Cardinals General Manager Branch Rickey was developing his team's first farm system, he chose Fresno as the site of the Cardinals' Class C team. The Fresno Cardinals played in the California League until 1956, when the league disbanded. The Cardinals cut all ties to Fresno, but the team continued to play on the independent circuit as the Fresno Sun Sox.
In 1958, the San Francisco Giants added the Sun Sox to their farm system. The team competed until 1988 as the Class A Fresno Giants. When the Fresno City Council voted down a new stadium proposal, the Giants left town for Salinas.
In 1997, a group bought the Giants' Class AAA team the Phoenix Firebirds and moved them to Fresno.
Games are broadcast on KCBL The Ball (1350-AM).