Mariners to Wear Seattle Pilots Throwback Uniforms

The Seattle Pilots will be back on the field this Summer!

In commemoration of the Pilots’ 50th anniversary of their first (and only) season in Major League Baseball, the Seattle Mariners will suit up in the unorthodox 1969 throwback uniforms on June 22nd against the Baltimore Orioles.

And yes, that comes with the scrambled eggs — oh, and the Major League 100th anniversary logo too (no, there won’t be a MLB150 patch… but yes, there will be a New Era and Majestic logo)

Seattle Pilots logo and uniform history

The Pilots lasted just one season but a combination of their uniforms, featuring the aforementioned eggs on the cap, plus pitcher Jim Bouton’s famous book “Ball Four” helped keep the team’s memory alive in the hearts of baseball fans and historians throughout North America.

Seattle joined Major League Baseball as an expansion franchise with three other clubs in 1969, the largest single season expansion in MLB history. Joining the American League alongside the Kansas City Royals while the Montreal Expos and San Diego Padres went to the National League.

The Pilots relocated to Milwaukee to become the Brewers just six days before the start of what would’ve been their second season. The move, delayed due to legal issues surrounding the sale of the team, happened so late that the team played the 1970 Spring Training schedule as the Seattle Pilots and only became the Milwaukee Brewers for the regular season.

Their equipment trucks had to stop and wait on the way back from Spring Training in Utah to awaiting word on whether to head to Seattle or Milwaukee to start the season. As a result, the Brewers uniforms ended up fairly similar to what the Pilots wore.

And now you know why the Milwaukee Brewers retro colours are blue and yellow.

Just six years after the Pilots left for Milwaukee, the City of Seattle was granted a new expansion team by the American League which they’d name the Mariners, beginning play in 1977. The Mariners had previously worn Pilots throwback uniforms on July 9, 2006; the Milwaukee Brewers beat them to the punch, wearing the Pilots uniforms for a game on July 20, 1999.