Major League Baseball team season
The 1969 Seattle Pilots season was the only season of the Seattle Pilots, a Major League Baseball team. As an expansion team in the American League, along with the Kansas City Royals, the Pilots were placed in the newly established West division. They finished last among the six teams with a record of 64–98 (.395), 33 games behind the division champion Minnesota Twins.
Fewer than 678,000 fans came to see the Pilots, which ranked 20th of the 24 major league teams[2] — a major reason why the team was forced into bankruptcy after only one season.[3] Despite the poor conditions at aging Sick's Stadium, the ticket prices were among the highest in the major leagues.[4] The bankruptcy sale of the team was approved by a federal court in Seattle on March 31, 1970,[5] and the team moved to Milwaukee at the end of spring training for the 1970 season and became the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee had lost the Braves to Atlanta after the 1965 season.
A book about the season exists called The 1969 Seattle Pilots: Major League Baseball's One-Year Team. Part of the Pilots' season was also documented in the book Ball Four by Jim Bouton.
After the Pilots, there would not be another MLB team in Seattle until the birth of the Mariners in 1977.
The last remaining active member of the 1969 Seattle Pilots was Fred Stanley, who retired after the 1982 season.
Offseason
Expansion draft
The MLB expansion draft for the Pilots and the Kansas City Royals was held on October 15, 1968.
1968 MLB June amateur draft and minor league affiliates
The Pilots and Kansas City Royals, along with the two National League expansion teams set to debut in 1969, the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres, were allowed to participate in the June 1968 MLB first-year player draft, although the new teams were barred from the lottery's first three rounds. The Pilots drafted 29 players in the 1968 June draft, including future major league manager Tom Kelly (eighth round) and starting pitcher Bill Parsons (seventh round).[16] Seattle affiliated with one minor league club during 1968 to develop drafted players; the roster was filled out by professional and amateur free agents that had been signed and players loaned from other organizations.
1968 farm system
Regular season
- On Tuesday, April 8, the Pilots won their first-ever game, 4–3 at Anaheim Stadium over the California Angels. Twenty-six-year-old Pilots' starter Marty Pattin went five innings, allowing two earned runs for Seattle. RHP Jack Aker earned the save. Right fielder Mike Hegan hit Seattle's first-ever home run, a two-run shot off Jim McGlothlin, after second baseman Tommy Harper had doubled to left to begin the Pilots' existence.
- On the afternoon of Friday, April 11, the Pilots played, and won, their first American League game at Sick's Stadium in Seattle – 7–0 over the Chicago White Sox. Thirty-two-year-old righty Gary Bell tossed a complete game for Seattle, scattering nine hits, striking out six Sox and walking four. Bell also helped his own cause by stroking a two-run double off RHP Bob Locker in the bottom of the sixth. Seattle 1b Don Mincher hit a two-run HR off RHP Joe Horlen in the third. The official attendance was 14,993.
- On July 2, Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics hit three home runs against the Pilots to raise his season total to 34.[17]
- In the 1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, outfielder Mike Hegan was the only Pilot selected to the All-Star game on the reserved squad. However, due to injury, he would be replaced by his teammate, infielder Don Mincher.
- On October 2, the Pilots played their last-ever game, losing 3-1 to Oakland in front of 5,473 fans in Seattle. In the final inning, Steve Whitaker hit the Pilots' last-ever home run, Greg Goossen got their final hit (a single), and Jerry McNertney struck out to end the game. Steve Barber took the loss.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
The first game
April 8, Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, California
[18]
Opening Day Lineup
[19]
Notable transactions
Roster
Game log
[24]
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Relief pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Farm system
The Pilots' farm system consisted of four minor league affiliates in 1969.[25][26] The Triple-A Vancouver Mounties were shared with the Montreal Expos.[26]
Awards and honors
1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
Notes
- ^ "Pilots Game to be Carried on Channel 5". The Seattle Times. August 22, 1969. p. 16.
- ^ "1969 Major League Baseball Attendance & Miscellaneous". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
- ^ "Financially stricken Seattle owners still courting move". Toledp Blade. Associated Press. March 1970. p. 29.
- ^ "Seattle Story: Downhill Run". Milwaukee Journal. April 1, 1970. p. 15.
- ^ "We're Big League Again! Court OKs sale of Pilots". Milwaukee Journal. April 1, 1970. p. 1.
- ^ a b Marv Staehle at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Wilbur Howard at Baseball-Reference
- ^ a b Jim Bouton at Baseball-Reference
- ^ a b Chico Salmon at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Jerry McNertney at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Diego Seguí at Baseball-Reference
- ^ a b Lou Piniella at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Steve Hovley at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Steve Barber at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Mike Marshall page on Baseball Reference
- ^ Information at Baseball Reference
- ^ Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman, p. 129, G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius. Walker Publishing Company, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-8027-1745-0
- ^ Box Score of Game played on Tuesday, April 8, 1969 at Anaheim Stadium
- ^ 1969 Seattle Pilots Roster by Baseball Almanac
- ^ Jim Pagliaroni at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Gorman Thomas at Baseball-Reference
- ^ Bob Coluccio at Baseball-Reference
- ^ John Donaldson at Baseball-Reference
- ^ "1969 Seattle Pilots Schedule | Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
- ^ "1969 Seattle Pilots Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
- ^ a b "The Mounties: Who Will Expo Cuts Replace?". The Province. Vancouver, British Columbia. April 5, 1969. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
References
- 1969 Seattle Pilots: Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics. Baseball-Reference.com
- 1969 Seattle Pilots Roster webpage. Baseball Almanac website
- Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
Further reading
- Allen, Rick (2020). Inside Pitch: Insiders Reveal How the Ill-Fated Seattle Pilots Got Played into Bankruptcy in One Year. Tacoma, WA: Persistence Press. ISBN 978-1-73-459590-1.
- Bouton, Jim (1970). Ball Four. New York: World Publishing. LCCN 78-120125.
- Hogan, Kenneth (2006). The 1969 Seattle Pilots: Major League Baseball's One-Year Team. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78-642786-4.
- Mullins, Bill (2013). Becoming Big League: Seattle, the Pilots, and Stadium Politics. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-29-599252-5.