Salinas Packers
The Salinas Packers, based in Salinas, California, joined the California League in 1954, bringing professional baseball to the self-proclaimed Salad Bowl of the World. The name honored the produce-packing industry that defined the Salinas Valley, where the lettuce sheds and vegetable packers employed much of the town. The Packers ran through 1958, affiliated first with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then the Milwaukee Braves, and reached the top quickly: Salinas won the California League championship in 1957, defeating the Reno Silver Sox in the final round.
The name returned for a second incarnation from 1973 through 1975 as a California Angels affiliate at Salinas Municipal Stadium, where outfielder John Balaz was named league MVP in 1973 before a brief big league career in Anaheim.
Salinas baseball carried on after the Packers under a string of other names into the early 1990s, making the city one of the California League's steadier small markets across four decades.
Our design is adapted from original Packers artwork found in vintage team programs, featuring the club's lettuce-head batter, a genuine piece of Salinas baseball graphics rather than a modern invention.
