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Seattle Pilots
The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. Based at Sick's Stadium, the team played for just one season: 1969, finishing last in the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League with a 64–98 record. On April 1, 1970, the franchise moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and became the Milwaukee Brewers. After the move, Seattle and King County sued the American League, which consequently granted the city a new expansion franchise, the Seattle Mariners.
The franchise was owned by Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc. (PNSI), led by Dewey Soriano, a former Rainiers pitcher and general manager and former president of the Pacific Coast League. The team's nickname of "Pilots" came from Soriano's part-time job as a harbor pilot and the city's association with the aviation industry. The team colors were royal blue and gold (with accessory red in the logo: helm and baseball seams).
Seattle had long been a hotbed for minor league baseball and was home to the Seattle Rainiers, one of the pillars of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). At the time, Seattle was the third-biggest metropolitan area on the West Coast. The then-Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) briefly considered a move to Seattle in 1964 but opted to stay in the city. In 1967, Charles Finley looked to move his Kansas City Athletics to Seattle, but ended up moving the Athletics to Oakland, California instead. There was no real competition from other professional teams at the time in the city. While Seattle had landed the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) in 1967, the NBA was not as popular as baseball was at the time. The NFL would come to the city in 1976 with the addition of the expansion Seahawks, followed by the NHL in 2021 with the addition of the expansion Kraken.
In an ominous sign of things to come, Soriano found himself short of cash after making little effort to find locally-based partners. He had to ask William R. Daley, who owned the Indians during the time they flirted with moving to Seattle, to underwrite much of the purchase price. In return, Soriano sold Daley 47% of the stock. Daley became the team's largest shareholder and chairman of the board, while Soriano remained team president.
A couple of factors were beyond the Pilots' control. They were originally not set to start play until 1971 along with the Kansas City Royals. However, the date was moved up to 1969 under pressure from Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri. Professional baseball had been played in Kansas City in one form or another from 1883 until the A's left for Oakland after the 1967 season, and Symington would not accept the prospect of Kansas City having to wait three years for baseball to return there. The American League would not allow only one new team to enter the league, as the resulting odd number of teams would unbalance the schedule. That meant that Kansas City and Seattle had to be admitted together.
Despite Soriano having been president of the PCL, he had to pay the PCL $1 million to compensate for the loss of one of its longest-standing and most successful franchises. After King County voters approved a bond for a domed stadium (what would become the Kingdome) in February 1968 with 62 percent in favor, the Seattle Pilots were officially born. California Angels executive Marvin Milkes was hired as general manager, and Joe Schultz, a coach with the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals, became manager.
With expansion to twelve teams in each league came a realignment into two divisions. Unlike the National League, the AL owners voted to align strictly based on geography. On paper, the newly-formed American League West was by far the weaker division, as it consisted of the two expansion teams and the four clubs that had finished sixth through ninth place in the 1968 campaign. The Oakland Athletics were the only AL West team that had a winning record in 1968, finishing 82–80.
Due to the favorable alignment, Schultz and Milkes both optimistically predicted that the Pilots could finish third in the new division. However, the Pilots experienced the typical struggles of a first-year expansion team. They won their first game, and then their home opener three days later, but only won five more times in the first month. Nevertheless, the Pilots stayed within striking distance of .500 for much of the spring, and were only six games out of the AL West lead as late as June 28. But a disastrous 9–20 July ended even a faint hope of any kind of contention, though they were still in third place as late as August. However, a 6–22 August sent them into the AL West basement for good. The team finished the season with a record of 64–98, 33 games behind division winner Minnesota and five games behind their expansion brethren, the Royals. Only Cleveland had a worse record in the American League. On the plus side, they did finish 12 games ahead of the two National League expansion teams, Montreal and San Diego, both of whom lost 110 games.
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Seattle Pilots
The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. Based at Sick's Stadium, the team played for just one season: 1969, finishing last in the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League with a 64–98 record. On April 1, 1970, the franchise moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and became the Milwaukee Brewers. After the move, Seattle and King County sued the American League, which consequently granted the city a new expansion franchise, the Seattle Mariners.
The franchise was owned by Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc. (PNSI), led by Dewey Soriano, a former Rainiers pitcher and general manager and former president of the Pacific Coast League. The team's nickname of "Pilots" came from Soriano's part-time job as a harbor pilot and the city's association with the aviation industry. The team colors were royal blue and gold (with accessory red in the logo: helm and baseball seams).
Seattle had long been a hotbed for minor league baseball and was home to the Seattle Rainiers, one of the pillars of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). At the time, Seattle was the third-biggest metropolitan area on the West Coast. The then-Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) briefly considered a move to Seattle in 1964 but opted to stay in the city. In 1967, Charles Finley looked to move his Kansas City Athletics to Seattle, but ended up moving the Athletics to Oakland, California instead. There was no real competition from other professional teams at the time in the city. While Seattle had landed the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder) in 1967, the NBA was not as popular as baseball was at the time. The NFL would come to the city in 1976 with the addition of the expansion Seahawks, followed by the NHL in 2021 with the addition of the expansion Kraken.
In an ominous sign of things to come, Soriano found himself short of cash after making little effort to find locally-based partners. He had to ask William R. Daley, who owned the Indians during the time they flirted with moving to Seattle, to underwrite much of the purchase price. In return, Soriano sold Daley 47% of the stock. Daley became the team's largest shareholder and chairman of the board, while Soriano remained team president.
A couple of factors were beyond the Pilots' control. They were originally not set to start play until 1971 along with the Kansas City Royals. However, the date was moved up to 1969 under pressure from Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri. Professional baseball had been played in Kansas City in one form or another from 1883 until the A's left for Oakland after the 1967 season, and Symington would not accept the prospect of Kansas City having to wait three years for baseball to return there. The American League would not allow only one new team to enter the league, as the resulting odd number of teams would unbalance the schedule. That meant that Kansas City and Seattle had to be admitted together.
Despite Soriano having been president of the PCL, he had to pay the PCL $1 million to compensate for the loss of one of its longest-standing and most successful franchises. After King County voters approved a bond for a domed stadium (what would become the Kingdome) in February 1968 with 62 percent in favor, the Seattle Pilots were officially born. California Angels executive Marvin Milkes was hired as general manager, and Joe Schultz, a coach with the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals, became manager.
With expansion to twelve teams in each league came a realignment into two divisions. Unlike the National League, the AL owners voted to align strictly based on geography. On paper, the newly-formed American League West was by far the weaker division, as it consisted of the two expansion teams and the four clubs that had finished sixth through ninth place in the 1968 campaign. The Oakland Athletics were the only AL West team that had a winning record in 1968, finishing 82–80.
Due to the favorable alignment, Schultz and Milkes both optimistically predicted that the Pilots could finish third in the new division. However, the Pilots experienced the typical struggles of a first-year expansion team. They won their first game, and then their home opener three days later, but only won five more times in the first month. Nevertheless, the Pilots stayed within striking distance of .500 for much of the spring, and were only six games out of the AL West lead as late as June 28. But a disastrous 9–20 July ended even a faint hope of any kind of contention, though they were still in third place as late as August. However, a 6–22 August sent them into the AL West basement for good. The team finished the season with a record of 64–98, 33 games behind division winner Minnesota and five games behind their expansion brethren, the Royals. Only Cleveland had a worse record in the American League. On the plus side, they did finish 12 games ahead of the two National League expansion teams, Montreal and San Diego, both of whom lost 110 games.
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