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 (.395), 33 games behind the division champion Minnesota Twins.
| 1969 Seattle Pilots | |
|---|---|
| League | American League |
| Division | West |
| Ballpark | Sick's Stadium |
| City | Seattle |
| Record | 64-98 |
| Divisional place | 6th |
| Owners | Dewey Soriano |
| General managers | Marvin Milkes |
| Managers | Joe Schultz |
| Television | KING-TV (Joe Daggett, Rod Belcher) |
| Radio | KVI (Jimmy Dudley, Bill Schonely) |
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.