One and done in Seattle

Exactly one year and 41 days after hiring Joe Schultz, the St. Louis Cardinals’ third base coach, as their first manager, the expansion Seattle Pilots 54 years ago today fire Schultz as their manager.

Schultz, though, soon returns to the major leagues as a coach, while the Pilots never return at all – first going bankrupt, then selling the team and finally moving to Milwaukee on the eve of the 1970 season.

While the Pilots are rebranding themselves as the Brewers, Schultz is joining the Kansas City Royals’ staff before moving to Detroit and working under manager Billy Martin.

Jim Bouton with his book

The reviews on Schultz as a manager are varied with the least favorable coming from Seattle pitcher Jim Bouton in his seminal book Ball Four.

Bouton’s recount of the Pilots’ sometimes humorous, mostly horrific first and only season depicts Schultz as a disorganized cartoonish character who most definitely loves his Budweiser.

“He’s out of the old school,” Bouton says, “because he looks like he’s out of the old school … short, portly, bald, ruddy faced, twinkly eyed.”

Some of Bouton’s teammates are kinder toward Schultz, although still critical of his managerial style.

“He didn’t create a winning atmosphere,” Pilots pitcher Dick Baney later tells author Kenneth Hogan. “I don’t think he had full control on the field. He was definitely better as a third base coach.”

“Everybody loved Joe,” Seattle first baseman Greg Goossen tells The Seattle Times. “That’s why he only managed a year. If the players like you, watch out. Your days are numbered.”

In Schultz’s case, that only is 405 days after Seattle first hires him.

The 1969 Seattle Pilots