I had planned to share a few thoughts and photos relating to the destruction of the Kingdome, but that will have to wait until next month because of all the great letters.
I enjoyed your site on the Seattle Pilots. I grew up in Washington, D.C.,
going to Senators games. I even celebrated my 10th birthday at RFK, with
a cake and autographed balls. A few weeks later, the Senators were in
Texas, and I was left with a broken heart. To this day, I still can't
cheer for the Rangers, knowing they should still be here in Washington.
The only consolation is that I switched alliegence to the O's, who were
quite successful in the '70s, and I got to go to a World Series game in
Baltimore. That never would have happened with the Nats!
—CKing
I have been collecting, in a casual sort of way, Seattle Pilots
memorabilia since the late '70s. But I never met anyone else with that
passion! What a delight to browse your Web site. The one thing I'd love
to see: the "brawl" that occurred at Sicks Stadium when the Yankees'
Bobby Murcer took out second baseman Ray Oyler. I think this is the incident where Bouton and Fritz Peterson
exchanged pulled punches. Must have been broadcast. Has anyone ever
found such footage, or similar videotapes?
—mfissel
NOTE FROM MIKE: That game was on May 12, 1969. Footage may exist, but not to my knowledge.
I want to say that i really enjoyed your site. I actually caught wind of it
from Les Carpenter's article in the paper today, and as I am sure many
others are doing I went to Yahoo and found it. I was born in October 1970
so I wasn't even alive when they were here, but I have read of them, as well
as the Rainiers. This morning as I watched the implosionof the Kingdome, I
felt some nostalgia and some sadness. The days of Seattle being an up and
coming city are really now done. We are as big-league as they come, which
is nice, but also a realization that things will never bethe same.
When that roof came crashing down today, cut the final real tangible tie
with Ken Griffey, Jr., and it signalled the culmination of this city's
baseball history as we have known it. Most people don't have sense of who
was on that team, or that we were Major League, and what a big deal that
must have been. But I know on a couple of occasions I have been down in the
Rainier Valley, I have gotten out fo my car and stood before the Eagle
hardware store, and I swear I can slightly feel and hear the ghosts and
echoes of all that tok place there.
So anyway, my main point is that your site is very classily donw, and it's
nice to know it is there preserve the Pilots' memory.
—huskies101
Nice web site. Those were the days. FYI regarding the pictures on the
Pilots rookies card (Piniella/Staehle). Guess what ? That same Staehle is on
the '65 Topps White Sox rookie stars card with Bruce Howard (card #41).
Keep up
the good work and long live the Pilots.
—espnaddict
 A new reproduction Pilots cap. |
I've been trying to find a fitted Pilots cap that looks exactly like the one
next to your baby on the What's New page of your Web site.
All I can find
here in Milwaukee or on the Web is a Pilots cap where the bill has an
embroidered "scrambled eggs" look, rather than the "wheat stem" look that
has the 15 kernals coming off the stem. The one
in the above-mentioned pic is what the actual Pilots cap looked
like, as opposed the ones made today that are bad recreations. I can't stand to have poor
recreations next to my Bouton jersey!
NOTE FROM MIKE: pgraber is correct that the new reproduction caps are historically inaccurate. The hat next to my baby is a reproduction made around 10 years ago by Roman Pro, which looks exactly like the caps the Pilots actually wore, while the image above is a new cap from the Cooperstown Collection, made by American Needle. As you can see, the design on the bill is very different. The Mariners team store does have some of the Roman Pro model Pilots caps in stock and they do mail order, so if you want one, I suggest you call them. I called Mitchell & Ness and Ebbets Field Flannels and neither of them has any Roman Pro model Pilots caps in their inventory.
Send me an e-mail and I might post your letter.