American League baseball expansion team; joined the league in 1969 as part of the AL West, along with the
Kansas City Royals. Only played one season in
Seattle, at open-air
Sicks Stadium (therefore subject to Seattle's legendary
rain), before moving to
Milwaukee as the
Milwaukee Brewers.
The Pilots live on primarily through the book Ball Four by Jim Bouton, a Pilots pitcher during most of that 1969 season. Ball Four was reviled in its time by the baseball establishment for being the first book not to whitewash the true culture of a baseball locker room; eventually, actually telling the truth became the standard for sports books, and Ball Four reads like a children's book compared to some recent exposés.