The Pilots Fly in from Seattle and Start to Brew in Milwaukee

Early in 1953, Milwaukee baseball fans were ecstatic. That March the Boston Braves announced that they were relocating to the Beer City. Big-league baseball was back in the upper Midwest for the first time since 1901, the year before the Milwaukee Brewers, a charter member of the American League, moved to St. Louis and became the Browns. Braves owner Lou Perini had wanted to move the team after several seasons of declining attendance, topped off by a league low of just over 280,000 in 1952.

The Milwaukee faithful repaid Perini and the Braves by turning out in record numbers. The Braves led the major leagues in attendance each year from 1953 to 1958. This was accompanied by National League pennants in 1957 and 1958, the first of which resulted in a world championship. It was believed that Milwaukee’s success led to the move of the Giants and Dodgers to the West Coast after the 1957 season.

Attendance at County Stadium in Milwaukee began to decline beginning in 1959, however, and in 1961 Perini sold the team to a group of Chicago businessmen headed by William Bartholomay. “One of the most fabulous eras in the history of the game came to an end,” wrote Braves beat writer Bob Wolf.1 Despite his claim that “This has been and will be a Milwaukee-Wisconsin franchise,” Bartholomay began discussing moving the team soon after taking control.2 The first choice was Atlanta, where a new media market seemed to be blooming. It was also the home of the 52,000-seat Fulton County Stadium. Late in the 1963 season rumors began to swirl about a move to Georgia.

In response, the Braves began a ticket drive with the goal of selling enough tickets to keep the team from leaving. The drive was led by Braves manager Bobby Bragan and Milwaukee automobile executive Allan H. “Bud” Selig. Selig was just 29 years old and a lifelong fan of the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers. He was also a stockholder in the Braves.

In 1964 the Braves announced that the move would take place for the 1965 season. However, an injunction granted by a Wisconsin judge prevented the team from moving until 1966 and the Braves remained in Wisconsin for a lame-duck season.

Soon after the move was announced, a civic group, Teams Inc., was formed to keep the Braves in town by selling season tickets and promoting the team throughout the city.3 Selig was named to chair the group while Edmund Fitzgerald was named president.

During the 1965 season a new organization, the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club Inc., was formed. Selig was named the group’s president and Fitzgerald the vice president. The group was more commonly referred to as simply the Brewers. “I don’t think the potential of Milwaukee baseball has ever been realized,” said Selig confidently. “The fact that there would be a home-owned baseball club would make quite a difference. Milwaukee has always had absentee ownership.”4

Immediately, Selig applied to the National League to operate a new franchise in Milwaukee in 1966. The request was made in the form of a letter sent to National League President Warren Giles. The application stated that the team would have no more than 10 owners, all of whom were Wisconsin businessmen. Named were Selig and Oscar Mayer, the president of the Madison-based meat-packing firm, among others. The filing was made in the belief that the National League would be expanding for the 1966 season.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee County and the State of Wisconsin filed a suit against the Braves and the National League claiming that the move to Atlanta was in violation of antitrust laws. The Braves and Dodgers immediately denied these claims, contending that the suit was filed as an effort to harass the National League into granting Milwaukee a new franchise for the 1966 season. Selig replied to the criticism by saying that the application for a new franchise had been filed independently of the government’s lawsuit. Former owner Perini, who maintained a financial interest in the club, considered the lawsuit a mistake that could anger owners to the point that they would deny a franchise to Milwaukee.

Selig, who himself maintained a minority stock interest in the Braves after the move, was one of four members of the Brewers to appear before the NL owners in Miami Beach in December of 1965. In this meeting the Brewers told the owners that more than 18 million fans filed into County Stadium to watch the Braves in their first 12 seasons. They also said they had an agreement in principle with the county for a long-term lease of County Stadium and had received an offer from the Schlitz Brewing Company to buy the radio and television broadcast rights. Fitzgerald made a similar appeal to the American League owners.

