High Desert Mavericks 1988–2016 Adelanto, California |
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Previous | Class A-Advanced (1988–2016) | ||||
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California League (1988–2016) | ||||
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League titles (4) |
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Previous parks
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Heritage Field at Stater Bros. Stadium (1991–2016) |
The High Desert Mavericks were an American Minor League Baseball team in Adelanto, California, that played their home games at Heritage Field at Stater Bros. Stadium. They played in the Class A-Advanced California League. The franchise had eight different major league affiliations over its 29 seasons.
The franchise was founded in 1988 and was first located in Riverside, California, and known as the Red Wave beginning in 1988. In 1991, it relocated north across the mountains to Adelanto, part of the Victor Valley metro area in California's High Desert region.
The Mavericks played their home games at Heritage Field at Stater Bros. Stadium (known as Stater Bros. Stadium from 2007 to 2014 and Mavericks Stadium until 2007) which opened in 1991 and seats 3,808 fans. The park is known to be an extreme hitter-friendly venue which tended to inflate home run totals drastically. As a result, offensive statistics for High Desert players were discounted for comparative purposes, while the reverse was the case for statistics accumulated by High Desert pitchers.
On November 29, 2010, High Desert Mavericks were sold to Main Street Baseball after more than a year on the open market. Rumors had the team possibly relocating to Chico, California, if a new proposed ballpark had been built there. Although it was later reported on August 12, 2012, the Mavericks would be staying in the High Desert through the 2015 season and possibly through 2018.
In January 2016, the Adelanto City Council voided the team's lease at Heritage Field. The Mavericks were able to continue for the 2016 season at Heritage Field. However, on August 22, 2016, the California League announced the Mavericks would not return for the 2017 season and would cease operations.
Before the California League announced the Mavericks would not return, rumors had the Mavericks relocating and joining the Carolina League in Kinston, North Carolina, while keeping the Rangers affiliation. However, Minor League Baseball also announced on August 22 that two expansion teams would join the Carolina League in 2017 with the new Kinston team taking over the Rangers affiliation at the A-Advanced level from the Mavericks.