[Bluellama44]

With a stadium that appeared ready for baseball by Opening Day, the Raisins were packing Raisins Ballpark with fans… until the day after the 5th game of the season, when an earthquake struck California, destroying the grandstands whose supports weren’t actually complete. This left a glaring hole in the walls surrounding the stadium, and the team, who blew almost all of their money on the grandstands and had to pay their players, couldn’t afford to fix it.

This led to a franchise-altering event occurring, which no one should’ve really been surprised by considering Fresno’s run of terrible luck. At 3:30PM during a home game against the much more popular Los Angeles Knights, a black bear found its way into Raisin Ballpark, injuring one fan in the last row of section 1 behind home plate before it stormed onto the field. Everyone was evacuated from the stadium safely, but the bear was still sitting in the infield.

Due to the black bear seemingly owning the stadium, it’s name was changed to “Raisin Bears Ballpark”. After an otherwise successful 89 win first season, the name of the team itself followed suit, becoming the Fresno Raisin Bears. With fresh new grandstands the city of Fresno installed using their revenue from the 1920 season and a new name and logo, the future seemed bright for the Raisin Bears!


Plot twist you were expecting: It wasn’t.


With barely enough money left to pay the team, Fresno's budget was the lowest in the league by over $10,000, and it showed in their records. They failed to go over .500 again until 1926, when the team won 82 games. The next time Raisin Bears fans would see playoff baseball was 5 years later, when the team snuck in with, again, 82 wins. They failed to win a game. Another horrible stretch ensued, featuring 18 straight seasons in which the team failed to go over .500. The next 21 years were even worse.

The losing baseball the Raisin Bears were known to play had become unwatchable. Attendance was awful, with the exception of Old Bill and his tortured grandchildren. Tickets to Fresno games were used as punishments parents gave to their kids, and prisons even sent their occupants to the park as a way for them to take time off their sentence. With their budgets still trailing way behind those of their California rivals and a good amount below the next worst teams, it didn't seem like the Raisin Bears had any hope of winning. Old Bill, who had supported the team since before "Bear" part of their name had been added, still hadn't lost his passion for the team, even if it had disappointed him for 50 years and counting.

In a survey recently conducted, 80% of Fresno residents surveyed claimed they had heard of the team the rest of the league deemed "Team 20", while only 1% of the city claimed they had followed the team even once.

"What even is a Raisin Bear?"
"I know that they're awful, and that's all."
"I've never heard of the Braisin Rears."
"The Raisin Bears are the reason I don't watch baseball anymore."
"I would rather eat dirt than go to Raisin Bear Ballpark."
"I should've just stayed in my cell."
"No better team in baseball! 1970 is our year! 1970 champs! Rise up Fresno!"

That last one was Old Bill.