Tacoma Rainiers
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Template:MLB Mariners franchise
The Tacoma Rainiers are a minor league baseball team which plays in the Pacific Coast League, and are the AAA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Since 1960, a team in Tacoma, Washington has been in the PCL, the longest current active streak of membership in the league.
Tacoma's first entry in the PCL was the Tacoma Tigers, who joined the league in 1904, having moved from Sacramento after the 1903 season. The 1904 Tigers won Tacoma's first PCL pennant, finishing first in both halves of the split season schedule, 7 games (annualized) over the runner-up Los Angeles Angels. The 1905 Tigers won the first-half championship, then played so poorly in the second half they moved back to Sacramento, finishing out the season as the Sacramento Solons, and losing the postseason series to the Angels. The PCL would not return to Tacoma for another 55 years.
The current franchise was founded in 1960 when the Phoenix Giants, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, moved to Tacoma and became the Tacoma Giants. For the next 19 years, the team mirrored the name of its parent major league club, being known through the years as the Tacoma Giants (1960-1965), Tacoma Cubs (1966-1971), Tacoma Twins (1972-1977), and Tacoma Yankees (1978). Subsequently, the team was known as the Tacoma Tugs (1979-1980) and, once more, the Tacoma Tigers (1980-1994).
The team adopted the Rainiers name in 1995, partially as an homage to the Seattle Rainiers minor league teams that played in Seattle from 1938 to 1964 and again from 1972 to 1976. The Tacoma Rainiers play their home games at Cheney Stadium, which hosted the baseball portion of the 1990 Goodwill Games.
As the Tacoma Tigers, the team was an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics between 1981 and 1994, and both José Canseco and Mark McGwire went through Tacoma on their way to baseball stardom. Alex Rodriguez also played for the team before becoming a superstar.
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Current AAA Roster
Pitchers
Cha Seung Baek Travis Blackley Adam Brandt Chris Buglovsky Michael Bumstead Jorge Campillo Rich Dorman Seth Green (baseball player) Jeff Harris Jeff Heaverlo Félix Hernández Masao Kida Andrew Lorraine Damian Moss George Sherrill Jared Thomas Joseph Wörman (Woerman) Dan Wright
Catchers=
Ryan Christanson Wiki González Miguel Olivo
Infielders
Yuniesky Betancourt Hunter Brown Greg Dobbs Justin Leone Aaron Rifkin Ramón Santiago
Outfielders=
Shin Soo-Choo Abraham Núñez Chris Snelling Jamal Strong
Rehab Assignment
External link
- Tacoma Rainiers web site (http://www.tacomarainiers.com/)