Tagged: Safeco Field
Reaching Your Goal
Are you part of the nearly half of New Year’s Resolutioners that have given up? Or are you one of the less than 10% who will be successful? Life is hard, keep working towards your dreams. Ron Wright never gave up. He fought for what he wanted. All of his hard work eventually paid off.
Ron Wright was selected in the 7th Round of the 1994 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves from Kamiakin High School in Kennewick, Washington. He played two and a half seasons in the Braves minor league system. Wright spent 1994 with the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League Braves, 1995 with the Single A Macon Braves, and 1996 with the High A Durham Bulls and Double A Greenville Braves before an August trade to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wright now set his sights on the Steel City. He finished 1996 with the Double A Carolina Mudcats and spent 1997 with the Triple A Calgary Cannons. 1998 was a lost season as Wright appeared in only 20 Games, 17 with the Triple A Nashville Sounds and 3 with the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League Pirates. 1999 was equally frustrating, playing only 24 Games for the Double A Altoona Curve. In October, the Cincinnati Reds selected Wright off waivers. His aim moved further down the Ohio River. Wright spent 2000 with the Double A Chattanooga Lookouts and Triple A Louisville RiverBats. In November, Wright signed as a Minor League free agent with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He spent the season back with the Durham Bulls, now a Triple A team. Again a Minor League free agent, Wright signed with the Seattle Mariners for the 2002 season. He began the season with the Triple A Tacoma Rainiers. Ron Wright had played eight Minor League seasons with 12 different teams.
Heading into the 2002 season Wright had played in 666 Minor League games. He hit .261 with 121 Home Runs, 453 RBI, and 361 Runs scored in 2,729 Plate Appearances. Wright had played at every level, Rookie Ball to Triple A. He fought through injuries and the ups and downs of professional baseball. Wright remained one step away from the Majors. The trip from Cheney Stadium to Safeco Field is only 35 miles, but Wright kept fighting to make that drive.
The bad news in Seattle was future Hall of Fame Edgar Martinez was hurt running to First. Martinez’s injury put a damper on the Mariners early season success. Edgar’s injury was bad news for everyone except Minor League journeyman Ron Wright. He finally got the call to the Big Leagues. The years of toil had paid off. He was heading to the show.
It was a pleasant afternoon in Arlington, Texas. It was 76℉ and overcast. Ron Wright had made it to the Majors on Sunday, April 14, 2002. The Mariners were on the road, playing the Rangers at The Ballpark in Arlington. 32,866 fans watched as Seattle’s John Halama faced off against Texas’ Kenny Rogers. Ron Wright was the DH, batting 7th for the Mariners. All was right in the world.
In the Top of the 2nd, Ron Wright strolled to the plate. This was the moment he had worked so hard for, his first Major League At Bat. Ruben Sierra was standing on Second after a lead off Single and a John Olerud Walk. Wright stepped in the Right Handed Batters Box looking to add to the Mariners 1-0 lead. Kenny Rogers rocked and fired. In the blink of an eye, Wright was walking back to the dugout. Striking out looking on three pitches was not how Wright envisioned his first At Bat in the Big Leagues, but he had stamped his name in the record books as playing in a Major League game. There would be more chances.
The next opportunity for Wright came in the Top of the 4th. Seattle still clung to its 1-0 lead, and Wright could extend the lead. He again came up with Sierra and Olerud on base. Sierra led off with a Double and moved to Third on Olerud’s Single. Wright worked the count to 2-2. On the fifth pitch he swung. The ball bounced to Rogers on the mound who fired to Alex Rodriguez coming over from Shortstop to cover Second for the first Out. Rodriguez then threw home to Catcher Bill Haselman who chased Sierra back towards Third. He tossed the ball to Third Baseman Hank Blalock who chased Sierra back towards Home. Blalock tossed the ball to Rogers who tagged Sierra for the second Out. During the rundown Wright reached First and was advancing towards Second. He was never known for his speed, just nine Stolen Bases in the Minors. After tagging Sierra, Rogers threw to Second Baseman Michael Young who tagged Wright coming into Second for the third Out. The 1-6-2-5-1-4 Triple Play killed the rally, and made Wright’s debut memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Baseball is about dealing with failure. There are few failures like hitting into a Triple Play. Baseball does not give you long to dwell on your failures. In the Top of the 6th, Wright came up for the third time. He was patient in his first two At Bats, but not this time. The Mariners were trailing 2-1. Again Ruben Sierra was on Second and John Olerud on First. On the first pitch from Rogers, Wright hit the ball to Shortstop Alex Rodriguez to start a Double Play. Sierra moved to Third, but the rally was dead. The frustrating day continued.
