Seattle Rainiers

History

Seattle was one of the original teams in the Pacific Coast League, which formed when the California League and the Pacific Northwest League merged. In the earlier Pacific Northwest League, the team was called the Seattle Clamdiggers. After finishing second in 1906, the PCL shrank from six teams to four, and Seattle spent the next eleven seasons in the Class B Northwestern League. The team was known as the Seattle Siwashes until 1908, then as the Seattle Turks after winning 109 games in 1909.

A fan contest led to the name Seattle Giants. Owner Dan Dugdale built Dugdale Field in 1913, replacing Yesler Way Park, and sold the team in January 1919. That same year, Seattle and Portland rejoined the PCL, bringing the league to eight teams. Seattle finished last in 1919 but rose to second place in 1920.

During this period, the team used several nicknames, including the Rainiers and Purple Sox, before settling on the Indians in 1922. The Indians won their first PCL pennant in 1924, clinching on the final day of a 202-game season. For over a decade afterward, the team languished in the second division. In July 1932, an arsonist destroyed Dugdale Field, a 15,000-seat ballpark at Rainier and McClellan Streets.

The team then played at Civic Stadium, which had a hardpan dirt field without grass, for six years. In 1938, Emil Sick, owner of the Rainier Brewing Company, bought the Indians for $100,000 and renamed them the Seattle Rainiers. He built Sick's Stadium, seating 15,000, on the site of the old Dugdale Field. The investment paid off: the Rainiers finished first in 1939, 1940, and 1941.

They lost the 1939 postseason series but won pennants in 1940 and 1941. In 1942 and 1943, they finished third, yet still captured another PCL pennant in 1942.

The Class A Rainiers

For the first time since 1900, Seattle had no professional baseball after the Pilots left. Two years later, Art Peterson, a teacher from near Sacramento, California, bought the Class A Bend Rainbows of the Northwest League. He moved the team to Seattle, renamed them the Rainiers, and arranged to play at Sicks’ Stadium, taking over the Pilots’ old offices. The Rainiers played five NWL seasons from 1972 to 1976, posting two winning records.

In 1972, the team operated as a co-op, getting most players from the San Francisco and Baltimore systems. Managed by former Cardinals pitcher Ray Washburn, they slumped in August and finished last in the North Division. The Cincinnati Reds then made Seattle their affiliate for two seasons, producing second-place finishes and grooming future big leaguers like Manny Sarmiento, Mike Armstrong, Lynn Jones, and manager Greg Riddoch. Peterson ran the team independently in 1975 and 1976.

One of his signings was Seattle native Casey Sander, who played outfield in 1975 before becoming an actor on the sitcom Grace Under Fire. The 1976 team had the Rainiers’ best season, finishing one game behind the Portland Mavericks in the Northern Division. On September 1, 1976, local product George Meyring pitched a 2-0 shutout of Portland, the final professional game at Sicks’ Stadium. In 1977, Seattle received another American League expansion team, the Mariners.