Now available at Amazon.com!

The Seattle Pilots: Short Flight Into History is now available to order through Amazon.com. The cover art has changed, but it’s still the same great film!

The new DVD cover.

As of this writing, the image on the Amazon page is just a place-holder. The actual cover of the DVD is the one shown here.

You can order the DVD by clicking here or click the image at the top right.

In other news, we will be having a showing of the film in the Moonlight Theater at Third Street Pizza in McMinnville on August the 14th. So, if you live somewhere near McMinnville come on by. More details to follow…

Greg Goossen Passes Away…

I just found out that Greg Goossen has passed away.

Anyone who has seen the documentary knows that it would not have been the same without him. His sense of humor really livened up the film. I’m so glad I got to meet him.

When we had the Pilots 40th Anniversary event at SafeCo in August of ’09, I picked him up at the a…irport. He was due to have knee surgery in a couple of weeks and was hobbling around in obvious pain. Unfortunately, I got turned around in the parking garage and we ended up doing a huge amount of walking. But Greg never complained and laughed off my constant apologies. At the Baseball Reliquary event last Fall he gave me a big hug and talked about what a great time he had at the reunion.

Our deepest condolences go out to his family. He was a great one and he’ll be missed.

Latest Updates

 

Tommy Davis

The Baseball Reliquary celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Ball Four last month was fantastic! Jim Bouton, Tommy Davis and Greg Goossen were there sharing stories with the packed house along with Bull Durham director Ron Shelton. We had our world premiere screening of the film at the event and the crowd loved it. If you haven’t already visited the Baseball Reliquary site, you should check it out here.

Speaking of Tommy Davis, he has a great new book out called Tales from the Dodgers Dugout. It’s a great read and we highly recommend it. You can purchase it at Amazon.com here.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Pilots Documentary now on Facebook!

We’ve just created a Facebook group for The Seattle Pilots: Short Flight Into History! It’s a place to interact with other Pilots fans from around the world. There are exclusive photos and discussion threads and soon we’ll be adding film clips and other media. Check it out here: Facebook Group.

If you haven’t gotten your copy of the DVD yet, you can order it right here.

Jim Pagliaroni Passes On…

I just learned tonight that Jim Pagliaroni passed away on April 3rd. I had the good fortune to spend an hour

Jim Pagliaroni 1937 - 2010

or so with Jim last year interviewing him for the documentary. He was gracious and candid and a pleasure to talk to. His interview was fantastic and several memorable parts of it made it into the final cut of the film. He was a heck of a ballplayer and truly one of the good guys. Our condolences go out to his family.

“The First Voyage” Gets an Upgrade

There is very little film footage of the Seattle Pilots. They didn’t have a television contract and the news stations tended not to keep their sports highlight archives for very long because all of that film took up a lot of space. Fortunately, a promotional film about the Pilots, created by Pilots director of communications Bill Sears, survives. It’s called The First Voyage and it’s a terrific piece that shows how the Pilots were born, introduces players and shows some in-game highlights. Until recently, the film was only available on VHS, which had been duplicated from the original 1″ tape transfer. In fact, many of you own that tape. Well, Bill Sears was kind enough to entrust us with a 16mm print of The First Voyage long enough to get it transferred to high definition video by the good folks at Alpha-Cine in Seattle. I really didn’t know what to expect because I was warned that a nearly 40-year-old film might have faded out and the image compromised. But when I saw the final product I was stunned. The colors are rich and the details are sharp. Here’s a comparison:

The old standard definition version.

The new high definition version.

The top image is taken from the old VHS version (which was used for the trailer.) And the bottom image is of the same frame from the new HD version. Notice the color and detail. You can now read the word “Detroit” on the visiting player’s uniform. You can see much more of the picture because the old transfer lopped off about 20% around the edges. It’s like a totally new film and the images from it will be a key part of the documentary.

And speaking of images, if you or someone you know has film or still pictures of the Pilots and you would be willing to let us use them in the documentary, please let us know by emailing Steve using the link on the side. Full credit will be given.

