The Bakersfield Blaze throughout its lifespan (1941-2016) affiliated with numerous teams of the California League and changed its name nine times. But the location of this minor league baseball team was always the same ‒ Bakersfield, California, as well as the place they played games ‒ Sam Lynn Ballpark.
The name “Blaze” was in use from 1995 to 2016 until the team folded.
Throughout its quite a long history, the Bakersfield Blaze baseball team has changed many names, keeping only the “Bakersfield” part constant. The club was founded in 1941 as Bakersfield Badgers, becoming Indians after five seasons. For only one year, in 1956 the name of the club was Bakersfield Boosters, but it wasn’t accepted by the fans, hence the team underwent another rebranding, adopting the Bakersfield Bears name, which has stayed with the players for another ten years. After the Bears, there were Dodgers, Outlaws, and Mariners, with the Dodgers coming back in 1984. And this was the last try before eventually turning into the Bakersfield Blaze in 1995.
With the new name, the club has played up to its closure, in 2016, and changed six MLB affiliates, including such legendary teams as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, and Seattle Mariners. The Blaze upgraded from Class A to Class A Advanced in 1990 and stayed in that status until its last season.
In 2011 the Bakersfield Blaze introduced a new primary logo. There is no other imagery in it but the stylized wordmark “Blaze” in black with an orange outline. The letter “E” has a long tail on which “Professional Baseball” is written in white.
It is supposed that the black color represents the oil industry in Bakersfield, while orange symbolizes agriculture, particularly oranges.