How the Seattle Pilots Became the Milwaukee Brewers: Part 3

[Michael Trzinski]

Before reading this part of the Brewers' voyage to Milwaukee, read part one of the series, "A Failed Launch".
Also, part two of the three-part series, "Up For Grabs."

PART 3
Charlie O. Finley got back into the headlines on Feb. 4, 1970.

“I tried to be of help to Milwaukee. The next thing I see all over the papers is that my plan wasn’t good for baseball," Finley said to reporters at the time. "They made me look like a fool.”

His plan had been to move the Pilots to Milwaukee on an interim basis.

“If that group up there is trying to get major-league baseball, they haven’t shown me anything.”

On Feb. 5, hotel magnate Edward Carlson lauded a fundraising effort that raised nearly $6 million toward a ‘cash and credit goal,’ in a last-ditch effort to get the necessary cash together for the Seattle group.

“We hope and believe that this remarkable demonstration of civic pride and financial commitment will convince the American League to retain the Pilots franchise in Seattle on a permanent basis,” Carlson said. “I think we have a deal.”

That statement sounded prescient on Feb. 10, when the American League owners voted to keep the franchise in Seattle. Several possibilities were discussed, including a trusteeship that would rescue the team.

“This is a very serious problem,” AL president Joe Cronin said. “The American League is leaning over backwards to keep baseball in Seattle."

The next day, the American League rejected an application for the Carlson/Danz Seattle group and voted to have the Daley/Soriano group keep the Pilots in Seattle. Carlson had wanted a non-profit organization to run the club for him, and this was a main concern of the American League.

"We felt the non-profit factor in their plan could not fit into operation of a baseball club,” Cronin said. At that same meeting, the AL decided to advance the Pilots $650,000 for spring training expenses.

On Valentine’s Day, the American League appointed Roy Hamey to oversee the operations of the Pilots. Hamey, you might remember, was a general manager for the New York Yankees in the early 1960s. He would take command of the team as it was just getting ready for spring training.

On Feb. 24, 46 players began camp in Tempe, Arizona. Meanwhile, Tempe community leaders reported that they “have exceeded last year’s season ticket sale for the Pilots’ spring training schedule,” according to the Everett (Washington) Daily Herald. Back in Seattle, John Spellman was optimistic.

“We still plan to let out bids in November, and construction [for the domed stadium] is still scheduled to start before the end of the year (1970)," he said.

In early March, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported that owners were "contemplating moving the club before the regular season started.” The story went on to say that the group worried the Pilots would lose more money in 1970. Hamey’s reply?

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

Court chaos returned on March 16. The American League had been set to move the franchise to Milwaukee, having the nine necessary votes from owners that would approve the move. Just before the meeting was to begin, though, Circuit Court Judge James D. Bruton, Jr. issued a restraining order that would keep the league from moving the team from Seattle. The league’s response was that the teams could not afford to continue to support the Seattle franchise.

The Bank of California sided with the AL in trying to remove legal hurdles that would keep the Pilots in Seattle. The lawsuit that Mayor Wes Uhlman filed at $25 million had been increased to $82 million. According to the Olympia (Washington) Olympian, William Dwyer, special assistant state attorney general, said that if the restraining order was dismissed, “the club will move and our $82 million antitrust damage suit goes into effect immediately.”

Note: The lawsuit lasted until Feb. 1976, when it was dismissed on the condition that Seattle would receive an expansion team in 1977. After going from state court to federal court, and then back to Washington state court, and seeing two changes of venue from King County to Kitsap County to Snohomish County, the suit was officially dismissed in April 1977—when the Seattle Mariners made their debut in the new domed stadium called the Kingdome.

On March 18, a petition was filed in U.S. District Court, asking that the franchise be sold to Milwaukee for $10.8 million under the Bankruptcy Act. In a hearing that took place on Friday, Mar. 21, Superior Court Judge James W. Mifflin heard arguments. He granted a continuance over the weekend, after which he would decide whether to grant the City of Seattle and State of Washington a temporary injunction to prevent the franchise from moving.

Pacific Northwest Sports, Inc. (the ownership group) filed a petition of bankruptcy that sought a transfer of the franchise to Milwaukee so creditors could get paid. Sidney C. Volinn, a bankruptcy court referee, was scheduled to hear the petition on Tuesday, Mar. 24. Baseball Facilities, Inc., a developer of the Pilots' spring training site, filed suit saying the Pilots had failed (once again) to develop the facilities as promised.

As the wheels of justice continued to move slowly along, Judge Mifflin's patience wore thin. Meanwhile, Volinn was set to decide the fate of the franchise on Mar. 30. Forgotten in all the litigation was the fact that the ownership group had signed a contract with the Milwaukee group earlier in March, which would expire on April 1. Time was of the essence.

