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From there, the rest of the 1968 season is a blur. Dewey worked with William Daley, former owner of the Cleveland Indians to put up the majority of the money required for the required expansion fee. In return, Daley would own 47% of the stock and serve as chairman of the board, and Dewey would be the president. Dewey offered me the job of Assistant General Manager and I accepted before he could even finish the offer.
During the owner meetings of 1968, Major League Baseball voted to expand in four cities: San Diego, Montreal, Kansas City and Seattle. Expansion was set to take place for the 1971 season, but fate intervened.
Instead of being given three years to plan and prepare for a Major League team in Seattle, we were given 5 months. Under pressure from Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri, who couldn’t stand to wait until 1971 for baseball to be played in Kansas City, Major League baseball forced the expansion to move up to the 1969 season.
Now, I’ve been to Missouri and Kansas City and St. Louis aren’t THAT far apart! Furthermore, does anyone really believe that Missouri is big enough for 2 major league teams? When Seattle joins the league, we’ll be the only major league team in 800 miles! That’s about the equivalent of three trips from Kansas City to St. Louis…
This was just further proof to me that politicians are scum.
To make matters worse, Dewey and Daley were required to pay the PCL one million dollars to make up for the loss of one of the leagues most successful franchises. The Seattle Pilots hadn’t even signed a single player, and already we’re one million dollars in the hole. Not a good way to start a baseball team.
Sick’s Stadium was fine for a AAA ballclub, but wasn’t really cut out for a major league team. There weren’t enough seats, and when seats were added, many of them didn’t have a clear view of the games. It didn’t help that, most games we couldn’t fill the original seats, let alone the new additions. By June, we were loosing enough games to keep the fans at home.
After a dismal 64-98 record, the start of the offseason was actually a relief; until Dewey began to closet himself away in his office again. Unfortunately, this time it wasn’t because he was working on buying a baseball team; in fact, it was exactly the opposite…
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