Dave Niehaus mourned by Seattle Mariners players and fans
Dave Niehaus, the legendary Hall of Fame announcer for the Seattle Mariners, died Wednesday night of a heart attack at the age of 75.
He called the very first Mariners game in 1977 and, as the Seattle Times' Geoff Baker writes, "described the highs and lows in distinctive, colorful verbiage until the very end."
"It's hard to think about him being gone now," Edgar Martinez said. "He was such a big part of baseball in Seattle. He made the game fun to listen to, even when we had bad years. It's going to be different listening to the games now."
Ken Griffey Jr. said Niehaus "made the Mariners who they are," and added: "It's tough because he's like that grandfather to all of us, especially Jay [Buhner], me, Edgar and Dan [Wilson] and so many other Mariners, he was like our grandfather. He would give you a little bit of advice, and he was tough on you when he needed to be. This is a day that I was hoping would never come. It's just a sad day for all of us, not just his family, but for everybody in the great Northwest."
Move over, Jack Buck, Ernie Harwell, Harry Kalas, Bob Murphy, Joe Nuxhall, Herb Carneal ...
MORE ON NIEHAUS
Jerry Brewer: Growing up with Niehaus
Steve Kelley: An enormous loss
By
Cindy Boren
| November 11, 2010; 7:56 AM ET
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MLB
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Posted by: tonifitz76 | November 11, 2010 8:39 AM | Report abuse
It's a cold, grey day in Seattle today; one of hundreds every year but this one has nothing to do with the weather. The radio is wall-to-wall replays of Dave's innumerable collection of unforgettable calls: "Get out the rye bread and the mustard, Grandma. It's a Grand Salami Time!!!" "Fly, fly away!!" and, nearly every game - "MY, OH MY!!!"
This is as close as many of us can come to losing a family member without literally losing one. Dave spent far more time in my ear, my heart, my home than almost any member of my family. He certainly made me laugh more than anyone other than my grandkids and brought me to tears in 1995, when he screamed what we were all feeling, as accurately as though he had reached into our heads and yanked out the contents, when Edgar Martinez yanked that immortal double down the left field line to dispatch the accursed Yankees.
The best I can offer to sum up this day for you, there on the Opposite Coast, is to paraphrase W.H. Auden:
"He was my spring, my summer,
my autumn song.
I thought that Voice would last forever.
I was wrong."
Posted by: stevebody | November 11, 2010 10:08 AM | Report abuse
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