Back in Seattle, Dewey and Max Soriano were hung in effigy at a downtown mall. Max Soriano later explained that the club “was too embarrassed to ask a bank for additional funds.” It probably didn’t matter, though.

“No banker in his right mind would loan the Pilots additional money," Campbell noted.

In Milwaukee, a storm dumped four inches of snow on the ground and groundskeepers at County Stadium were hard at work to get the facility ready for a potential Opening Day contest against the California Angels on Apr. 7.

Volinn listened to testimony on Mar. 30, but after a long day in court, decided to continue proceedings the following day.

“I realize the onset of the baseball season is here and there is an atmosphere of haste,” Volinn said. “But the court will take all the time necessary in order to receive all the evidence that is necessary to make a decision in this case.”

A couple of issues Volinn was considering: the Pilots couldn’t pay their debt of $8.13 million, and would not be able to survive a second season; and it would be unfair to make the league keep the franchise afloat.

As spring training ended, the team’s equipment truck drove north from Tempe, Arizona to Provo, Utah and waited at a rest area along I-80 north of Provo. They were waiting to hear whether to head west to Seattle or turn east and make the long drive to Milwaukee.

The following day, it became official: The Seattle Pilots would become the Milwaukee Brewers.

The driver started his truck and turned east on I-80, starting the long 1,500-mile drive to Brew City. Milwaukee finally got its team!

On Apr. 7, 1970, in front of a crowd of 36,107 fans at Milwaukee County Stadium, the Milwaukee Brewers era started with a 12-0 loss to the California Angels.

---

Sources
Wikipedia
Everett (WA) Daily Herald
Spokane (WA) Spokesman-Review
Spokane (WA) Chronicle
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Madison (WI) Capital Times
Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette
Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent
New York Times
Milwaukee Sentinel
Olympia (WA) Olympian

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[Ro Mueller]

…and 56 and a half years later, the Brewers won their first World Series!

[Michael Trzinski]

1 hour ago, Ro Mueller said:

…and 56 and a half years later, the Brewers won their first World Series!

I'd be all for that!

[Jim French Stepstool]

Memories of a (at the time) 6th-grader-----

Many folks were excited about young power hitter Danny Walton, but I was all hopped up over Tommy Harper because he stole all those bases the previous year. Turns out he almost had more homers (31) than steals (38).

Opening day wasn't a bad day, weather-wise. In class, hearing we were trailing 6-0, hoping it was an ugly rumor. It wasn't.

Rushing home to listen to the rest of the game on the radio (Tom Collins & Merle Harmon, I think?). Funny how you remember random crap. The only memories I have of the broadcast were journeyman Bob Meyer coming in to pitch, and Sandy Valdespino pinch hitting for someone. Oh, and I'm sure in the spirit of wanting to turn the page, mention of Marty Pattin going in the next game.

I'm sure it was a hectic time for the players, trying to find places to live. And apparently, stuff to sit on. My dad worked at a local furniture warehouse, and mentioned they had an order for a sofa from pitcher Bobby Bolin.

[Snoebird]

11 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Memories of a (at the time) 6th-grader-----

Many folks were excited about young power hitter Danny Walton, but I was all hopped up over Tommy Harper because he stole all those bases the previous year. Turns out he almost had more homers (31) than steals (38).

Opening day wasn't a bad day, weather-wise. In class, hearing we were trailing 6-0, hoping it was an ugly rumor. It wasn't.

Rushing home to listen to the rest of the game on the radio (Tom Collins & Merle Harmon, I think?). Funny how you remember random crap. The only memories I have of the broadcast were journeyman Bob Meyer coming in to pitch, and Sandy Valdespino pinch hitting for someone. Oh, and I'm sure in the spirit of wanting to turn the page, mention of Marty Pattin going in the next game.

I'm sure it was a hectic time for the players, trying to find places to live. And apparently, stuff to sit on. My dad worked at a local furniture warehouse, and mentioned they had an order for a sofa from pitcher Bobby Bolin.

I sat in the left field bleachers on Opening Day as part of a large group of UW-Waukesha students -- we even had a banner that shows up in photos -- so I watched left fielder Danny Walton play a couple of singles into doubles via slow response. Walton had hit a few spring training dingers, but he was overmatched when the games counted. Light-hitting right fielder Steve Hovley had a perfect day with two singles, the team's only double and a walk, and Harper added a single against Andy Messersmith, who went nine.

The Brewers had no time to produce merch, so the few baseball caps spotted in the crowd were old Braves caps. Sporting apparel wasn't a thing in the '70s anyway. The reception for the Brewers paled that of the Braves during their heyday. A lot of baseball fans became disillusioned and/or heartbroken by the Braves' departure and vowed to never set foot in County Stadium for a baseball game again.