In the end the owners in both leagues said no to Milwaukee because they did not feel the Brewers had the financial backing to fund the start of a new franchise. They stated that the club would need $10 million to start a new franchise while the Milwaukee group could pledge only $4.5 million. They also doubted that ownership would have the players available to make the team competitive, as they had not yet established a farm system. In addition, owners were not certain that expansion was a good idea for the leagues in 1966. “I’m an incurable optimist,” said Selig despite the unfavorable news. “We’re going to keep plugging for a franchise. We’re all hopeful that something will happen in the future.”5

In April of 1966 Circuit Judge Elmer Roller ruled in Milwaukee that the Braves had to return to the city.6 The only alternative, according to the judge, was to award the city a new franchise for the 1967 season. Later that summer the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the ruling, declaring that the state court had no right to regulate a business operation that operated from coast to coast. As a result of this ruling the Braves were allowed to remain in Atlanta. John McHale, president of the Braves, seemed to take pleasure taking one last jab at the fans in the Cream City. “If Milwaukee had shown half as much fight and effort while we were still there and needed support as they have shown in trying to get us back, we’d still be playing our games in Milwaukee.”7 The US Supreme Court decided not to hear the case. This decision caused many Milwaukeeans to give up the fight for baseball in the city. Others, led by Selig, continued in the struggle.

The new fight began in July 1967 when the Brewers sponsored an exhibition game between the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox at County Stadium. While the stadium had hosted some minor-league games in 1966, this would be the first major-league game played there since 1965. The game, which was played on July 24, drew an overflow crowd of 51,144, larger than any crowd the Braves had ever drawn. In fact, it was the largest crowd to ever watch a professional sporting event in Wisconsin.

As a result of the success of the game, the White Sox agreed to play nine home games at County Stadium in 1968 and 11 in 1969. These games were successful in terms of drawing fans, as they accounted for a third of all White Sox attendance in those two seasons.

In the spring of 1967 most insiders believed that the city would get a new franchise by 1970. Many felt the delay would be due in part to the bitterness baseball felt toward Milwaukee because of the legal troubles Selig & Co. had caused when the Braves left. Both Fitzgerald and Selig scoffed at the idea of bitterness, though. “We’ve got to remain baseball-conscious and keep reminding baseball people about [the Brewers],” said Fitzgerald. “We’ve gone to major-league meetings every time we’ve got the chance and we’re going to keep talking to as many people as we can.”8

Also in 1967, Charley Finley began looking for a new home for his Kansas City A’s. He originally turned to Milwaukee because it had a ballpark. However, the Wisconsin interests insisted that Finley sell 51 percent of the team to local buyers. Absentee owners had moved the Braves out of town, and the locals did not want that to happen again. Finley agreed to sell 49 percent but no more. This led the Milwaukee faction to walk away from negotiations, still hopeful about landing an expansion franchise with complete local ownership. As a result the A’s moved to Oakland instead of Milwaukee to begin the 1968 season.

In the spring of 1968, Milwaukee received more bad news when the American League announced that it would add expansion teams in Seattle and Kansas City. The original plan was to have those clubs start play in 1971 but that was changed to 1969 to appease US Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri. Symington was upset that Finley’s A’s had abandoned Kansas City and didn’t feel that they should have to wait three years for major-league baseball to return. This meant Seattle would also have to start in 1969 so the league would have an even number of teams. This decision would profoundly affect the future of major-league baseball in Milwaukee in ways no one could have anticipated at the time.

One of the major draws of Seattle was its large media market. With no major cities nearby, Seattle owned the airwaves. This was a factor, if not the major factor, in the league’s decision to award the city a franchise.

The owner of the Seattle club was Pacific Northwest Sports Inc., a group headed by Dewey Soriano, a former president of the Pacific Coast League. Seattle, which had been a member of the PCL, was forced to pay that league $1 million to compensate for the loss of the franchise. While Soriano was the head of the group, it was backed financially by William Daley, a former owner of the Cleveland Indians. Daley, as majority owner, was the chairman of the board.

With Symington’s pressure forcing the Pilots to move their timetable up two years, they were hard-pressed to get everything in order for their 1969 debut. The Pilots were to play in Sick’s Stadium. The stadium had been named after Emil Sick, who originally purchased the minor-league Seattle Rainiers in 1937. At the time Seattle was awarded a new major-league franchise, the stadium seated just 11,000 people. Major League Baseball said it had to be upgraded to seat 30,000 before the Pilots opened play.

