I turned nine years old the year the
Pilots were in town and did get to some games that year. I remember seeing
the Yankees that summer, with the disappointment being that Mantle had
retired after the '68 season, so Joe Pepptione was the big star for the
Bombers that year.
On my 9th birthday, I received a number of Pilots-oriented gifts,
including some autographed 5x7 b/w glossies (Bouton, Schultz, Oyler, Gil and
one other) and an autographed ball, all of which I still have and which are
all in great shape. My dad bought six box seats for Opening Day 1970 ($3.50
a seat in those days, a far cry from what my M's seats cost now), which he
had framed for me for my 35th birthday, and are another of my prized
possessions.
—ToddH
1. Corky Evans played Catcher, and a little 1B if I remember
correctly, for the Stockton Ports in the California League in
1968. I think he was a LH batter.
2. Lloyd "King" Fourroux played LF and hit 22 HR in 139 G
for the Stockton Ports in 1961. He also struck out 133 times.
He was a big RH batter, and 22 HR is excellent for Stockton,
as the wind blows in from LF most of the time. I always
wondered whatever happened to him.
I lived in Stockton from 1950 to 1976, and had a tryout myself
with the 1961 team. Stockton was a farm club of Baltimore in
these years. The 1968 team was very good and interesting, including players such as Don Baylor, Bobby Grich, Roger Freed, and others
who made the Major Leagues. The 2B for that team was none other than
Ron Shelton, who wrote and directed the movie, "Bull Durham."
Also, Frank Crosetti has always lived
in Stockton, although I am not acquainted with him. The last I heard (last summer) he was alive and healthy, and my mother even sent me a
couple newspaper clippings of letters he had
written to the local paper.
Hope these small tid-bits are useful to you. It was fun
looking at your site, and of course "Ball Four" still remains
the funniest book I have ever read--bar none--on any subject!
I just stumbled across your Web site, while looking for old Pacific
Coast League info. You are asking for information about any of the
minor league players for the 1969 Seattle Pilots.
Two names on your list are familiar to me:
—hb9dot
I found a Web site selling a copy of a 1969 NBC "Game of the Week." It's
the Cubs vs. Phillies at Wrigley Field from July 12, 1969. The intro at
the beginning showed the Pilots logo along with all the other teams.
It's black and white, with the commercials edited out. It's the oldest
complete regular season game in existence.
I've only watched the first inning as I'm waiting to see the rest with
some friends. I don't know who won the game so its like seeing the '69
Cubs playing a new game. A once-in-a-lifetime chance.
I bought it from Rare SportsFilms. The owner told me that each
week, the game was recorded for Armed Forces Television. The recordings
were then destroyed but somehow this one game was saved. He said he
found it 20 years ago and spent $2,000 restoring it.
I'm a big Cubs fan. The '69 Cubs are the most popular Cub team of all
time, even though they blew the 8.5 game lead they held on August 15th.
I wonder if the Pilots were ever on the Game of the Week. It's too bad
there's so little video of them.
—jjs82464
NOTE FROM MIKE: The Pilots hosted the Tigers on Game of the Week, on June 1, 1969. If anyone working in the archives at NBC would like to sneak me a VHS copy, I would be eternally grateful!