PHOENIX – Lou Piniella had a question.
The 1969 American League Rookie of the Year and future manager stood on first base during a March spring training exhibition game between the Seattle Pilots and Arizona State at Tempe Stadium in 1969.
“How come you guys run everywhere?” then-ASU first baseman Jeff Osborne recalled Piniella asking.
Osborne explained that running was simply coach Bobby Winkles’ always-in-motion philosophy.
Piniella followed with another question.
“Don’t you guys ever get tired?”
“No,” Osborne said.
For a few unique moments, a major leaguer and a college player chatted casually between pitches. By the end of the afternoon, Arizona State had done something even more rare.
The Sun Devils had beaten the Pilots 5-4.
Fifty-seven years later, the victory remains one of the most remarkable afternoons in program history. It gave ASU a chance to measure itself against professional baseball, reinforced the confidence of a team that would become national champions months later and exposed cracks within a Seattle franchise that would last only one season.
“It was a big accomplishment for our program to not only play a major league team during spring training but to beat them,” Osborne said.
This wasn’t ASU’s first time playing a major league club. Roger Detter, the captain of the team, remembered hearing stories about earlier games against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the early 1960s.
“Players talked about Dodgers slugger Frank Howard hitting a home run over the palm trees beyond right-center field near our old ballpark,” Detter recalled.
Now the 1969 Sun Devils had their shot.
“We were excited about the opportunity,” Detter said. “Playing at that stadium was a big deal because our home field wasn’t anything like the spring training facilities.”
This new setting, now known as Tempe Diablo Stadium, made an impression.
“I remember the crowd being larger than what we normally drew on campus,” Detter said. “The field was in terrific condition, and I remember wondering why we didn’t play more games there.”
Amid the excitement was uncertainty.
“There was definitely some apprehension because we were facing professional players,” Detter said. “The Pilots were an expansion team, so they weren’t one of the top teams in Major League Baseball, but they still had talented players.”
Outside of Piniella, Seattle featured several established veterans such as Diego Seguí, Jim Bouton, Tommy Davis, Wayne Comer and Tommy Harper.
For Osborne, facing Seguí became one of the lasting memories of the day.
“What I remember most is that I went 3 for 4 that day,” Osborne said. “One of those hits was off Seguí, which was the first time I had ever faced a major league pitcher, either as an amateur or professional player.”
That at-bat taught him a lot about how different major league pitching was.
“What stood out about Seguí was his command,” Osborne said. “He never threw anything down the middle. He was always painting the corners. I just remember how outstanding his control was.”
While Arizona State’s offense was holding its own, the biggest contribution came from a future 12-year major leaguer.
“What stands out most is the performance of freshman pitcher Craig Swan,” Detter said. “He came into the game around the fifth inning and pitched the rest of the way. He was outstanding, and a key reason why we won.”
The results of the game and the way in which ASU handled itself impressed the Pilots players.
“We don’t have to make any alibis for losing this one,” Pilots infielder Rich Rollins said during a postgame radio interview. “We were beaten by a fine team.”
Pilots outfielder Jim Gosger agreed.
“Arizona State had a very good team,” Gosger said. “I was impressed with them. They had talented players, a strong program and a great environment.”
The organization viewed the loss differently. Seattle made several roster moves in the days afterward, and Bouton later criticized the reaction in his 1970 book “Ball Four,” arguing that a spring training defeat should not have carried such weight.
“That’s what (Marvin) Milkes and (Joe) Schultz should have done about losing to Arizona State – laugh,” Bouton wrote. “Or at least not take it so damn seriously.”
Bouton understood why the team was concerned.
“They probably think that the fans and writers are going to draw a lot of conclusions about a game like this and, alas, they’re probably right,” he wrote. “You can’t educate everybody about baseball in two weeks.”
Bouton’s point was that spring training exhibitions rarely mean much in the grand scheme of a season. But the loss still rattled the Pilots and reinforced concerns about an expansion club that would struggle throughout its lone season in Seattle.
Looking back, Gosger believes the reaction reflected larger issues within the franchise.
“Joe Schultz, the manager, wasn’t very good,” Gosger said. “He didn’t have the enthusiasm or drive to win games. It felt more like participation than competition.”
According to Gosger, talent was not Seattle’s biggest problem.
“The frustrating thing was that we actually had some talented players,” Gosger said. “We had a good group, but Schultz wasn’t the right person to lead the team.”
The contrast between the two teams was striking. Arizona State was a national powerhouse in college baseball, while the Pilots were an expansion franchise searching for an identity.
The Pilots finished their lone season in Seattle with a record of 64-98-1, and financial problems ultimately forced a sale of the franchise at the end of the season. The team relocated to Milwaukee in 1970 and became the Brewers. Seattle would not have another major league franchise until the Mariners played their first game in 1977.
While the loss became a source of frustration in Seattle, it served as validation for Arizona State.
“We definitely used it as an opportunity to prove that we could compete with professional players,” Detter said.
The team noticed the difference in how the Pilots went about playing the game compared to other college programs they’d faced.
“They were older and more mature,” Detter said. “Everything they did was more businesslike. College teams played with excitement and energy, but the Pilots approached the game in a very professional manner. The way they prepared and the way they conducted themselves was more polished.”
Arizona State never felt out of place or overwhelmed.
“We knew who many of those players were, and we respected what they had accomplished,” Detter said. “But we believed we belonged on the same field.”
The win reinforced that belief.
“We felt pretty good after the game,” Osborne said. “It was a big win.”
More importantly, it helped shape the remainder of Arizona State’s season.
“That game came right before conference play, and I think it helped establish our confidence,” Osborne said. “We went into conference play feeling very good.”
That confidence definitely showed.
Arizona State won the conference, defeated BYU for the conference championship, captured the regional and advanced to the College World Series, ultimately becoming champions after defeating Tulsa.
“Sometimes one game can make a difference,” Osborne said. “That game may have helped us peak at the right time.”
Ironically, the game happened in the middle of a rough stretch of games.
Detter noted that Arizona State lost a doubleheader to San Fernando State the day before facing Seattle. The Sun Devils then beat the Pilots before losing to San Fernando State again that night and dropping another game two days later.
“So, in a span of a few days, we lost four games,” Detter said. “We only lost 11 all season, and that was the only time all year we lost consecutive games.
“I’ve often wondered whether we were so focused on the Pilots game that we lost some focus in those other contests.”
Still, when players from that team look back today, they see the fingerprints of the coach who built Arizona State baseball.
“Ultimately it all comes back to Bobby Winkles,” Detter said about the coach who died in 2020. “He made Arizona State baseball what it was and laid the foundation for what it became. He had a unique ability to help every player become the best version of themselves.”
All of these years later, this game is still a unique chapter in baseball history. For the Pilots, it became an embarrassment that sparked criticism and roster moves. For Arizona State, it became something far more valuable.
It was proof that the Sun Devils could compete with anyone on a baseball field, whether they were wearing college uniforms or major league ones.
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