Dan Raley’s Pitchers of Beer: The True Story of the Seattle Rainiers is an entertaining look back at one of the legendary minor league teams from the heyday of the Pacific Coast League. Owned by local beer baron Emil Sick, the Rainiers were an integral part of the community and a source of great civic pride in the decades preceding Seattle’s major league status with the short-lived Pilots in 1969 and later the Mariners in 1977. Daley skillfully weaves engaging personal profiles of the Rainiers’ many colorful characters into the compelling overall chronology of the team’s shifting fortunes over the years - a winning formula very well executed. ( )