Tacoma Rainiers

The Tacoma Rainiers are a minor league baseball team that plays in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. A team located in Tacoma, Washington has been in the PCL every year since 1960, for the longest current active streak of membership in the league. The Rainiers are based only 36 miles south of Seattle, the shortest distance between a Triple-A team and its major-league parent.

History

Tacoma's first team 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, seven 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; however, another Tacoma Tigers franchise operated in the Western International League from the 1930s until 1951.

Cheney Stadium

Cheney Stadium, in Tacoma, Washington, is the home field for the Tacoma Rainiers minor-league baseball team of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. The stadium opened in 1960, and has a capacity of 7,429. It is next to Henry Foss High School and the stadium has an agreement with the school to use the school parking lot for parking.

History

Cheney Stadium is named for Ben Cheney, a local businessman who worked to bring minor league baseball to Tacoma and also was put in control of the project. Cheney Stadium was constructed in 42 working days after the San Francisco Giants had committed to moving their Triple-A affiliate from Phoenix if the city could open the stadium for the beginning of the 1960 season. Construction included light towers and wooden grandstand seats from Seals Stadium in San Francisco. The wooden grandstand seats are still in place today.

Cheney Stadium has been home to Pacific Coast League baseball continuously since 1960, in the form of seven teams: the Tacoma Giants (1960–65), Cubs (1966–71), Twins (1972–77), Yankees (1978), Tugs (1979), Tigers (A's) (1980–94), and the Rainiers (Mariners) (1995–present).

Félix Hernández

Félix Abraham Hernández García (born April 8, 1986), nicknamed "King Félix", is a Venezuelan professional baseball starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2005.

On August 15, 2012, he threw the 23rd perfect game in Major League Baseball history against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1–0 victory at Safeco Field. It was also the first perfect game in Seattle Mariners franchise history.

Early life

Discovery as a prospect

Hernández was born in Valencia, Venezuela. He was first spotted by Luis Fuenmayor, a part-time Mariners scout who saw him pitching at age 14 in a tournament near Maracaibo, Venezuela. Fuenmayor recommended Hernández to fellow scouts Pedro Avila and Emilio Carrasquel, who were impressed with the youngster who could already throw 90 mph. The Seattle Mariners signed Hernandez as soon as he turned 16, in accordance with MLB rules.

After graduating from high school, Hernández finally agreed to his first professional contract. Mariners director of international operations Bob Engle signed Hernández as a nondrafted free agent on July 4, 2002. Hernández received a large signing bonus of $710,000, although he said the Mariners were not the highest bidder. Other teams trying to sign him included the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, and the Houston Astros, with the Braves reportedly offering the most money.

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma (/təˈkoʊmə/, US dict: tə·kō′·mə) is a mid-sized urban port city in and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to the 2010 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of around 1 million people.

Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, originally called Takhoma or Tahoma. It is locally known as the "City of Destiny" because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma's neighboring deep-water harbor, Commencement Bay. By connecting the bay with the railroad, Tacoma's motto became "When rails meet sails." Today, Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of international trade on the Pacific Coast and Washington State's largest port.