Seattle baseball history, part 2

The 1967 Major League Baseball winter meetings gave life to the Seattle Pilots, owned by former Cleveland Indians owner William R. Daley and former Pacific Coast League president Dewey Soriano. They entered the American League along with the Kansas City Royals as part of a hasty round of expansion triggered by the Kansas City Athletics' move to Oakland. Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri had threatened to have baseball's antitrust exemption revoked unless Kansas City was promptly granted another team.  They were originally slated to begin play in 1971, but Symington would not accept the prospect of having Kansas City wait three years for another team and pressured MLB to have the Royals and their expansion brethren (the Pilots and the National League's San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos) ready for play in 1969. Until a new stadium (what would become the Kingdome) was ready, the Pilots would play at Sick's Stadium, the home of the city's longtime PCL franchise, the Seattle Rainiers.

Manager Joe Schultz actually thought they could finish third in the newly formed, six-team American League West even though they had been badly out drafted by the Royals. However, to the surprise of almost no one outside Seattle, the Pilots were terrible. They won their very first game, and then their home opener three days later, but only won five more times in the first month and never recovered. They finished last in the West with a record of 64–98. In a sign that the Pilots were doomed for failure, Lou Piniella a 26-year-old rookie was traded at the end of spring training. Piniella was sent down a few weeks earlier despite having strong numbers in spring games. The problem was that Pilots manager Joe Schultz did not like Piniella, who was set to make $175, 000. The Pilots did not want to pay him, so they got rid of him. Piniella would end up with the American League's other 1969 expansion team the Kansas City Royals, and he would win that year's Rookie of the Year.

However, the team's poor play was the least of the Pilots' problems. The team's ownership was badly under capitalized; Soriano hadn't been able to afford the franchise fee and had to ask Daley to help pay it. In return, Daley got 47 percent of the team's stock—the biggest single share—and became chairman of the board. Also, Sick's Stadium was completely inadequate even as a temporary facility. While a condition of MLB awarding the Pilots to Seattle was that Sicks had to be expanded to 30,000 seats by the start of the 1969 season, only 17,000 seats were ready because of numerous delays.

 The scoreboard was not even ready until the night before opening day. While it was expanded to 25,000 by June, the added seats had obstructed views. Water pressure was almost nonexistent after the seventh inning, especially with crowds above 10,000. Only 677,944 fans came to see the Pilots that year; they never attracted a crowd even near capacity. On October 2nd, 5,473 Pilot fans, came to see the season finale against the Oakland A's. They would lose 3-1 and finish in last place and 33 games out of first. One bright spot was Harper who would lead the majors with 73 stolen bases. Much of the story of that season is told in pitcher Jim Bouton's classic baseball book, Ball Four ( a must read for all baseball fans).

By the end of the 1969 season, the Pilots were almost out of money, and they wouldn't survive long enough to move into their new stadium without new ownership. No credible offers surfaced from Seattle interests at first, however. Under these circumstances, Soriano was initially very receptive to an offer from a Milwaukee-based group headed by car salesman Bud Selig. Selig had been a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves and had led unsuccessful efforts to keep them from moving to Atlanta, and had been working ever since then to bring the majors back to Milwaukee. During Game 1 of the World Series, Soriano agreed to sell the Pilots to Selig for $10 million to $13 million. Selig would then move the team to Milwaukee. However, under strong pressure from Washington state officials, MLB asked Soriano to try to find a local buyer first.

Unfortunately, one local deal collapsed when the Bank of California called a loan for start-up costs, and another bid was turned down out of concern it would devalue the other teams. With no other credible offers on the table, the owners approved the sale to Selig's group. Selig had already announced plans to rename the team the Brewers, a name that had been used by past Milwaukee baseball teams dating to the 19th century. However, legal action kept Selig from formally taking control, and dragged out through the winter.

Opening day at Sick's Stadium, 1969

The matter still hadn't been resolved by the end of spring training, leaving new manager Dave Bristol and the players unsure of where they would play. The team's equipment sat in Provo, Utah while the drivers awaited word to drive to Seattle or Milwaukee. After the state filed an injunction to stop the sale on March 17, Soriano and the Pilots filed for bankruptcy to forestall any more legal action. After general manager Marvin Milkes testified that the Pilots didn't have enough money to pay the players, the bankruptcy judge granted the Pilots' filing on April 1 and ruled the move to Milwaukee in order. MLB would not return to Seattle until 1977, when the Mariners entered the AL, along with the Toronto Blue Jays. One player from the 1969 Pilots would come back to the new team in 1977. Former Pilot Diego Segui would be a member of the inaugural Mariners. Diego would have the honor of throwing the first pitch in Mariners history. When the Kingdome would close in 1999, he would also have the honor of throwing the last pitch. His son David would also play for the Mariners, making them one of two father-son combos to play for the Mariners.

some information borrowed and inspired by Wikipedia and seattlepilots.com

Seattle basball history, part 1

Believe it or not, Seattle has a long history of baseball. While the city would not see Major League Baseball until 1969, the first pro team would start in 1890 with a team called the Hustlers. To tell the story of professional baseball in Seattle prior to the Seattle Rainiers is to tell the story of Dan Dugdale. Dugdale's ties to baseball began six years before that in his hometown of Peoria, Ill. From 1884-95, Dugdale used his above-average talent as a catcher to play for 20 different teams in 13 different states.

