Phoenix Firebirds

The Phoenix Firebirds, formerly the Phoenix Giants, were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Phoenix, Arizona, USA from 1958–1959, and 1966 until 1997.

The franchise was a member of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (PCL), and were the top minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. The Firebirds were forced to leave Phoenix following the 1997 season, as the new National League expansion team, the Arizona Diamondbacks would begin play in Phoenix the following year. In a complicated series of events, the owners of the Firebirds moved their team to Tucson, Arizona and became the Tucson Sidewinders, dropping their affiliation with the Giants in favor of the expansion Diamondbacks. The owners of the existing Tucson Toros then moved their franchise to Fresno, California, thus ending a 92-year hiatus of PCL baseball in Fresno. The transplanted Toros, renamed the Fresno Grizzlies, became the Giants' new PCL affiliate.

History

The Firebirds were known as the Phoenix Giants until the 1986 season. They were affiliated with the San Francisco Giants for their entire existence, now a rarity in the minor leagues. The Giants' still have spring training facility in the Phoenix area, but in Scottsdale where the Firebirds played from 1992 to 1997.