SABR36 Panel: Seattle Pilots
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| By The SABR Office |
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| L to R: Mike Marshall and Jim Bouton |
Seattle Pilots' Panel
Courtyard Ballroom, 9-10:30AM
The 1969 expansion team existed for only one season, but what a season it was! The most controversial book ever written about baseball, Ball Four, documents much of that memorable campaign. Panelists included Jim Bouton, Jim Pagliaroni, Steve Hovley and Mike Marshall, with ESPN's Jim Caple moderating.
Jim Bouton
Known to his high school junior varsity baseball team as "Warm Up Bouton" (because that's all he ever did), he planned on becoming a forest ranger. Not even a decade later, in 1963, Bouton was an American League All-Star and 21-game winner for the Yankees.
In 1969 he wrote Ball Four, the funny, controversial, all-time bestseller that revealed baseball players as human beings. Ball Four was recently selected by the New York Public Library as one of the "Books of the Century." The latest update, titled Ball Four: The Final Pitch, is now entertaining a new generation.
Bouton retired from baseball in 1970 and became a television sportscaster in New York where he helped WABC-TV and then WCBS-TV climb to 1st place in the ratings. In 1978 Bouton made a comeback to baseball with the Atlanta Braves. When the 39-year-old knuckleballer beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1, it was his first major league win in eight years.
During his comeback Bouton helped create Big League Chew, shredded bubble gum in a pouch, so ballplayers could look right without getting sick. Big League Chew, introduced in 1980, has replaced chewing tobacco at many high schools and colleges.
The highest honor of his career came in 1996 when Bouton was named one of "The One Hundred Most Important People in American Sports History," published by Macmillan. In 1998, after 28 years, Bouton was finally invited to Old Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium when his son Michael wrote a letter to The New York Times saying the Yankees should forgive his dad for having written Ball Four.
Mike Marshall
Many fans know Mike Marshall holds the single season major league record for games pitched with 106 for the Los Angeles Dodger in 1974. Fewer fans also know he occupies third place (92) and fifth place (90) on that list.
Marshall won the NL Cy Young Award in 1974 when the surprise Dodgers went to the World Series, losing to the Oakland As. In 15 seasons, Marshall pitched in 723 games for Detroit, Seattle, Houston, Montreal, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Texas, Minnesota and the New York Mets.
He compiled a career record of 97-112 and an ERA of 3.14. He led the league in saves three times. His career totals of three complete games and one shutout came for Seattle in 1969.
Before his major league debut for the Detroit Tigers in 1967, Marshall earned a masters degree at Michigan State University. He completed his Ph.D. in kinesiology in 1978 at MSU.
Steve Hovley Drafted by the California Angels in the 35th round of the 1966, he was coincidentally the 35th pick in the 1968 expansion draft. Made his major league debut with the Pilots on June 26, 1969, and hit his first home run on July 4th. Appearing in 436 games over five major league seasons, the outfielder had a lifetime batting average of .258 with 8 home runs and 29 stolen bases.
Jim Pagliaroni
Batted .252 in eleven major league seasons. Caught over 100 games three times, for the Red Sox in 1961 at age 23 and for the Pirates in 1965-66. He was paid a $70,000 signing bonus by the Red Sox and was part of the Dick Stuart trade with the Pirates. Led National League catchers in double plays (14) and fielding percentage (.997) in 1965.
Jim Caple, Moderator
Jim Caple is a senior writer at ESPN.com, contributing a weekly baseball "Off Base" column and other humor to the wildly popular Page 2 webpage as well as miscellaneous sports assignments for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN News and Sportscenter. He is a graduate of the University of Washington and has worked for the Bellevue Journal-American, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. His first book, The Devil Wears Pinstripes, was released by Plume Books in 2005, and is available from amazon.com. Jim lives in the Seattle area with wife Vicki.
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| Created On: 05.31.06 |
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Page Link: http://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,1754,34,0
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