What a glorious year. There were so many big and important events. There was a little concert on a farm in New York called Woodstock. The '69 version was great, but spawned those bastard children in '94 and '99 (remember Fred Durst encouraging people to "Break Stuff"). Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left Michael Collins with the meter running and faked the first lunar landing. And in August of '69 Al Gore and some other people invented the internet at Stanford when two computers "talked" to each other for the first time. (Sample transcript: Comp. 1: "This is such a breakthrough. This is going to revolutionize the way humans do everything." Comp. 2: "Cool. a/s/l?")
But I am not concerned with any of these my friends. There is another 40th anniversary which is more important than all of these.
The men in the photo before you are the 1969 Seattle Pilots. One of only two major league teams to leave their expansion city after one year and the only team in MLB history to declare bankruptcy.
Before current MLB Commissioner Bud Selig bought the franchise in bankruptcy court and moved them to Milwaukee, to become the Brewers, the team called Seattle home. They played their home games in a converted minor league stadium called Sick's Stadium. That season they finished last in the division. The team actually a few famous names on their roster. Jim Bouton, who is more known for his book "Ball Four," was a pitcher on the team. One of his teammates was none other than current Chicago Cubs manager Lou Pinella, although he was traded at the end of spring training.
The Pilots had a god awful logo,which inexplicably had a boat captain's wheel and wings surrounding a baseball, and some of the ugliest uniforms in the history organized teams sports. Their team colors can best be described as blue and scrambled-egg-yellow. Take a look at the logos and uniforms here.
The reason they lasted only one year is confusing. Different sources say different things. It is some combination of poor attendance and owner mismanagement and a lack of fan support. It boils down money, or a lack thereof.
So, raise your glasses to the Haley's Comet (everyone is already calling them Brigadoon) of Major League Baseball...a team no one will care about until 2019 and their 50th anniversary...
The 1969 Seattle Pilots!
Not shown on that picture are two players traded right before the start of the season. It's quite possibly the best baseball "name" trade of all time:
ReplyDeleteBaltimore trades Gordy Lund and Gene Brabender to the Pilots for Chico Salmon.