Ron Wright never got that fourth At Bat. Manager Lou Piniella sent up Pinch Hitter Mark McLemore in the 7th Inning. His Major League debut was complete. Wright had three At Bats against Kenny Rogers. He saw nine pitches. Made six Outs. The Mariners won 9-7. The game took 3 hours and 39 minutes. Before the Mariners returned to the field on Monday Ron Wright was back in the Minors. He never returned to the Majors. Wright’s Major League career took less time than it takes to watch Gone With The Wind.
Was it worth it? Despite one of the worst possible debuts, Ron Wright can proudly say he was a Major League Baseball player. Only 18,039 players before him earned that title. While his career was not what he hoped, Wright made it to the top. He kept grinding. He kept going. The baseball gods rewarded his lifetime of work with one of the strangest days ever on a baseball field. Keep working towards your goals.
DJ
My Oh My
Rap is not the usual music genre for baseball songs. Teams may create a music video for the upcoming season, postseason, or a particular player. College teams are known to lip sync from time to time, looking at you 2012 Harvard baseball team. However, it is rarely a rap song. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis changed this with My Oh My. The song was written in response to longtime Seattle Mariners radio broadcaster Dave Niehaus’ sudden death in November 2010. It is the best baseball song of the last decade.
My Oh My is not reserved just for Mariner fans, however to fully appreciate the song you must understand what Dave Niehaus meant to the Pacific Northwest. He was the Mariners broadcaster since their inception in 1971. He broadcast more than 5,000 games, missing roughly 100 games in 40 years. Niehaus was the voice of baseball for Mariners fans.
Baseball had a tough beginning in Seattle. The Pilots lasted only one losing season, 1969, before moving to Milwaukee. The Mariners, and their fans, suffered through 14 consecutive losing seasons. They did not make the postseason until the fabled 1995 season, their 19th. There was little excitement on the diamond, yet the fans tuned in their radios to listen to Dave Niehaus.
Dave Niehaus was the voice of baseball in the Pacific Northwest. My Oh My was a loss.(John Lok/ The Seattle Times)
Mariners fans were rewarded by listening to Niehaus call the golden age of Mariners baseball. From 1995 through 2001, the Mariners made the postseason four times, reaching the American League Championship Series three times. The excitement inside the Kingdome moved to Safeco Field, now T-Mobile Park, on July 15, 1999 with Dave Niehaus throwing out the first pitch. The following summer, Niehaus became the second member of the Mariners Hall of Fame, after former first baseman Alvin Davis. In 2008, Niehaus received the highest award in baseball broadcasting, the Ford C. Frick Award, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Niehaus was more than a broadcaster. The 2011 season was the teams first without him in the booth. The team honored Niehaus with a performance of My Oh My on Opening Day.
My Oh My was released six weeks after Dave Niehaus’ death as a bonus track on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ album The Heist. Macklemore begins by recounting the winning run of the 1995 American League Divisional Series against the Yankees. The voice of God on the radio calling the game as Edgar Martinez drives in Joey Cora tying the game and Ken Griffey Jr. is waved home to win the game. The pace of the song quickens along with your pulse for the play at the plate.
Wisely, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis step back while Dave Niehaus makes the call during an interlude. Artists recognize the talents of other great artists. Niehaus paints the picture of the play at the plate and how it felt inside the Kingdome and across the Pacific Northwest.
