Meet the Mariners T he Pacific Northwest draws sports lovers from all over the over the country and from all over the world In this corner of the of the United States people can do fun activities in the woods on the he water and in the mountains The Seattle Mariners are an important part of that picture especially during the spring and summer The Mariners have a wonderful way of finding players with unusual talents Seattle might sign a star from a foreign country Or the M’s may trade for a good young player from another club Either way they know how to put together an exciting team This book tells the story of the Mariners While they are only nly one part of the Seattle sports landscape they play a big role when it when it comes to bringing sports lovers together Indeed when the Mariners are winning they are the hottest ticket in town Ichiro Suzuki known throughout baseball by his first name Ichiro helped the Mariners become popular with fans all over the world 5
Glory Days B aseball has a long history in Seattle A team in the minor leagues called the Rainiers played there for many years In 1969 the city was awarded its first big-league team the Pilots Unfortunately Seattle wasn’t quite ready Its stadium was old and small The Pilots moved to Milwaukee after one season and became the Brewers Meanwhile Seattle began preparing to host another baseball team That day came in 1977 when the Mariners arrived in town They built their team with unwanted players from other clubs They added promising young players from high school and college in the draft The Mariners moved into a new stadium called the Kingdome They shared it with the Seattle Supersonics basketball team and Seattle Seahawks football team 6
LEFT Al Cowens RIGHT Mark Langston The Mariners continued to search for players who had been overlooked by other teams In their early years their hitting stars included Ruppert Jones Ron Fairly Dan Meyer Leroy Stanton Bruce Bochte Leon Roberts Willie Horton Ken Phelps and Al Cowens Their best pitchers were Glenn Abbott Rick Honeycutt and Bill Caudill In the mid-1980s Seattle welcomed a group of homegrown stars The best was Mark Langston a left-handed pitcher who led the American League AL in strikeouts as a rookie First baseman Alvin Davis second baseman Harold Reynolds third baseman Jim Presley and outfielder Phil Bradley formed the core of a solid offense Even with this talent the Mariners did not have their first winning season until 1991 By then they were building a new team around an 7
