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13 unusual facts about 1969 in baseball


American League Championship Series

It started in 1969, when the American League was reorganized into two divisions, East and West.

Bill Landis

William Henry Landis (born October 8, 1942 in Hanford, California) is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1963 through 1969 for the Kansas City Athletics (1963) and Boston Red Sox (1967–1969).

Bob Didier

Robert Daniel Didier (born February 16, 1949 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States) is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played for three different teams from 1969 through 1974.

Cliff Hagan Stadium

The stadium, which currently holds 3,000, opened in 1969 as part of the Bernie A. Shively Sports Center, which also includes the school's track and field facilities in an adjacent stadium.

Edo Vanni

After he hung up his uniform, he was the general manager of the AAA Seattle Angels (1965–68), and worked in the front office as director of group ticket sales for the Seattle Pilots during their lone American League season, 1969.

George Myatt

He twice served as interim manager of the Phils, in both 1968 (for one game) and 1969 (for the final third of the season).

Jerry McNertney

McNertney was the regular catcher for the Pilots in 1969 — the only year the franchise played in the Pacific Northwest — where he reached career highs in at bats (410), home runs (8) and runs batted in (55).

Jim Brewer

Brewer, however, pursued his, and in 1969 a judge ordered Martin to pay $10,000 in damages.

Johnny Murphy

The 1969 Miracle Mets stunned the baseball community by winning the NL East, sweeping Atlanta in the NLCS, then defeating a heavily favored Baltimore Orioles squad in five World Series games.

Lum Harris

Harris led Atlanta to the first-ever National League West Division championship in 1969 (the franchise's first postseason berth since losing the 1958 World Series as the Milwaukee Braves), but his Braves lost the National League Championship Series to the eventual world champion New York Mets.

Ray Oyler

Before the Pilots even played their first game in 1969, Seattle radio disc jockey Robert E. Lee "Bob" Hardwick looked over the list of players drafted by the Pilots, discovered Oyler's batting average and created the "Ray Oyler Fan Club," initially as a radio bit on his radio show.

Seattle Rainiers

Seattle had been granted an expansion team in the American League, the ill-fated Seattle Pilots, which began play in 1969.

Wichita Aeros

The Aeros were an expansion franchise established when the Association grew from six to eight clubs after the 1969 campaign.