In 1969, Major League Baseball expanded to four cities: San Diego, Montreal, Kansas City and Seattle. Montreal moved to Washington and became the Nationals and Seattle moved as well. Yes, there was a team in Seattle before the Mariners – the Seattle Pilots. The Pilots played in Seattle for just one season – 1969 – and at the end of spring training, 1970, they were officially sold and relocated to Milwaukee. But that one year in Seattle was a most interesting time. The Pilots were/are a study in what not to do when trying to establish a new team in a new city. Ownership of the team was not committed, the Stadium was ancient and not meant to host Major League Baseball, many of Seattle’s politicians and residents did not want a team and, getting back to the stadium, finding a location was utter chaos. The team itself was a typical expansion team going 64-98 in its first season. But they had a few players who people thought they could build around: Tommy Harper, Tommy Davis, Lou Pinella and Mike Hegan. But, before the season started, Pinella was traded to Kansas City where he went on to win Rookie of the Year. That trade of Pinella for John Geinar and Steve Whitaker proved to be one of the most lopsided trades in franchise history, and it was orchestrated by Seattle’s GM Marvin Milkes, who also thought the team was much better that it was and talked about the Pilots finishing as high as third. That was a problem too as he did everything he could to help the team play better ball. Well, that backfired as the Pilots had a revolving door of players and according to Bill Mullins, author of the book, “Becoming Big League, Seattle, the Pilots, and Stadium Politics,” and who is our guest on this episode of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes, Seattleites regarded the Pilots as nothing more than a glorified minor league team because of the constant player movement, just like a minor league team. Join Bill Mullins now on Sports’ Forgotten Heroes as we take a look back at the fascinating story of the Seattle Pilots.
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