The second verse zooms out to examine baseball memories from childhood. Macklemore discusses learning to play baseball, spitting sunflower seeds, playing under the sun, and his Dad teaching him the beauty of the game. He layers in childhood favorites of Big League Chew, recreating The Sandlot, and begging his Mom for one more inning before bed. Recalling childhood memories quicken the pace of the song, like an excited child talking faster and faster.
Macklemore rounds out My Oh My with a final verse connecting baseball and real life. The third verse begins at a frantic pace. The same feeling Mariner fans had as Griffey rounded third. Life feels as though it’s moving faster than we can grasp it. There is a touch of anger underpinning the understanding that life will give you bad hops and you must be ready for them. The lessons of baseball stay with you as an adult. Life is a trip around the bases, success comes by putting your head down and running as hard as you can. The verse slows as it approaches the end and finishes with a trombone playing a mournful farewell…almost a baseball version of Taps.
Macklemore’s description of Dave Niehaus’ call and how baseball makes him feel could be anyone, not just a kid from Seattle. Every baseball fan knows the thrill of following the winning run racing home. My Oh My takes baseball fans back to their childhoods and the joys of baseball and the lessons it teaches.
The song is also a reflection of becoming an adult and losing your childhood heroes. Baseball is a child’s game played by adults, yet those adults are not invincible. Every kid eventually deals with the loss of a hero. Despite never meeting the person, it has a profound impact on their life. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are spot on with My Oh My and the music video. The video is simple, just baseball pictures, equipment, jerseys, old stadiums, and replays of past moments. No wonder people in Seattle had to pull over to collect themselves when they heard My Oh My for the first time.
DJ
King’s Ransom
As the off season rolls along, discussions between teams and free agents are starting to heat up. The bigger names will start to fall in place now that a certain Second Baseman, who played in the Bronx last year is off the market. Robinson Cano’s contract with the Seattle Mariners has signed the third largest contract ever, tied with Albert Pujols. Both contracts are for 10 years and $240 million. Not quite what he wanted, as Robinson Cano was seeking a contract worth $310 million over 10 years. To put that into perspective, the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu had a GDP in 2010 of $36 million, or $5 million more than Cano was seeking annually While to the average person this is more money than we can imagine being paid, for an elite Major League Baseball player it is not quite the same stretch.
Every year pundits write baseball’s obituary, saying it is a dying sport. If they are right, then why do salaries keep going up, why do sponsors keep spending millions to advertise with Major League Baseball? Dating back to the last Major League Baseball strike in 1994-1995, the yearly salary for the highest paid player has risen from Barry Bonds’ $7.29 million to Alex Rodriguez‘s $27.5 million. That is a 377% increase in 19 years. I would say that is representative of a sport that has plenty of life.
So now that I have debunked the idea that baseball is on life support, lets look at whether Robinson Cano is worth, in baseball terms, the $310 million contract he was seeking ($31 million average annually), or even the $240 he will receive ($24 million average annually). Since the start of the 1995 season the following players have had the highest annual salary: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Belle, Barry Bonds (again), Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Mo Vaughn, Kevin Brown, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Alex Rodriguez, and Alex Rodriguez (again).
Excluding the pitchers on the list (Maddux, Martinez, Brown, and Clemens), and comparing Cano’s career to the other highest paid players, this is how Cano stacks up statistically.
