The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are a baseball team located in Keizer, Oregon, who are charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, a four-team league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and playing all their home games at Volcanoes Stadium. From 1997 to 2020, they were members of Minor League Baseball's Northwest League as the Class A Short Season affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. With the reorganization of baseball after the 2020 season, the Volcanoes were not offered a player development license with any Major League Baseball club, though the Volcanoes promised to continue play in 2021, a promise they kept in forming the Mavericks League. History The Volcanoes history begins in Bellingham, Washington where the franchise played for eighteen season as an affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. In 1994, Seattle shifted their affiliation to Everett, who had been a long time San Francisco Giants farm club. Bellingham swapped parents with Everett and adopted their parent club's name to become the Bellingham Giants. Bellingham had long struggled with attendance and its facility failed to meet league standards. Efforts to secure funding for facility improvements in Bellingham were unsuccessful. In 1996, Bellingham Giants co-owners Jerry Walker and William Tucker announced that they were moving the franchise to Keizer, Oregon, a city of 22,000 people located immediately north of Salem. Keizer had striven to assert itself as an independent, thriving city for 12 years since the former Salem suburb had become an incorporated municipality. City officials, led by Mayor Dennis Koho, and civic leaders worked toward getting a new baseball stadium located and built in Keizer. The area had lacked a suitable facility for pro baseball since the early 1960s, when the Salem Dodgers vacated historic Waters Field (which burned down in 1966). Area fans chose the nickname "Volcanoes" in a contest. The new franchise was designated as a "Salem-Keizer" team, despite its location, in order to incorporate both the history and the prestige of the larger city and state capital. The Volcanoes continued their player development contract with the San Francisco Giants, a relationship that continued through 2020. In their inaugural season of 1997, the Volcanoes posted a record of 40–36 and finished third in the south division standings. The 1998 season was a banner year for Salem-Keizer. The Volcanoes finished the year at 43–33, tied with the Southern Oregon Timberjacks. In a one-game play-off the Volcanoes bested the