seasons, when they were known as the San Jose Missions and played in the Pacific Coast League as an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners. In 1982 the club became affiliated with the Montreal Expos and was known as the San Jose Expos. The Expos ended their affiliation after one year and the renamed Bees became an independent club. As an independent club, the Bees were free to sign players from Nippon Professional Baseball; the Seibu Lions sent several players to the Bees on loan in this period including Norio Tanabe and Kimiyasu Kudo. The 1986 Bees employed five decorated former Major Leaguers who struggled with drugs and alcohol and were effectively blacklisted by Major League Baseball: Steve Howe, Mike Norris, Ken Reitz, Todd Cruz and Daryl Sconiers. The mix of disgraced former stars and Japanese imports attracted attention from such publications as The Times, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. San Jose Giants (1988–present) The team was sold to a group led by Winston H. Cox in 1987. The current affiliation with the San Francisco Giants began in 1988. Since the team's inception, the San Jose Giants have been one of the more successful teams in the California League. They captured the league championship in 1998, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, and most recently in 2021. In 2005 and once again in 2007 after being down 0–2 in the best of 5 series, came back home and won the final three games over Lake Elsinore Storm to claim the Championship Series 3–2. (In 2001 the Giants were declared co-champions with the Lake Elsinore Storm after the final series was canceled after the September 11 terrorist attacks). The team has also made the California League playoffs numerous times and won the Northern Division championship 8 times. The Giants also had the best record of any minor league class A team in the 1990s. The Giants success has shown at the turnstile as attendance has increased 14 of the last 17 years. The SJ Giants are now in their 24th season being affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. This makes the SJ Giants affiliation the longest currently enjoyed by a team in the California League. 2008 marked a second highest team record attendance of 183,788 for the season. The San Jose Giants have developed more than 190 major league players, including