Fresno Giants

First teams

Professional baseball in Fresno dates to 1898, when a team played in the original California League, then considered an outlaw league. That team left after one year. The California League returned in 1905 with the Fresno Tigers, joined late that season by future Hall of Famer Frank Chance. In 1906, the Tacoma Tigers of the Pacific Coast League moved to Fresno and played as the Fresno Raisin Eaters for one season.

Fresno rejoined the California State League in 1910, but the league folded mid-season. After reorganizing, Fresno returned in 1913 and finished second; the team won the pennant in 1914, after which both the team and league folded. From 1905 onward, these teams played at Recreation Park.

Cardinals Affiliation

The modern California League was founded in 1941 as a Class C minor league, with the Fresno Cardinals as a charter member. That year, the Cardinals finished first in the regular season but lost the playoffs to the Santa Barbara Saints. The 1942 season was shortened by World War II, and the league suspended play from 1943 through 1945. After the league resumed in 1946, Fresno won pennants in 1948 and 1952.

The 1955 team is ranked the 79th best minor league team of all time by historians Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright, one of few lower-classification teams in the top 100. That season, Fresno went 104–43, a .707 winning percentage, and set league records for runs (1,048), hits (1,500), and RBI (893). The team won the playoff championship that year and repeated as pennant winners in 1956. The Cardinals were popular in Fresno partly because of their affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals, the westernmost major league city until 1955, and because many area residents had moved from states with strong Cardinals followings.

Giants Affiliation

In 1958, the team entered a working agreement with the San Francisco Giants, who had moved from New York the previous winter, and was renamed the Fresno Giants. The team won the California League pennant in its first year under the new name. When the minor leagues reorganized in 1963, the California League became Class A, and Fresno won championships in 1964, 1968, 1974, 1985, and 1987. With the 1987 title, Fresno tied Modesto for the most California League championships (9) up to that time.

On August 8, 1985, Fresno became the first California League franchise to win 3,000 games. The team hosted the league All-Star game in 1986 and 1987 at Euless Park. The Greater Fresno Youth Foundation owned the team, with Tom McGurn as general manager from 1957 to 1978. Bill Thompson, a former San Francisco Giants radio announcer, became general manager in 1978.

The foundation sold the team to Save Mart Supermarkets president Bob Piccinini in 1982. Piccinini sold the franchise to Bill Yuill in September 1987 for a reported $560,000. After the grandstand was condemned and the Giants affiliation ended, Yuill reportedly sold the team to Dave Kramer for $615,000 in 1988.