Dewey Soriano

Dewey Soriano

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3";, Weight 202 lb.
• School University of Washington
• High School Franklin High School (Seattle)

• Born February 8, 1920 in Prince Rupert, BC Canada
• Died April 6, 1998 in Seattle, WA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Dewey Soriano was a minor league pitcher in the 1940s after being a high school teammate of Fred Hutchinson in Seattle, WA. He reached as high as AAA in 1946-1948 and 1950-1951. He appeared in the Pacific Coast League in nine of the 10 seasons he was active.

He succeeded Robert Brown as GM of the Vancouver Capilanos in 1953 when Brown became president of the Western International League. Soriano was President of the Pacific Coast League from 1960 to 1968. He was also co-owner (along with brother Max Soriano) and President of the expansion Seattle Pilots for their sole season of 1969. However, he was badly under-capitalized, and in February of 1970, when payment was due on a major loan he had contracted in order to finance the team's first season, he decided to bankrupt the team after efforts to find alternative local ownership failed. A bankruptcy trustee then arranged the team's sale to a group based in Milwaukee, WI, led by automobile dealer Bud Selig, just before the start of the 1970 season.

He was born in Prince Rupert, BC, where his parents, immigrants from Spain, operated a fishing boat. However, they moved to Seattle when he was only six months old.

Preceded by Leslie O'Connor

Pacific Coast League President 1959-1968

Succeeded by Bill McKechnie, Jr.

Further Reading

• Andy McCue: "The Doomed Pilots of 1969: The Results of Advice Ignored", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 51, Number 2 (Fall 2022), pp. 98-104.