Class
AAA farm team of the
Seattle Mariners, in
Tacoma, WA. The Rainiers play their
home games in historic Cheney Stadium. They compete in the
Western Division of the
Pacific Coast League.
Although a Tacoma team played in the Pacific Coast League for the 1903 and 1904 seasons, modern Tacoma baseball was started when the San Francisco Giants moved their AAA Phoenix club to Tacoma in the spring of 1960. They played as the Tacoma Giants for six years before that team was moved back to Phoenix and a new team was installed in Cheney Stadium.
That new team, a Chicago Cubs affiliate, had been founded in Vernon, CA in 1909. In 1912 the team was moved to Venice, CA for two years before being relocated back to Vernon, where it would stay until 1925. In 1925, the team was moved to San Francisco and became the famous Mission Reds. The Mission Reds were moved to Hollywood in 1938 and played as the Stars for 19 years. The team then played in Salt Lake City from 1958-1965 before settling in Tacoma.
The Tacoma team was the Cubs for 6 years. From 1972 to 1977 they acted as the AAA team for the Minnesota Twins,
changing their name to the alliterative Tacoma Twins. In 1978 they were the Tacoma Yankees, before becoming the Tugs for Cleveland. After two short years as a Cleveland team they played as the Tacoma Tigers for Oakland from 1981 to 1994. In 1995 they became, logically, affiliated with the Seattle Mariners and took the name Rainiers after Mount Rainier.
Boxscores, team news, Rainiers merchandise and ticket buying information can be found at www.tacomarainiers.com. Games are broadcast on KHHO 850-AM. Web broadcasts can be heard at http://radio.yahoo.com/ap?id=78160588