The 1969 Major League Baseball expansion resulted in the establishment of expansion franchises in Kansas City and Seattle in the American League and in Montreal and San Diego in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Kansas City Royals, Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Pilots began play in the 1969 Major League Baseball season. One of the reasons for expansion was increasing pressure to maintain the sport as the US national pastime, particularly because of the increasing popularity of professional football.
As a result of expansion, the American and National Leagues reorganized. Each league was split into two divisions, forming the American League East, American League West, National League East, and National League West.
Other candidate cities that were considered in 1967 included Buffalo, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Milwaukee. The latter two were rejected because they were close to cities that already had a Major League Baseball team (Houston and Chicago, respectively). In May 1966, Commissioner of Baseball William Eckert stated that cities that should be considered for expansion included Milwaukee (the Milwaukee Braves had moved to Atlanta before the 1966 season), New Orleans, Oakland, San Diego, Seattle, and Toronto, and that expansion would occur in "eight to 10 years;" he subsequently stated that the leagues could expand "any time after two years". By August, Major League Baseball had plans to expand to two 12-team leagues by 1970, and had squelched the possibility of a third league, such as the Continental League proposed in 1959 or the proposal made in August 1968 by Ron Plaza consisting of an Eastern, Central, and Western League.
American League
In 1960, the American League conducted a survey to determine potential expansion cities. The list included Atlanta, Buffalo, Dallas–Fort Worth, Denver, Oakland, San Diego, Seattle, and Toronto.
Kansas City Royals
Kansas City had been the home to the Kansas City Athletics from 1955, when the team moved from Philadelphia, to 1967, after which the team moved to Oakland. For several years, owner Charlie Finley had threatened to leave the city: in May and September 1962 to Dallas–Fort Worth; in January 1964 he signed a contract with the state of Kentucky to move the team to Louisville and rename the team Kentucky Athletics; and in February 1964 he wanted to move the team to Oakland. A committee of American League owners denied his requests.
In October 1967, with the team's lease at Municipal Stadium expired, Finley once again proposed to move the franchise to Oakland, this time at the owners' meetings in Chicago. During the first ballot of the committee of American League owners on October 18, he received six supporting votes, one opposing vote (from the Baltimore Orioles), and the Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Washington Senators abstained from voting. American League president Joe Cronin requested a second ballot, in which the New York Yankees were the only team to change their status, opting to support the move and giving Finley "the seven votes necessary to move the team". In a press release, Cronin announced the move and promised to expand the league by two more clubs no later than 1971. The Oakland Athletics began play in the 1968 Major League Baseball season.
Cronin conveyed the news to Kansas City mayor Ilus Davis and Stuart Symington, a US Senator from Missouri. Cronin had thought that the compromise to install a new team by 1971 would be acceptable to them as compensation for the loss of the Athletics. Instead, Symington threatened to challenge Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption with federal legislation, and to also challenge the reserve clause. Davis threatened a lawsuit to block the move. Tom Yawkey arranged a meeting of the owners still at the convention, during which the league agreed to accelerate the expansion process and assured that Kansas City would be granted a new franchise to begin play no later than the 1969 season. This would require another franchise to be established at the same time to ensure the league had an even number of teams for a balanced schedule.
On the floor of the United States Senate on October 19, Symington described Finley as "one of the most disreputable characters ever to enter the American sports scene" and said that "Oakland is the luckiest city since Hiroshima".
Ewing Kauffman won rights to the franchise, and paid a $5.5 million expansion fee for the Royals, which played games at Municipal Stadium until the end of the 1972 season, after which the team moved to Royals Stadium, now known as Kauffman Stadium.