Gary “Ding Dong” Bell took to the mound on April 11, 1969. The 6’1″ right hander from San Antonio, Texas already had a good career before sprinting out on opening day. A four-time all-star with the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, Bell was well respected in the American League. Two years previous, age 30, he pitched in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Game three he pitched. Poorly, but still. Lou Brock hit a triple off of him. Mike Shannon smashed a homer to deep left. That was the past, though, those games with teammates like Carl Yastrzemski, Luis Tiant, Rocky Calavito.

Now, behind him, the first team fielded by the major league baseball team Seattle Pilots. There were guys like Tommy Harper, Ray Oyler and Wayne Comer. In the bullpen, men like Diego Segui and Jim Bouton.

Bell faced the White Sox that opening game, trying to get outs out of Bill Melton, Bobby Knoop, Luis Aparicio. The White Sox brought all-star Joe Horlen to the mound. A runner-up to the Cy Young Award in 1967 (he lost to Jim Lonborg), Horlen was a formidable pitcher in his own right. Bell was on his game, however, and dominated the White Sox that first game. It was a complete game, in fact, and the first win for Seattle’s first major league baseball team at a newly renovated Sick’s Stadium.

It was over 30 years prior when Sick’s Stadium first opened. It was June 15, 1938. The minor league Pacific Coast League’s Seattle Rainiers took to the field named after Emil Sick, the owner of the team and of the prosperous Rainier Brewing Company.

The field could hold 11,000 fans. Left field was 325 feet, center, 400, right 325. It cost, at that point a staggering sum, $125,000 to build. The team did well at the park (the site of a former minor league park, Dugdale Field, that burned to the ground July 4, 1932). They finished first in the league in 1939, 1940, and 1941, winning pennants in ’40 and ’41.

Rainiers play continued at Sick’s Stadium until 1964 (the same year Sick died). They changed their names to the Angels and played further at Sick’s Stadium until 1968. The stadium remained, ever aging to the cool climes of Seattle.

Oh certainly, as Seattle fielded minor league team after minor league team (minor league play started in Seattle as far back as 1890 as local fans cheered the Seattles of the Pacific Northwest League), there was talk of big league teams forming in Seattle. The Cleveland Indians almost moved to Seattle in the early 1960s. The Kansas City Royals considered a move to the Emerald City as well. Charlie Finley, owner of the Royals, thought Sick’s Stadium was aptly named. The stadium was simply not suited for big league play. If Seattle wanted a big league team they’d have to renovate Sick’s Stadium in a big way.

They did, or at least tried to. Seattle agreed to have a 30,000 seat stadium built before the start of the 1969 season when they’d field the Seattle Pilots. Opening day, only 17,000 were ready. The scoreboard was completed the night before the first pitch. More seats were added later in the season, many with obstructed views. They hadn’t bothered renovating the plumbing and piping system at the park. At around the 7th inning water pressure throughout the park became virtually non-existent. Toilets wouldn’t flush. Players had to shower at the hotels they were staying at. Visiting team announcers couldn’t see plays along third base or left field. Sick’s Stadium was simply not up to par as the Pilots played their games in 1969.

Ding Dong, and the rest of the Pilots, played only one season in Seattle. Only 678,000 fans showed up for it. They ended the season in 6th place in the AL West with a record of 64 wins, 98 losses. Don Mincher led the team with 25 home runs. Tommy Harper had 73 stolen bases. Right fielder Mike Hegan batted .292. Gene Brabender led the team with 13 wins (he lost 14). Diego Segui had 12 saves and Fred Talbot had a 4.16 ERA.

They were bad and the team went bankrupt. The team moved to Milwaukee in 1970 and became the Milwaukee Brewers, leaving the park, at the intersection of Rainier Avenue and McClellan Street in Rainier Valley, empty.

But it limped along, the park did, aged, decaying, no longer the edifice it tried so hard to be. The class A Seattle Rainiers played at the park from 1972 to 1976. One player that took the field, Casey Sander, went on to become an actor and regular on the TV series, “Grace Under Fire.”

With the return of pro ball to Seattle (the 1977 Seattle Mariners at the King County Dome Stadium), Sick’s was but a shell now. On September 6, 1976, George Meyring and the Rainiers beat the Portland Mavericks 2 to 0. It was the last professional baseball game played at Sick’s Stadium.

It had witnessed quite a lot, Sick’s did. The ball games, the Elvis Presley concert in 1957, the Floyd Patterson fight, the Janis Joplin show, but it couldn’t stand much longer. The demolition began on February 9, 1979. Standing there now is a plaque and a Home Depot.

Jonathan Shipley
10/9/2009