California League
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| sport | baseball |
| League foundation | 1941 |
| Teams | 8th |
| Country countries |
 United States
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| Title holder | Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (2018) |
| Record champions |
San Jose Giants (11) Stockton Ports (11) |
| Website | milb.com/california |
The California League is a minor league baseball league that operates throughout California. It is classified in Class A-Advanced, three classes below Major League Baseball . Most players reach this level in their third or fourth year of professional baseball .
All current teams play in stadiums that have been built or extensively renovated since 1990. The number of visitors to the league continues to grow every season. The league is divided into a Northern Division and a Southern Division.
history
In the late 1800s and early 1900s there were various attempts to form a "California League" on the west coast. The first organized California League lasted from 1887 to 1889, then another followed in 1891 and 1893, and finally from 1899 to 1902.
Today's California League was founded in 1941 and included teams in Anaheim , Bakersfield , Fresno , Merced , Riverside , San Bernardino , Santa Barbara and Stockton . The following year, as a result of World War II, the league sank to four teams, then it ceased operations. In 1946 the California League came back, adding teams in Visalia , San Jose and Ventura through 1947 . Further east, Reno , Nevada joined the league in 1955 and remained a member for 37 years.
Although nicknames and affiliations changed, the postwar configuration of the California League was largely stable in the late 1950s. The league reached eight clubs in 1966 and held them for ten years, the teams briefly dropped to six before it fluctuated between eight and nine clubs in the early 1980s. In 1986 the league again reached ten teams and held this configuration for 31 seasons. From 1996 to 2016 the league had a remarkably stable orientation for Class A baseball. No teams have moved for 21 years. After the 2016 season, the Bakersfield Blaze and the High Desert Mavericks were disbanded.