Prior professional baseball in Fresno Professional baseball first came to Fresno in 1898 when it had a team in the original
California League. The team dropped out of the league after that year but returned in 1905. In 1906, the
Tacoma Tigers of the Pacific Coast League moved to Fresno, playing as the
Fresno Raisin Eaters for one season before moving to
Sacramento for the 1907 season. In the intervening years before the arrival of the Grizzlies, Fresno fielded teams in the California State League in 1910 and 1913, and in the current California League from 1941 through 1988, including the
Fresno Cardinals (1941–1956), Fresno Sun Sox (1957), Fresno Giants (1958–1987), and Fresno Suns (1988).
San Francisco Giants (1998–2014) When
Major League Baseball awarded an expansion team (the
Arizona Diamondbacks) to
Phoenix, Arizona, that would begin playing in 1998, the
Phoenix Firebirds of the
Pacific Coast League (the
San Francisco Giants'
Triple-A affiliate) were forced to move. The Firebirds moved to
Tucson, Arizona and changed their name to the
Tucson Sidewinders while changing their affiliation to the Diamondbacks. That prompted the
Tucson Toros to move to Fresno, giving Fresno its first PCL team since 1906. The Toros were renamed the Grizzlies and became the Giants' new Triple-A affiliate. From 1998 through 2001, the Grizzlies played at
Pete Beiden Field at
California State University, Fresno, before moving to Chukchansi Park. During the team's 11-year history in Fresno, it has had several different owners. In October 2005, the team was sold again, this time to Fresno Baseball Club LLC, headquartered in
Delaware. The team hosted such promotions as
K-Fed Night and Second Chance Night in 2006;
The Price Is Right Night in 2007; and Totally Rad 80s Night featuring
The Karate Kid star
Billy Zabka in May 2008. Parker, the Grizzlies
mascot, was named Best Mascot of 2007 by GameOps, beating out all other major and minor league mascots. The Grizzlies former mascot, Wild Thing, "retired" in 2006 after eight years as the team's mascot. Chukchansi Park is also home to the Drag Kings, the Grizzlies' dancing grounds crew who were given an honorable mention by GameOps as Best Entertainment act. The Grizzlies won the Minor League Baseball Promotion of the Year award in 2008 for their "Mascot Showdown" featuring Parker and the
Phillie Phanatic. The team's opening day catcher in 2010,
Buster Posey, would be the
San Francisco Giants' starting catcher for the
World Series six months later (the Giants' starting catcher for most of
their World Championship season,
Bengie Molina, would start for their opponents, the
Texas Rangers), resulting in his
National League Rookie of the Year award that year.
Houston Astros (2015–2018) In 2015, Fresno became an affiliate of the
Houston Astros. That season, they won the
Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game by defeating the
Columbus Clippers, 7–0, in
El Paso, Texas. Following the 2017 season, Grizzlies manager
Tony DeFrancesco announced he would not return to the Houston Astros organization for the 2018 season. DeFrancesco led Fresno to a winning record in each of his three seasons at the helm, his clubs compiling a record of 234–194 (.547) from 2015 to 2017. The run marked the first time in franchise history (since 1998) the Grizzlies completed three consecutive winning seasons. On January 19, 2018,
Rodney Linares was named the 10th manager in Grizzlies history. The team was sold to Fresno Sports and Events, a group led by Ray and Michael Baker, part owners of the
Colorado Rockies and
Grand Junction Rockies, and Jim Coufos, a prior investor in the
High Desert Mavericks, in a transaction that was made official on February 27, 2018. The Astros declined to renew their player-development contract with Fresno beyond the 2018 season. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic before being cancelled on June 30. In conjunction with Major League Baseball's reorganization of the minors after the 2020 season, the Washington Nationals opted to discontinue their affiliation with the Grizzlies, leaving them in need of a new affiliate.
Colorado Rockies (2021–present) In conjunction with
Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Grizzlies were transferred to the
Low-A West as the
Low-A classification affiliate of the
Colorado Rockies. They won the 2021 Northern Division title with a 74–41 record. In the best-of-five league championship series, Fresno was defeated by the
San Jose Giants, 3–0.
Zac Veen was selected as the league's Top MLB Prospect, and
Robinson Cancel won its Manager of the Year Award. In 2022, the Low-A West became known as the California League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization, and was reclassified as a
Single-A circuit. ==Season-by-season records==