1969 Seattle Pilots 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, 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 — a major reason why the team was forced into bankruptcy after only one season. Despite the poor conditions at aging Sick's Stadium, the ticket prices were among the highest in the major leagues. The bankruptcy sale of the team was approved by a federal court in Seattle on March 31, 1970, 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.
Jim Bouton had the team autograph a baseball and gave it to a fan. The ball is now in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Offseason

April 1, 1968: Marv Staehle was purchased by the Pilots from the Cleveland Indians.
June 7, 1968: Wilbur Howard was selected by the Pilots in the 19th round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft.
October 21, 1968: Jim Bouton was purchased by the Pilots from the New York Yankees.
March 31, 1969: Chico Salmon was traded by the Pilots to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Brabender and Gordy Lund.

Expansion draft

The [1968 Major League Baseball|MLB expansion draft|MLB expansion draft] for the Pilots and the Kansas City Royals was held on October 15, 1968.

Player	Former team	Pick	Notes
Don Mincher	California Angels	2nd	-
Tommy Harper	Cleveland Indians	3rd	-
Ray Oyler	Detroit Tigers	5th	-
Jerry McNertney	Chicago White Sox	7th	-
Buzz Stephen	Minnesota Twins	9th	Never played for Seattle; only major league experience was in 1968.
Chico Salmon	Cleveland Indians	11th	Traded before the start of the season to Baltimore for Gene Brabender and Gordon Lund.
Diego Seguí	Oakland Athletics	14th	-
Tommy Davis	Chicago White Sox	16th	-
Marty Pattin	California Angels	18th	-
Gerry Schoen	Washington Senators	20th	Never played for Seattle; only major league experience was in 1968.
Gary Bell	Boston Red Sox	21st	-
Jack Aker	Oakland Athletics	24th	-
Rich Rollins	Minnesota Twins	26th	-
Lou Piniella	Cleveland Indians	28th	Traded shortly before opening day to Kansas City for Steve Whitaker and John Gelnar.
Dick Bates	Washington Senators	30th	-
Larry Haney	Baltimore Orioles	32nd	-
Dick Baney	Boston Red Sox	33rd	-
Steve Hovley	California Angels	35th	-
Steve Barber	New York Yankees	37th	-
John Miklos	Washington Senators	39th	Never played in the major leagues.
Wayne Comer	Detroit Tigers	41st	-
Bucky Brandon	Boston Red Sox	44th	-
Skip Lockwood	Oakland Athletics	46th	-
Gary Timberlake	New York Yankees	48th	-
Bob Richmond	Washington Senators	50th	Never played in the major leagues.
John Morris	Baltimore Orioles	52nd	-
Mike Marshall	Detroit Tigers	53rd	-
Jim Gosger	Oakland Athletics	55th	-
Mike Ferraro	New York Yankees	57th	-
Paul Click	California Angels	59th	Pitched in the minors through 1973. Never played in the major leagues.

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 and starting pitcher Bill Parsons. 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.

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.
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, and Jerry McNertney struck out to end the game. Steve Barber took the loss. Miguel Fuentes, who would be killed in a bar fight during the off-season, threw what turned out to be the final pitch in Pilots’ history.

The first game

'''April 8, Anaheim Stadium, Anaheim, California'''

Notable transactions

April 1: Lou Piniella was traded by the Pilots to the Kansas City Royals for Steve Whitaker and John Gelnar.
May 27: Jim Pagliaroni was purchased by the Pilots from the Oakland Athletics.
June 5: 1969 Major League Baseball draft
*Gorman Thomas was selected by the Pilots in the first round.
*Bob Coluccio was selected by the Pilots in the 17th round.
June 14: Larry Haney was traded by the Pilots to the Oakland Athletics for John Donaldson.
August 24: Jim Bouton was traded by the Pilots to the Houston Astros for Dooley Womack and Roric Harrison.
September 13: Marv Staehle was purchased from the Pilots by the Montreal Expos.

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; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C		128	410	99	.241	8	55	1
1B		140	427	105	.246	25	78	10
2B		95	338	79	.234	1	19	6
3B		148	537	126	.235	9	41	73
SS		106	255	42	.165	7	22	1
LF		123	454	123	.271	6	80	19
CF		147	481	118	.245	15	54	18
RF		95	267	78	.292	8	37	6

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	91	329	91	.277	3	20
	92	221	49	.222	0	17
	58	187	42	.225	4	21
	57	163	32	.196	0	12
	52	139	43	.309	10	24
	61	128	30	.234	4	14
	69	116	29	.250	6	13
	40	110	29	.264	5	14
	23	92	20	.217	3	10
	54	81	20	.247	0	4
	22	59	15	.254	2	7
	39	55	6	.109	1	7
	26	51	9	.176	2	5
	17	43	12	.279	0	4
	20	38	10	.263	0	1
	20	38	8	.211	0	0
	18	26	5	.192	1	2
	6	16	2	.125	0	2
	4	10	0	.000	0	0
	5	4	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	40	202.1	13	14	4.36	139
	34	158.2	7	12	5.62	126
	20	87.2	3	10	5.13	47
	12	63.2	2	5	5.37	37
	13	61.1	2	6	4.70	30
	6	32.2	0	3	3.31	17
	2	6.0	0	0	7.50	4

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	25	114.2	5	8	0	4.16	67
	39	108.2	3	10	3	3.31	69
	25	86.1	4	7	0	4.80	69
	8	26.0	1	3	0	5.19	14
	7	24.1	2	2	0	4.44	11
	6	23.0	0	1	0	3.52	10

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	66	142.1	12	6	12	3.35	113
	57	92.0	2	1	1	3.91	68
	55	70.0	2	2	6	2.96	48
	51	78.1	3	3	6	2.18	46
	15	16.2	0	2	3	7.56	7
	9	18.2	1	0	0	3.86	9
	9	14.1	2	1	0	2.51	8
	8	15.0	0	1	0	8.40	10
	6	12.2	0	0	0	6.39	8
	4	4.0	0	1	0	13.50	2
	2	2.2	0	0	0	10.12	1
	1	1.2	0	0	0	26.99	3

Farm system

The Pilots' farm system consisted of four minor league affiliates in 1969. The Triple-A Vancouver Mounties were shared with the Montreal Expos.

Awards and honors

1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game