www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 052014 092014 Editor Chrös McDougall Copy Editor Nicholas Cafarelli Interior Design and Production Carol Castro Cover Design Christa Schneider Photo Credits Tony Gutierrez AP Images cover John Froschauer AP Images 1 8 11 43 middle Tony Dejak AP Images 4 Elaine Thompson AP Images 7 AP Images 12 Gene Smith AP Images 15 B Bennett Getty Images 17 42 top John Swart AP Images 18 Barry Sweet AP Images 21 23 Rick Stewart Allsport 25 FILE AP Images 26 47 Bill Chan AP Images 29 32 43 top Nick Wass AP Images 31 42 bottom Jeff Zevelansky AP Images 35 Jim Bryant AP Images 36 42 middle Jeff Chiu AP Images 39 Gail Burton AP Images 41 43 bottom Bill Kostroun AP Images 44 Library of Congress Control Number 2014933131 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Freedman Lew Seattle Mariners by Lew Freedman p cm Inside MLB Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 978-1-62403-485-5 1 Seattle Mariners Baseball team History Juvenile literature I Title GV875 S42F74 2015 796 357'6409797772 dc23 2014933131
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 The Greatest Season 4 Chapter 2 Beginnings 12 Chapter 3 The Bad Old Days 18 Chapter 4 Winners at Last 26 Chapter 5 Still Shooting for the Series 36 Timeline 42 Quick Stats 44 Quotes and Anecdotes 45 Glossary 46 For More Information 47 Index 48 About the Author 48
CHAPTER 1 THE GREATEST SEASON
B aseball players often say that the best feeling in the world is coming out to the ballpark knowing you have a good chance of winning that day In 2001 just about every day felt like that for the Seattle Mariners and their fans It was The magic of the 2001 sea son was put in motion in 1999 when the team opened Safeco Field immediately considered one of the best ball parks in all of baseball Safeco Field routinely sold out in 2001 Approximately 3 5 million fans came out to watch the Mariners play that year And they had a lot to cheer about One of the highlights was Ichiro Suzuki a 27-year-old rookie from Japan He had been a star player in Japan before coming to Seattle and the American League AL The player who became known simply as Ichiro was a fan favorite right away with his dazzling catches in right field But it was his batting and base Right fielder Ichiro Suzuki helped turn the 2001 Seattle Mariners into Right fielder Ichiro Suzuki helped turn the 2001 Seattle Mariners into baseball’s top team during the regular season baseball’s top team during the regular season THE GREATEST SEASON 5
