For 32 years, from Diego Segui’s first pitch in the concrete dungeon that was the Kingdome through yet another loss Wednesday at palatial Safeco Field, Niehaus has been the narrator for plenty of losing seasons and a few memorable moments that defined Mariners history.
Now, Niehaus is preparing for another audience this weekend, when he will be honored with the Ford C. Frick award at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y.
“I’m a fan, No. 1. I’m a lucky guy. I love the game. If I wasn’t out here doing the games broadcasting I’d be out here sitting in the stands,” Niehaus said this week before he left for Cooperstown. “I’ve said this a million times: I’ve never had to go to work a day in my life. And I hope that comes across to the people that have listened to me for generations.”
He will join the likes of Mel Allen, Jack Buck and Niehaus’ childhood idol, Harry Caray, as the 32nd recipient of the award named after Frick, a former baseball commissioner. Though a few players and managers with Mariners connections have found a place in Cooperstown, Niehaus is the first Seattle star to be honored in the Hall.
Since the Mariners’ inception in 1977, Niehaus has served as instructor for baseball fans in the Pacific Northwest, a region void of the major league game sans the Seattle Pilots one-year experiment in 1969. Adults and kids tuned in to hear Niehaus try to put his best spin on what were among the worst teams in baseball during much of the club’s history.
But no matter how bad the Mariners were, Niehaus never let the on-field product affect his approach to the game. Day in and day out, his calls were often punctuated by his raised voice and trademark “My, oh My!” and “It will fly away!” during a moment to celebrate.
“All of us in this business, guys, this is the toy department of life,” Niehaus said. “It’s a narcotic. Whether it be my end or (the writing) end or the front office end, we’re lucky.”
Niehaus stumbled into broadcasting as a student at Indiana after deciding that waking up at 8 a.m. every day to stare at teeth as a dentist wasn’t the job for him.
He worked for the Armed Forces Network in Los Angeles and New York before anchoring himself in the L.A. market in the late 1960s and early ’70s, calling games for the California Angels and UCLA football. In 1976 at baseball’s winter meetings, he was encouraged to interview for the lead play-by-play job with the expansion Mariners.
“As a No. 1 broadcaster, you get to tell the story. The No. 2 guy, he gets to tell what’s happening between the climactic end,” said Niehaus, the Angels’ No. 3 guy behind Dick Enberg and Don Drysdale.
As much as Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki are responsible for making Seattle relevant in pro baseball, it was Niehaus telling their stories along the way. Griffey was the first person Niehaus heard from in February when the Frick announcement was made, and the one Niehaus wishes would be there with him in Cooperstown this weekend.
Even though Niehaus never has announced a World Series game with the Angels or Mariners, his calls during Seattle’s remarkable rally in 1995 still bring chills to those who remember the brightest time in Mariners history, even surpassing their 116-win season in 2001. Seattle trailed the Angels by 13 games on Aug. 2 before surging to win the American League West for its first playoff berth.
Niehaus chokes up when reminded of the one-game tiebreaker with the Angels that Seattle won 9-1 to clinch the division title, and delirious fans in the Kingdome turning to the broadcast booth to salute Niehaus after the celebration on the field died down.
“It’s hard to express. It’s probably the biggest thrill of my life until this weekend,” he said. “I didn’t know I meant that much to them.”
Many never will forget Niehaus’ call of the most seminal moment in Mariners history - Martinez’s double in the bottom of the 11th inning that scored Joey Cora and Griffey to beat the New York Yankees in the 1995 AL division series:
“Right now, the Mariners looking for the tie. They would take a fly ball, they would love a base hit into the gap and they could win it with Junior’s speed. The stretch . . . and the 0-1 pitch on the way to Edgar Martinez . . . swung on and lined down the left-field line for a base hit! Here comes Joey, here is Junior to third base, they’re going to wave him in! The throw to the plate will be . . . Late! The Mariners are going to play for the American League championship! I don’t believe it! It just continues! My, oh my!”
Niehaus understands the lasting connection.
“That’s a call with which I will always be identified,” he said. “I was lucky enough to be there.”
Now 73, Niehaus has no plans to slow down. Entering this season, he had missed only 82 games in team history. He’ll miss the Mariners’ series in Toronto this weekend for the Hall of Fame ceremonies but will be right back with the team in Texas on Monday.
“I can’t imagine not doing it,” Niehaus said. “I can imagine not doing it, but might as well dig a hole and put me in it.”
