Ventura County Gulls


The Ventura County Gulls were a minor league baseball team in Ventura, California. They were a high-A class team that played in the California League, and were a farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays for the franchise’s only year as the Gulls. They played all of their home games at the baseball field at Ventura College. In spite of the fact that the Gulls’ roster featured 14 future major league baseball players in their lone year, Ventura County did not make the playoffs; instead, they lost a tiebreaker to the Visalia Oaks. Coupled with the poor attendance mark by the Gulls, this proved too much to bear for the struggling franchise. Prior to the 1987 season, the Ventura County Gulls were sold and moved to San Bernardino, California, where the franchise became the San Bernardino Spirit.

Team Identity

The team conducted a survey for a team at the Ventura County Fair in 1985. Over two hundred different names were submitted. The owners, who felt it fitting for the community's coastal location, selected the Gulls. Local artist Chris Martinez designed the Gulls logos. "The Gull in Flight logo is used on the Gulls' office stationary and will be on the player's uniform caps. The Batting Gull has been used for promotional flyers and will be featured of on various Gull memorabilia being sold at the ballpark. Both logos typify the characteristics of the Gull. The "flight' logo depicts the beauty and face of a bird in flight; while the "batting gull" shows the scrappy and competitive nature of this sea bird. It is only fitting that a beautiful coastal town such as Ventura would adopt the name "Gulls" for its team." The Gulls would adopt the color scheme of their parent club, the Blue Jays.

List of Ventura County Gulls players in the MLB