Major League Baseball also ordered Seattle to begin construction on a domed stadium by December 31, 1970. In 1968 King County voters agreed to do just that in a referendum. Sick’s Stadium was to serve as only an interim stadium until the dome was completed. The city funded the upgrade of Sick’s Stadium to the tune of $1.17 million. That figure was based on architect’s estimates.

But an unfortunate surprise was in store for the club. The lowest bids turned out to be just over $1.7 million, or $600,000 more than the city had budgeted. This forced the team to win immediately in order to draw fans and make up for the cost overruns. It also made the Pilots set some of the highest ticket prices in baseball. Neither of these would help the Pilots’ financial problems.

In the expansion draft the team took a group of veteran players who they thought could get them off to a good start. Included among these were former All-Stars Tommy Davis and Don Mincher; another former All-Star, Jim Bouton, was acquired via trade. Joe Schultz would make his major-league managerial debut with the Pilots.

The Pilots began their time in Seattle with pitcher Marty Pattin leading them to a 4-3 win over the California Angels in Anaheim. However, things began to go downhill for them very quickly. Two days after that victory Seattle failed to draw even 15,000 fans to its home opener.

On the field the team managed to keep its head above water for most of the early part of the season. That is, until an eight-game losing streak in mid-July dropped Seattle to 15 games below .500. That was followed by a swoon of 16 losses in 17 games in August which buried the team in last place in the newly formed American League West.

This slump was followed by a slump in attendance. The Pilots drew over 10,000 fans just twice in 14 September home dates. Their average attendance for the month was under 6,000.

By the time September rolled around, attendance was lagging so far behind that William Daley told Seattle fans that if they didn’t start showing up for games he would be forced to move the franchise.

Meanwhile, Selig was still doing all he could to bring major-league baseball back to Milwaukee. In January 1969 he announced that the Brewers had sold more than 3,000 season tickets to the 14 games to be played at County Stadium in 1969. Eleven of the 14 would be White Sox home games while the other three were interleague exhibitions to be played in April and May. As it turned out, White Sox attendance at County Stadium would drop sharply, from just under 30,000 fans per game in 1969 to barely over 17,000 in 1969.

In October of 1969 Selig and the Brewers made an offer of $13 million to purchase the White Sox. The White Sox ownership had just been transferred from Arthur Allyn to his younger brother, John. However, shortly after the transfer John Allyn told White Sox fans that the team would not be leaving the Windy City – and they wouldn’t play any more games in County Stadium, either.

Selig went so far as to tour American League cities to see whether owners would approve a transfer of the White Sox to Milwaukee. Six of the 10 owners he visited said they didn’t want to give up the Chicago market.

Meanwhile the Pilots’ troubles continued to mount. Seattle Mayor Floyd Miller told the team to post a $600,000 letter of credit and a $150,000 surety bond by September 8 or face eviction from Sick’s Stadium. After a meeting with American League lawyers, Miller agreed to extend the deadline two weeks.

The team countered that the city had not kept its part of the bargain by providing a major-league facility. They had a point. There was so little water pressure in the park that at times the toilets wouldn’t flush and there was no water for the Pilots to shower. There were also uncomfortable benches for the fans to sit on because better chair-back seats would have been too expensive.

The American League felt that all the bickering between the team and the city over Sick’s Stadium was a major problem. The league was also dissatisfied with the progress being made on building a new stadium. League officials knew the startup date they had set for the city to begin construction probably was not going to be met. They began to see that they should have never chosen Seattle to host an expansion franchise.

As the season came to an end, the financial strains on the new franchise became very clear. In October the team’s plight was the major topic of conversation among baseball people at the World Series.

In September Daley issued a warning to Seattle fans that they had one more year to turn the attendance numbers around or the team would relocate to another city. Also, the Bank of California lost faith in the Pilots’ future and called in a $3.5 million loan it had made to the team’s ownership.

In early October, aware of the franchise’s struggles, Selig offered $10.8 million on behalf of Wisconsin interests to purchase the team and move it to Milwaukee. Soriano agreed to sell Selig the club at that price. A competing bid of $10 million had also been made by Dallas-Fort Worth, with Toronto also believed to have an interest.

