8/26/2019-Why not the Martinez Clippers? Many fans are so excited to see the return of baseball to Martinez but they all ask why not the Clippers? Why is a new team name needed?

• The Clippers are currently best known as LAs second basketball team who are trying to be LAs first team. Recently signed Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
• The Columbus Clippers are AAA team that have been around for decades using the name Clippers
• The Martinez Clippers were an expansion team in the Pacific Association in 2018. So many things have changed since the inaugural Martinez Clippers and the new team in Martinez needs to be given a brand new start with no connections. The Clippers owners still own the name and rights to the name despite problems that might have incurred.
  
  The Clippers ran a successful inaugural season but in the offseason their owners ran into problems off the field and were not able to continue the team for 2019. This left the city holding the bag for all of the improvements they had made for Waterfront Park.
  
  (See the History of the Pacific Association here) The Martinez Clippers were in the Pacific Association of Baseball Clubs at its highest point. There were the Vallejo Admirals, San Rafael Pacifics, Sonoma Stompers, Pittsburg Diamonds and Napa Silverados in the league. The League was thriving after being a four team league for five years the league had successfully expanded.
  
  The tide quickly turned and the dominioes began to fall at the end of the 2018 season. With Congress passing of the minimum wage labor law for minor league baseball players it was now a liability for owners to pay players the wages they had made in the Pacific Association. Teams didnt generate enough revenue to pay the players the minimum wage they needed to make to the new law.
  
  The San Rafael Pacifics and Vallejo Admirals announced they were selling their teams. Then the Martinez Clippers lost their owners and folded the team for the 2019 season. Pittsburg threw in the towel soon after. Napa had a hostile ownership change. 2019 featured five teams including Napa, San Rafael, Vallejo, Sonoma and Salina.
  
  At the end of the 2019 season the Pacifics announced they would not be back in the Pacific Association. Vallejo announced they wouldnt be back without new owners. Now as the 2020 season approaches the Pacifics who were the founding members of the league are gone.
  
  So the Martinez Mackerel are going to be a new team in a great ballpark without any attachment to the Pacific Association or the Martinez Clippers. The names Mackerel and Clippers couldnt be any more different and hopefully the outcome for the City of Martinez and Fans will be different as well.