Stay tuned for more updates…

Pictures from the Reunion…

We really enjoyed getting to know the Pilots players over the reunion weekend. Everyone one of them was a joy to talk to and they approached the event with exuberance and enthusiasm. We not only got a lot of satisfaction out of the success of the reunion event and the ceremony at Safeco Field, but also from seeing these men so happy to get to know each other again after such a long time. Here’s a slideshow…

A Fantastic Reunion…

Steve Cox and Jim Bouton at the Pilots reunion. Larry Haney and Steve Whitaker are in the background.

Many thanks to everyone who came to the Pilots reunion over the weekend – It was a smashing success!

The fans, players and crew had a great time and we got some great footage for the documentary. We’ll post some pictures and perhaps a video clip or two from the event very soon, so check back. And don’t forget: if you would like to be informed when the documentary is ready for purchase, click the button on the right and fill in the form.

Reunion Updates…

Steve Whitaker and Greg Goossen have joined the line-up of ex-Pilots and we’re excited to have them aboard! We’ve also confirmed the speakers for the event:

Bill Schonely – Emcee

Charles Kapner – Memorabilia

Mike Fuller – How Seattle Lost the Pilots

Art Thiel – Seattle Baseball History

Jim Bouton – Seattle Pilots Memories

A few other notes:

• The reunion has been moved from Salon A/B to Salon C/D at the Hilton Bellevue. There will be signs up to people to the right room.

• For directions to the Hilton Bellevue click here.

• There will be a free raffle for some nifty door prizes.

• There is a new button on the sidebar. Click it and you can sign up for email notifications about the upcoming documentary.

We would like to thank Larry Stone at the Seattle Times for his terrific column about the reunion and documentary. Click here to read it.

Keep spreading the word about the reunion! We want to have a lot of people there to share this historical experience! If you have any questions, shoot us an email…

Pilots Reunion Right on Schedule…

Plans for the 40^th Anniversary Pilots Reunion are in full swing! Here’s the list of players scheduled to appear:

Seattle Pilots Team Photo

Dick Bates

Jim Bouton

Tommy Davis

John Donaldson

John Gelnar

Larry Haney

Bob Locker

Gordy Lund

Gerry McNertney

Billy Williams

Dooley Womack

We’re still working on a couple of players, so the list may grow a bit before the event.

The reunion will run from noon until 3pm on Saturday, August 29th. After that, several of the former players will gather in the outdoor beer garden at the Pyramid Ale House from 4pm – 5pm as a prelude to the ceremony at Safeco Field.  The Ale House is located at 1201 First Avenue South, directly across the street from the ballpark. The players will be available to meet with fans and answer questions as well as sign memorabilia (fliers will be provided for the players to sign). Vouchers for autographs will be available for $5 each.

The pre-game ceremony will start at approximately 6:55 at Safeco Field and will feature a short video presentation followed by player introductions. Jim Bouton will then throw the ceremonial first pitch to former battery-mate Gerry McNertney. Then it’s game time for the Mariners and the Royals. You may recall that the Royals were the other expansion team in 1969. Shortly before the season started, the Pilots traded Lou Piniella to the Royals for John Gelnar and Steve Whitaker. Lou went on to become Rookie of the Year for the Royals, a key player in the great Yankee teams of the late 70’s and, of course, the Mariners manager from 1993-2002.

We would like to acknowledge two people who have helped out a great deal with both this event and the documentary:

Charles Kapner is a memorabilia collector specializing in the Pilots. He will be at the reunion talking memorabilia and showing off some of his collection. If you have Pilots memorabilia that you are interested in selling, please contact Charles at ckapner@foxinternet.com or call him at 425-885-3462.

Mike Fuller created the website www.seattlepilots.com, and if you’re a Pilots fan, you should check it out. The site contains a history of the Pilots, interviews, images, stats, box scores and much more. It’s a valuable resource and highly recommended.