Eventually the American League placed some expectations on the Pilots that they would have to meet in order to remain in Seattle. First they had to find local ownership that could come up with the money to match Selig’s offer. Second, they would have to prove that they could meet the December 1970 deadline to begin construction on a new domed stadium. And third, they would have to make the improvements to Sick’s Stadium as originally ordered by the league. This meant they would have to upgrade seating from the current 25,000 to the 30,000 the league had wanted.

By November the team’s roller-coaster ride was leaning in their favor. It looked as if a new ownership group led by Seattle businessman Fred Danz would be able to trump the Milwaukee offer. It also appeared that construction on the new stadium could begin by the deadline if they hustled. Daley also said he would be willing to sell to a Seattle-based group at a lesser price than a group from out of town. On November 17 Danz and his group announced that they had purchased a controlling interest in the club from Daley for $10.3 million.

But things once again became sour on December 12 when the Bank of California called in another $3.5 million loan, one that had been given to the team when it was originally purchased. The bank did not think Seattle fans would support the team. The move came one week after the AL had approved the new ownership group.

Danz immediately declared that Seattle fans would have to buy tickets in advance to prove they would support the team and convince the bank that its loan was secure. The bank management spoke with Selig and was told that the Milwaukee group would be willing to pay. “We do not consider ourselves predatory raiders,” said a defensive Selig. “At no time have we had any negotiations for a franchise.” At the same time he defended Milwaukee as a bona-fide major-league city. “Some people think Milwaukee is a small, hemmed-in community, but in fact it is the largest primary market area in the country without baseball,” Selig said.9

The other American League owners loaned the team $650,000 to try to keep it from moving. The loan was made in part because the other owners feared the city of Seattle would file a lawsuit if the team was moved.

Danz and his club were still in a precarious financial situation because of the loan that had been called in by the Bank of California. The bank said it would carry $750,000 of the loan if some Seattle banks would be willing to carry the remainder. On January 23, 1970, the city filed a suit in Superior Court to prevent the team from moving. The press and others outside of Seattle couldn’t help but wonder why no one in the city was willing to come up with the remainder of the money to cover the loan.

Daley, who remained the majority stockholder, told the Milwaukee Journal that he was pleased with Milwaukee as a potential home for the Pilots but he didn’t rule out the Dallas area, where oilman Lamar Hunt had also put in a bid for the team. Both US senators from Washington threatened legal action if the team was moved. They went so far as to say they would urge Congress to take action to strip baseball of its antitrust exemption.

The Pilots left for spring training not knowing where they would play in 1970. Spring training went on as normal but the players were distracted by the controversy, which continued throughout February and March as the league tried to find a solution. No Seattle ownership group had presented a financial plan that would bail the team out of its troubles. On March 17 restraining orders were issued against AL President Joe Cronin and all 12 league owners to prevent a move of the franchise. The league replied by stating that either the city of Seattle would have to find suitable local ownership or a move would take place.

On March 17 Pilots fan and Seattle attorney Alfred Schweppe succeeded in getting a restraining order preventing the team from moving. Schweppes was a season-ticket holder in 1969 and argued that the move would hurt him.

Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn made a last-ditch effort to keep the team in Seattle by asking Edward Carlson if he would reconsider buying the team. Carlson had stepped in earlier in the spring with an offer but later backed out. He told Kuhn that he was no longer interested in purchasing the Pilots.

Immediately after the restraining order was issued, the Pilots filed for bankruptcy. Ownership wanted to sell the club, and filing for bankruptcy was the only way to prevent the city, or anyone else, from taking legal action to prevent the team from moving.

