The Pilots Cards That Came After The Pilots

I've made no secret of my affinity for the Seattle Pilots, a one-year MLB team from 1969 whom I've written about here, here, here and here. Given that they existed for a mere year, and had Topps cards for only two years, they are eminently collectable and an "easy win", as they say (though I haven't finished up that 1970 Topps set just yet).

Now I'm interested in the more goofball, post-1970 Seattle Pilots cards that exist. We already talked about the 1983 Renata Galasso set here, but some other Pilots cards have recently come to my attention, and so I'm sprung into action, by the proverbial hook or crook. First, how about this 1992 Leaf Heritage Series Paul Molitor, bedecked in a full Pilots get-up? As you may well recall, the Pilots turned into Paul's Milwaukee Brewers in 1970, where they remain to this day (albeit in the National League now). Paul's card says "The Seattle Pilots would prove to be mistake", which I guess is pretty much the general consensus on the team.

Now this next specimen is not a posthumous Pilots card, but rather a 1969 Don Mincher card that Milton Bradley put out. Milton Bradley, like the game people? Anyone know if this was part of a game? I'm getting the sense that it was, if you look at all the code at the bottom of the game, as well as on the card's back. Me, I got mine via a COMC order, and it was quite inexpensive to boot. I suppose it's because it's, you know, Don Mincher and not, you know, Hank Aaron.

We already covered Mincher and Tommy Harper's lovely 1970 Kellogg's cards here, and while I think I've found most everything that's card-sized (i.e. not stamps or posters) that came out while this team was still around - with the exception of this 1969 Tommy Davis Deckle Edge card I still need to grab somewhere - most of what's to still be collected is "post-Pilots".

Here's a good one: Ichiro Suzuki in a Pilots uniform. 2010 Topps National Chicle Diamond Stars, #538/999. It even lists him as being "on" the Pilots, while giving his birth year as 1973. Wait a minute, that's.....impossible....

Finally, I recently became aware of the 1989 and 1990 Pacific Trading Cards "Baseball Legends" series. Perhaps there are more editions as well - my left hand is tired of typing and I don't feel like looking right now. But check it out - there are some Pilots "legends" like Gary Bell and Diego Segui! Thanks very much to Nick for the Frank Crosetti card as well. 

That's it for this week's edition of Pilots roulette. We'll see if I can come up with another batch that'll be worthy of yet another post.

Carrying On With The 1970 Seattle Pilots

One of my early joys here, now that I'm back collecting cards as I am, has been putting together the 1969 Topps Seattle Pilots team set - then finding out that there was a 1970 Pilots team set as well, photographed and assembled mere moments before the team packed up and moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers. I talked about the '69 cards here, and scanned my first four cards in the '70 set here.

You'd think that collecting those two Topps sets would be the end of it, right? Get those two Pilots teams assembled and you're all done? Nah, it doesn't work that way. Trading Card Database says there are 463 of 'em to gather, if you're so inclined. Here's what I'm doing: getting those two Topps sets, picking off the two 1970 Kellogg's Pilots cards that I know about - and then figure it out from there. I'll skip the O-Pee-Chee version of the 1970s set, and maybe go deeper into a regional issue or two, perhaps something a gas station put out. They look really cool.

What you're seeing here are the 1970s Kellogg's cards for Don

Mincher and Tommy Harper. Relatively speaking, those were the guys that raked for the Pilots in their inaugural - and only - season in 1969. My Harper card is a bit beat-up, but it'll do for now. Keep in mind that he stole 73 bases for them that year - then went on to hit 31 homers for Milwaukee in 1970 (!).

I'm pretty smitten with both cards. Shlabotnik Report wrote about the Mincher one here. I guess my question to you folks out there is: once you've got the Topps and the Kellogg's, are there other Pilots sets and/or cards worth going after? I think I could be happy with this 1983 Renato Galasso set in my possession. There, I just added it to my want list (and just as quickly removed it, after finding the set on eBay for a decent price). What else?

I've scanned up all the 1970 Topps Pilots that I've added since my last post about them. I've still got twelve more to add (all listed here), and listen, if you've got extras of those lying around and enjoy trading with like-minded obsessives, I'm right here. That said, buying them online is fairly straightforward and not all that expensive, either. I'll be sure and give 'em a good scan-n-post once I've completed that set.

A Few 1970 Seattle Pilots

As I was collecting the '69 Seattle Pilots set I wrote about yesterday, I found out to my surprise that there had actually been 1970 Topps Seattle Pilots cards as well. While the Seattle team was struggling with bankruptcy and figuring out their next move, Topps had a 1970 set to create, and did so accordingly. Weeks later, the team was bought by a young entrepreneur named Bud Selig, and moved to Milwaukee to become the Brewers whom we know and love today.

Most of these dudes went on to Milwaukee with the team. The Brewers were 1 game better than the 1969 Pilots, losing only 97 games to the Pilots' 98. So out of the blue a few weeks ago, Mike from Junk Wax Dig offered to send over a few doubles he had from his 1970 "Pilots" set. I was more than happy to accept them - and I reckoned I now had a new team set I'd want to complete. I do, and I will. It's certainly not the case that these guys are bank-breakers.

Here are a few more gems from that 1970 Pilots/Brewers team. Special attention to Gene Brabender, please!