In 1898, Dugdale arrived in Seattle seeking fortune from the Klondike Gold Rush. It only makes sense then that the first team he helped to build was the Klondikers. Later called the Rainmakers, Clamdiggers and Chinooks, the Klondikers were one of the pioneering teams in the Pacific Northwest League that became fully functional in 1901.
 

Keeping a baseball league in business at that time was no small feat, especially when there were other leagues competing for players and popularity. Dugdale was bought out in 1904 by the Seattle Siwashes of the Pacific Coast League and agreed to manage the Portland team in that league.

Then in 1907, Dugdale returned to Seattle and aligned the Siwashes with the Northwestern League. He also built Yesler Way Park on the corner of 12th Avenue and Yesler Way that year. While playing in that facility, the Siwashes were renamed the Turks and won the league pennant in 1909.

 

After another renaming, this time to the Giants, Dugdale again invested in a new stadium. Dugdale Park was located in Rainier Valley and was the first double-decker stadium built on the West Coast. The ballpark opened its gates in 1914.

 
 
In all, Dugdale's teams won five pennants and produced many future Major League players.
Then, in 1919, the Pacific Coast League returned to Seattle and formed a team called the Rainiers. The team was renamed the Indians two years later and won the first PCL championship for the city of Seattle in 1924.
Tragically, Dugdale Park was burned by an arsonist in 1932 on the Fourth of July. The act forced the Indians, who had previously called that park home, to move to Civic Stadium. Located where Memorial Stadium stands today, Civic Stadium was known for its concrete-hard infield and large wooden light poles that were in play if struck by a ball.

 
 
The next few years were tough ones for baseball in Seattle. It wasn't until 1937 when a man named Emil Sick came along that things started to turn around again.
 
 
SEATTLE RAINIERS

Although the Rainiers were charter members of the Pacific Coast League from 1903-06 and then rejoined the league in 1919 under the Indians title, it wasn't until 1937 when Sick bought the team and renamed them the Rainiers that the team began known as one of the marquee teams of the league.

From 1938-41, the Rainiers made six consecutive playoff appearances, winning pennants in three of those trips.
Previously known as the owner of the Rainier Brewing Company, Sick bought the team to help promote his brew. But Sick also opened his wallet for his new investment. In 1938, construction was complete on Sick's Stadium, a state-of-the-art ballpark for its time that was erected at the same place where Dugdale Park had been located.
 

Rainiers games became one of the most popular things to do in Seattle during Sick's ownership. Following the new stadium's opening, the Rainiers led the PCL in attendance 11 of the next 20 seasons. For five of those years, they led all of the Minor Leagues as well. During the 1946 season, the short lived West Coast Negro League would have a team in Seattle named the Steelheads. The league would only last about two months.

The PCL was regarded as the most competitive league in the country after the American and National leagues during the Rainiers' heyday. The quality of play was extraordinary, as evidenced by future Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal beginning their baseball careers playing for teams in the PCL.

While no Rainiers players went on to become one of these all-time greats, the franchise did have its share of hometown favorites that had excellent playing careers. Three of the most prominent players from the Rainiers' back-to-back-to-back championships were "Kewpie" Dick Barrett, Bill Lawrence and Jo-Jo White. Barrett won more than 200 games as a Rainier, Lawrence was considered one of the best defensive center fielders of his time, and White played many successful seasons in the Majors before being traded to Seattle. Another famous name that came to the Rainiers was a manager for one year in 1951. Rogers Hornsby would lead the team to a 99-68 record, and would go onto win the PCL championship in that year.

 
Perhaps the most famous Rainiers player of them all, though, only played one season with the team. Franklin High School graduate Fred Hutchinson quickly became a fan favorite because of his hometown roots and incredible success. In the team's first season, "Hutch" won 25 games as a 19 year old in 1938. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer named him Seattle Man of the Year for his brilliance on the mound. Hutchinson was never able to pitch at that level again, but he did go on to manage for 12 seasons in the Majors with the Tigers, Cardinals, and Reds. Between Major League managerial stints, he returned to lead the Rainiers to the 1955 PCL pennant. He died of cancer at the age of 45 in 1964.

 
Meanwhile, the PCL began to lose its loyal following when the Major Leagues began to migrate to the West Coast. The Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the New York Giants headed to San Francisco before the 1958 season. Businessman first, Sick saw the change coming and opted to sell the Rainiers to the Red Sox in 1960. The team would become a part of the California Angels organization from 1965 to 1968. While the team continued in Seattle, it was never able to regain the popularity that it generated while under Sick's ownership.