Bellingham Dodgers

{{Infobox Minor League Baseball

| name = Bellingham Dodgers

| firstseason = 1973

| lastseason = 1976

| allyears =

| city = Bellingham, Washington

| logo =

| caplogo =

| class level = Class A-Short Season

| league = Northwest League

| conference =

| division =

| past league =

| pastmajorleague = Los Angeles Dodgers

| pastnames =

| pastparks = Joe Martin Field

| classchamps =

| leaguechamps =

| conferencechamps =

| divnum = 1

| divisionchamps = 1974

| owner =

| manager = Bill Berrier

| colors = Dodger blue, white
{{color box|#005A9C}} {{color box|#FFFFFF}}

}}

The Bellingham Dodgers were a Minor League Baseball team in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League, based in Bellingham, Washington. The franchise played four season as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1973 to 1976. In 1977 the team would change names to Bellingham Mariners representative of their new parent club.

History

The franchise arrived in 1973 as the Bellingham Dodgers, affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After three seasons in Medford and one season in Spokane in 1972, the Dodgers moved their Northwest League affiliate to Bellingham for 1973. In their first season the Dodgers posted a record of 42–37. The Dodgers would build upon their initial success. Bellingham went 52–32 on the year to win the West Division title. In the best of three games league championship series, the Dodgers fell to the Eugene Emeralds.

The team gained unwanted national notoriety in 1975 when it opened the season with 25 straight losses;{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=se9LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V-0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7257%2C5314304 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |last=Hopper |first=Betty |title=Bellingham Dodgers: maybe you can lose 'em all....|date=July 13, 1975 |page=D1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=se9LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V-0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4675%2C5320907 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |title=Northwest League standings |date=July 13, 1975|page=D2}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=su9LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V-0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=1909%2C5701582 |newspaper=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Bellingham ends string, starts over |date=July 14, 1975|page=10}} they finished at {{winning percentage|17|61|record=y}}. The Dodgers would again find themselves at the bottom of the league standings in 1976. Following the season the franchise signed a player development contract with the expansion Seattle Mariners. The Los Angeles Dodgers shifted their short season affiliation to Lethbridge, where they would play as the Lethbridge Dodgers of the Pioneer League.

Ballpark

The Bellingham franchise played at Joe Martin Field, a venue with a seating capacity near 1,600. The park is currently the home of the Bellingham Bells of the West Coast League.{{cite web |url=http://www.bellinghambells.com/joemartinfield/history/ |publisher=Bellingham Bells |title=Joe Martin Field |accessdate=September 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901130219/http://www.bellinghambells.com/joemartinfield/history/ |archive-date=September 1, 2014 |url-status=dead }}

Season-by-season record

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%"
scope="col"\|Season !scope="col"\|PDC !scope="col"\|Division !scope="col"\|Finish !scope="col"\|Wins !scope="col"\|Losses !scope="col"\|Win% !scope="col"\|Post-season !scope="col"\|Manager !scope="col"\|Attendance
align="center" colspan="11" style="background:#005A9C; color: white; border:2px solid#FFFFFF"\|Bellingham Dodgers
1973 \|LAD \|South \|2nd \|42 \|37 \|.638 \| \|Bill Berrier \|38,396
1974 \|LAD \|West \|bgcolor="#D0E7FF"\|1st \|52 \|32 \|.619 \|Lost to Eugene in championship series 1-2 \|Bill Berrier \|30,350
1975 \|LAD \|North \|6th \|17 \|61 \|.217 \| \|Bill Berrier \|21,357
1976 \|LAD \|South \|6th \|30 \|42 \|.416 \| \|Bill Berrier \|23,225

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%"

scope="col"|Season

!scope="col"|PDC

!scope="col"|Division

!scope="col"|Finish

!scope="col"|Wins

!scope="col"|Losses

!scope="col"|Win%

!scope="col"|Post-season

!scope="col"|Manager

!scope="col"|Attendance

align="center" colspan="11" style="background:#005A9C; color: white; border:2px solid#FFFFFF"|Bellingham Dodgers