On March 24 a hearing was held before Federal Bankruptcy Judge Sidney C. Volinn. During the hearing Volinn stated that the only offer to purchase the team had come from Milwaukee Brewers Inc., who had offered $10.8 million. This deal meant that the Pilots owners would make about a $1 million profit after paying their debts. The American League owners approved the sale on March 30. Politicians in the state of Washington were outraged by the decision and by Major League Baseball. “I think the leadership in the American League and the league owners that have led us to this sorry state of affairs can’t be condemned too much for the way they treated this area,” lamented Governor Dan Evans.10

“We’re Big League Again! Court OKs Sale of Pilots,” read the front page of the Milwaukee Journal on April 1, 1970.11 “I have never thought that Milwaukee lost its major-league status,” said Mayor Henry Maier ebulliently. “I think the major leagues lost Milwaukee and I think that baseball is darned lucky to have people like the Brewers management standing in the wings to bail them out.”12

The transfer was made official on March 31.13 This left just seven days until Opening Day. Ticket sales began immediately and 12,000 tickets for Opening Day were sold on the first day. The uniforms had to be adjusted so the “S” on the cap was replaced by an “M” and Pilots was changed to Brewers on the jerseys.

The transition had other problems as well. Many of the players had homes in Seattle, so a Milwaukee hotel offered three days’ free lodging for players once they arrived from spring training in Arizona.

In the end three things caused the Pilots’ downfall. First was the league’s decision in 1968 to have the team start play in 1969 rather than the original start date of 1971. This gave Seattle little time to raise the money to start a franchise. Second, the team’s litigious relationship with the city of Seattle destroyed any chance the franchise had of surviving. And finally, the team’s attendance was poor (677,944) in its inaugural season.

Milwaukee baseball fans were ecstatic about the move, while the sorrow shown in Seattle seems to have been limited to a few avid fans. Some fans seemed relieved to have the controversy over with. The same can be said of the other AL owners, who had struggled to find an answer to the team’s fate all winter long.

Opening Day brought over 36,107 fans to County Stadium to see their Brewers’ baptism on April 7. “Baseball Fans Back in Swing,” exclaimed the Milwaukee Journal excitedly on the front page.14 The team was shut out 12-0 by the California Angels to begin a 65-97 season, which landed it in fourth place in the AL West. But Wisconsin fans weren’t too concerned about the team’s finish. They were just glad to have major-league baseball back in their state.

DALE VOISS has been a member of SABR since 2009. During this time he has written several player biographies. As an amateur genealogist he has also published books on both his mother’s and father’s families. He began as a Cubs and Twins fan in the late 1960s but when the Brewers came to Milwaukee in 1970, he changed allegiances and never looked back. He is the divorced father of a 12-year-old daughter and currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

Additional Sources 

New York Times

Hogan, Kenneth. The 1969 Seattle Pilots (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2006).

The Seattle Pilots Baseball Team, seattlepilots.com/.

Robbie, Kevin. “Crash Landing: The 1969 Seattle Pilots,” Thursday Review, March 5, 2014, thursdayreview.com/SeattlePilots1969.html.

 

Notes

1 The Sporting News, December 1, 1962, 11.

2 The Sporting News, December 1, 1962, 11.

3 Lou Chapman, “Bragan Pitches for ‘Teams,’ ” Milwaukee Sentinel, February 23, 1965: Section 1, page 1.

4 “$1.5 Million Fund for Baseball Here,” Milwaukee Journal, September 30, 1965: Part 2, 22.

5 The Sporting News, December 18, 1965: 20.

6 J. Gordon Hylton, “Why Milwaukee Lost the Braves: Perspectives on Law and Culture from a Half-Century Later,” Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog,  law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2012/01/01/why-milwaukee-lost-the-braves-perspectives-on-law-and-culture-from-a-half-century-later/.

7 “City Hasn’t Yet Struck Out in Quest for a Team,” Milwaukee Journal, July 28, 1966: Part 1, 18.

8 The Sporting News, April 29, 1967: 7.

9 The Sporting News, January 31, 1970: 38.

10 Associated Press, “Seattle Pilots Fade,” Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard, April 3, 1970: 2B.

11 “We’re Big League Again! Court OKs Sale of Pilots,” Milwaukee Journal, April 1, 1970: 1.

12 “Happy! Thrilled! Elated!,” Milwaukee Journal, April 1, 1970: 1.

13 “Varied Talents Got Baseball Back,” Milwaukee Journal, April 1, 1970: Part 2, 14.

14 Raymond E. McBride, “Baseball Fans Back in Swing,” Milwaukee Journal, April 8, 1970: 1.