I just finished reading Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" and noticed something strange regarding the Pilots' minor league system. Bouton writes that Bob Lasko was sent to Toledo instead of Vancouver, but he doesn't say that Lasko was traded to another organization. Bouton also writes that Mike Marshall specifically asked to be sent to Toledo instead of Vancouver. To my knowledge, the 1969 Toledo Mud Hens were a Detroit AAA affiliate. Did the Pilots have a special working agreement whereby they could send some players to Toledo? I notice that Seattle and California both shared the Vancouver affiliation, which would have meant Seattle would have had a more limited number of roster spots up in Vancouver.
—mkerr

NOTE FROM MIKE: The question refers to the May 22 entry in "Ball Four." I asked Jim for clarification and here's what he said:

"Marshall was sent to Vancouver, not Toledo, because that was a Pilots farm team. And Lasko was merely loaned to Toledo because the Pilots had no place to put him and Toledo needed a pitcher. My point in Ball Four was that since Lasko had a home in Vancouver and Marshall had one in Toledo, and they were both right handed pitchers, why not accomodate that reality and let them play at home? I believe they both remained Pilots property at least until the end of the season."

I recently found your site and I think it is great. My name is John O'Donoghue and I am the son of the former Pilot, John O'Donoghue. I followed in my father's footsteps and was lucky enough to play in the major leagues for the Baltimore Orioles in 1993. My dad is living in Florida and doing very well. He just retired from coaching in the Orioles minor league system (2002 was his last year). He plays in local celebrity golf tournaments and is enjoying his retirement. I have his original hat and uniform from the Pilots and a mini uniform that he had made for me when I was born in 1969. My son wore the mini uniform for his first Halloween.
—JODONOGHUE

My son found your site and pointed out your interest in the Seattle Pilots and a question you answered in your letter section about John Miklos who was drafted by the Pilots in '69 and a player in Savannah Ga and Texas. John was a great left-handed pitcher who started out with the Washington Senators, played for the Chicago Cubs and White Sox farm teams. His dad, John Miklos Sr., played for the Chicago Cubs in 1944 as a left-handed pitcher also. John set a Southern league record in their All-Star game with 17 strikeouts, but the manager left him in too long (before machine counters), he pitched the equivilant of a doubleheader and he strained his arm the week prior to being called up to the Washington Senators. He was later drafted in the expansion by the Seattle Pilots. After a five-year career it wasn't meant to be, he left baseball and went on to be a successful financial planner living in the suburbs of Chicago. His passion outside of his family is bow & arrow hunting.

You might be interested to find out the "glamorous" life of the baseball wives in the '60s and '70s...a vivid memory is being in a one-room apartment in Tempe, Arizona with a one year old baby and having my husband come home and tell me he'd been cut from the Pilots major league roster, we were leaving for somewhere in Georgia and we had no money because the salary was also cut. There were also many great memories of sitting in those stands when baseball was a game that little boys old and young loved to watch and played where money wasn't the issue just the love of the game. P.S. we still have a couple of original Pilots bats!
—bmiklos

I was thinking about the Pilots uniforms and thought, "What would the uniforms be like if the Pilots were around today?" Well, you would have to use an alternate (practically everyone does) and Spring Training/Batting Practice. So.....here goes nothing. It's a jpg, but the bitmap looks clearer.
—steven.f.eng

I stumbled across your Web site and spent a couple of hours just looking and remembering the good days. I signed with Seattle in 1969 and managed one minor league season in 1970. I read your interview with Tom Berg and some of the names he mentioned: Steve Harvey, Bill Parsons and others brought back some memories. I started out in Clinton and finished the year in Newark. I was set to go to spring training in 1971 but was released before getting there. I had a great time and got to play with some guys that made it to the big time: Gorman Thomas, Rich Auerbach, Darrel Porter (poor Darrel), Pete Garcia, Jimmy Slaton and a few others. Probably the most notable thing I did was help George Hendrick get to the big leagues. He hit two monster home runs off me in Burlinton, IA one windy night. I didn't know a baseball could be hit that far.

My managers were Earl Torgeson in Clinton and Sandy Duncan in Newark. Earl was a renegade and didn't follow front office direction too well. He was a great baseball mind, though, and from the old school. He loved to see ballplayers get dirty and played those who played hard. I think he got fired shortly after I left Clinton, but he was always good to me. Sandy was more of a friend than a manager. He was a good guy. I have a lot of fond memories of my season in the minors. Many of the names on your '69 roster are guys I played with. Most people don't even know the Brewers were the Pilots. By the way, I wore Skip Lockwood's hand-me-down uniform. I'm about 6'2" tall and was about 220 then, but Skip must have been a pretty big boy. I didn't get to play a lot and the season is kind of a blur to me, but every day was exciting: going to the park, putting on the uniform and making 500 bucks a month to boot. I was living the high life, wouldn't trade it for the world.
—gsmnljm