The year they signed the contract, and their career stats amassed before signing the contract:
Barry Bonds- 1992, ($7.29 million)
7 seasons, G 1010, R 672, H 984, 2B 220, HR 176, RBI 556, SB 251, BB 611, SO 590, BA .275, OBP .380, SLG .503, OPS .883
Ken Griffey Jr.- 1996, ($8.5 million)
6 seasons, G 845, R 518, H 972, 2B 194, HR 172, RBI 543, SB 88, BB 374, SO 477, BA .306, OBP .379, SLG .541, OPS .920
Albert Belle- 1996, ($11 million)
8 seasons, G 913, R 592, H 1014, 2B 223, HR 242, RBI 751, SB 61, BB 396, SO 622, BA .295, OBP .369, SLG .580, OPS .949
Barry Bonds- 1997, ($11.45 million)
11 seasons, G 1583, R 1121, H 1595, 2B 333, HR 334, RBI 993, SB 380, BB 1082, SO 871, BA .288, OBP .404, SLG .548, OPS .952
Mike Piazza- 1998, ($13 million)
7 seasons, G 840, R 511, H 1038, 2B 148, HR 200, RBI 644, SB 11, BB 330, SO 493, BA .333, OBP .396, SLG .575, OPS .972
Mo Vaughn- 1998, ($13.333 million)
8 seasons, G 1046, R 628, H 1165, 2B 199, HR 230, RBI 752, SB 28, BB 519, SO 954, BA .304, OBP .394, SLG .542, OPS .936
Carlos Delgado- 2000, ($17 million)
8 seasons, G 829, R 493, H 818, 2B 214, HR 190, RBI 604, SB 5, BB 436, SO 728, BA .282, OBP .383, SLG .557, OPS .940
Alex Rodriguez- 2000, ($25.2 million)
7 seasons, G 790, R 627, H 966, 2B 194, HR 189, RBI 595, SB 133, BB 310, SO 616, BA .309, OBP .374, SLG .561, OPS .934
Alex Rodriguez- 2007, ($27.5 million)
14 seasons, G 1904, R 1501, H 2250, 2B 395, HR 518, RBI 1503, SB 265, BB 915, SO 1524, BA .306, OBP .389, SLG .578, OPS .967
Then we compare these numbers against Robinson Cano:
Robinson Cano- 2013, (wanted $31 million, got $24 million)
9 seasons, G 1374, R 799, H 1649, 2B 375, HR 204, RBI 822, SB 38, BB 350, SO 689, BA .309, OBP .355, SLG .504, OPS .860
Robinson Cano is seen as a slugger who can change a game with one sing of his bat, although perception and reality may be out of alignment. He is well established in Major League Baseball after 9 seasons. The highest paid players in Major League Baseball since the strike in 1994 have all played 8 years or fewer except for Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez when they both signed contracts which made them the highest paid player in baseball for a second time.
Examining Cano’s career statistics against the other members of this list at the time they were the highest paid player in Major League Baseball he has scored more Runs than everyone except Bonds* and Rodriguez* (both when they signed their second contract). Only Rodriguez* had more career Hits and more Doubles. Belle, Bonds*, Vaughn, and Rodriguez* had more Home Runs. Bonds* and Rodriguez* had more RBIs. Bonds, Griffey, Belle, Bonds*, Rodriguez, and Rodriguez* had more Stolen Bases. Bonds, Griffey, Belle, Bonds*, Vaughn, Delgado, and Rodriguez* had more Walks. Bonds, Griffey, Belle, Piazza, and Rodriguez had fewer Strikeouts. Only Piazza and Rodriguez had a higher career Batting Average. Everyone had a higher career On Base Percentage. Everyone but Bonds had a higher Slugging Percentage. Everyone had a higher OPS than Cano.
Ultimately I think what Robinson Cano is as a player is a hard hitting Second Baseman who can collect a lot of hits, drive the ball in the the alleys for doubles and hit 20 to 30 home runs a season. It is important to remember that Yankee Stadium is easier to hit home runs in than Safeco Field, so be prepared to see a bit of a drop in Cano’s home run total. He is billed as a slugger, and he approaches his at bats as such. However with two strikes he is smart enough to take what he is given instead of continuing to swing for the fences. Will Cano make a difference for the Seattle Mariners? Yes. Will he be an elite player at the end of this contract? Doubtful. Should Cano, and any other player, make as much money as they can? Absolutely. Cano is an elite player. Is he a future Hall of Famer? He is trending that way but he has work left to do. I believe is initial demand of $310 million was way over his value, and the contract he signed is still high. The Mariners did over pay, but Cano will have a positive impact on Seattle, as they should start to contend in the American League West again soon.
*Second contract (not the asterisk most people feel they should have next to their names)
D
The Winning Run 