#59 Fred Stanley

The last Seattle Pilot....journeyman infielder....well traveled, landing anywhere he could get playing time....anemic with a bat, but a very good glove assured his employment through the 1982 season.....Career BA of .216....never exceeded 260 at bats in a MBL season...feeble power going over the fence 10 times over 1650 chances .....resume trajectory reads;  developed in Astro system, sold to Pilots for their only season.....tags along briefly to Milwaukee, sold to Cleveland early 1971, traded to Padre early 1972 in a one for one deal....then shipped to the Yankees for an extended stay and career capped in Oakland for two seasons ending 1982....survived eight summers in the Bronx Zoo watching many skippers interchanged....nickname was Chicken....doesn’t quite instill a fear in the opposition....Note:  Topps got very lazy with image....a horrible air brush of a Cleveland cap even though he was an Indian the year prior.....the large butte in background suggests that the image was taken at either one of the two Seattle Pilots training camps.

#106 Milwaukee Brewers Team Card

Baseball’s return to the once home of the Braves…recent residency was Seattle….this team would have started in 1971 but at the insistence of political figures in KC set the wheels in motion for 1969 birth….The prematurity of the Pilots resulted in a bankrupt franchise and one year stand in a city and facilities that wasn’t quite ready…franchise was snapped up by car salesman Bud Selig a few days before 1970 season….it is said the moving trucks from AZ spring training paused in Utah to receive the call to go Northwest or Northeast…as all expansion franchises of the time struggled no matter what locale….Brewers would not exceed .500 until 1978…at that point buoyed by budding superstars, the newly formed free agent market, and shrewd trades the team entered a competitive age that remained up to the 1993 season….the high points of glory included the 1982 World Series berth and ALDS appearance a year prior….Upon losing a slew key cogs the Brewers decline to sub .500 for 12 consecutive season….since then hit and miss; a few playoff runs but no return to the World Series…best chance was taking Dodgers to 7 games in 2018….A new stadium in 2001 was vital for survival in Milwaukee…. But still suffers from being in a small market, so free agents available need to be chosen wisely....The face of the franchise is HOF Robin Yount whose motorcycle riding exploits endeared him to the blue collar locals....Paul Molitor, Yount’s sidekick for many years would be second although many indigenous Milwaukeeans felt betrayed by his free agent departure....Remains to seen how long Christian Yelich will stay but he might surpass all other Brewers....to date team has had only one no hit game; Juan Nieves 1987.