The Second Rainiers
After the Pilots left, Seattle was without professional baseball for the first time since the 1890s. Following a two-year void, a Sacramento man named Art Peterson bought a Class A Northwest League franchise for Seattle, named them the Rainiers and signed a deal to play in Sick's Stadium (where the team inherited the Pilots' old offices). The Rainiers played five seasons in the NWL between 1972 and 1976 with two winning teams.
The team was a co-op operation in 1972, drawing players primarily from the San Francisco and Baltimore minor league systems. Managed by former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ray Washburn, the Rainiers went into a tailspin in August and finished last in the NWL North Division. The Cincinnati Reds picked up Seattle as an affiliate for the next two seasons. The Rainiers came in with two second-place showings as the team groomed future major league pitchers Manny Sarmiento and Mike Armstrong and outfielder Lynn Jones during that time. Peterson went the independent route for 1975 and 1976, signing his own players. One of those was outfielder Casey Sander, a Seattle native who played one season in 1975 before embarking upon an acting career and eventually landing a regular role in the longtime ABC-TV sitcom Grace Under Fire. The 1976 team was the best of the Rainiers' five-season run, finishing second by one game to the Portland Mavericks in the NWL's Independent Division.
On September 1, 1976, Seattle shut out Portland 2-0, with local product George Meyring winning in the final pro baseball game in Sick's Stadium and closing out minor league ball in Seattle for good.
In 1977, another American League expansion team was awarded to Seattle, the Seattle Mariners.
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