Dave Niehaus Passes Away
Dave · November 10, 2010 at 5:05 pm · Filed Under Mariners
One of the most vivid parts of my childhood has died. We all have the shared memories of the big events – The double, the no-hitters, Jr’s catch on Jesse Barfield, my oh my and the rye bread. However, I can still hear Dave describing a spring training game in which Bip Roberts got a couple of hits. Even though he was on a Padres team that the Mariners never played, that memory never fades because of the man who called it. He was a great storyteller, and he made baseball magical for myself and millions of other children who grew up with his voice.
It was always a beautiful day out for baseball when Dave Niehaus was behind the mic. Thanks for everything, Dave – you were one of the reasons I fell in love with this game.
my, oh my, this is a shocker and a sad day.
RIP
I don’t care what anyone says, he was the best.
.
WHAT?! He threw out the first pitch at Safeco Field! He’s been with the team longer than anyone! He’s the Mariners’ Bob Blackburn! He’s been the reason for listening to the games during those times when the team wasn’t. He called The Double. He called Everybody Scores! He called “The 3-2 pitch to Doug Strange is…IN THE DIRT AND WE ARE TIED!” He called, “Randy looks to the sky that’s covered by the Dome!”
He’s the reason I fell in love w/ the M’s as a kid and why I ran home from school to watch the M’s in 95′. We’ll miss you Dave.
RIP Dave
He’s been the voice of baseball for me since the day I was born. This is unbelievably sad. RIP Dave.
Wow just wow. When I refreshed twitter a minute ago I literally almost fell out of my chair when I read that and I had to read it a few times. This is an EXTREMELY sad day. RIP Dave, you were absolutely a GREAT BROADCASTER. You will be missed sir!
Wow. I don’t know what to say.
NO!
I am in shock. There will NEVER be another Dave Niehaus. How he described the game over radio will never be matched.
I just regret he never got to call a World Series game for the M’s
Mariners baseball will NEVER be the same. We’ll miss you Dave. Glad you made the HOF.
RIP Dave. You were the Mariners. You made the game come alive on the radio, I could almost smell the fresh cut grass, and feel the excitement of the game through your words. You made baseball in Seattle exciting.
A Mariners legend passes today
I’ve been dreading this day for a long time. Dave Niehaus was the voice of my childhood. Every good memory of baseball has the sound of Niehaus’s voice attached to it in some way. I’ll miss him.
I’m also afraid that announcers like Niehaus are a dying breed. The guy who learned to call a game on radio is different from the guy who learned it on TV.
Dave was the reason that I fell in love with the Mariners, he is one of the biggest reasons that I love the game of baseball, and I will always remember his fantastic calls and his absolute love of the game of baseball. He is the only baseball announcer I have ever really had in my lifetime (I’m only 29) and I don’t think ANYBODY will be able to fill the void that his passing is leaving. Dave, you will be missed, dearly, by everyone associated with the Mariners and anybody nationwide who was lucky enough to hear you call a ballgame.
You made the Mariners memorable and your voice will never be forgotten. RIP Mr. Niehaus.
I just got the text message from 710ESPN….I dropped my phone in shock. I seriously can’t believe this day. I wish we had a chance next year to win it for Dave.
Sad day in Mariner-land. RIP Niehaus.
When I think about it, I probably spent more of my life listening to his voice than any other, except my wife and son. It’s really hard to imagine Mariner baseball without Dave because there’s never been Mariner baseball without Dave. I presume there’s rye bread and mustard in heaven.
I am devastated.
Oh man… this sucks. What I would have given to hear him announce the last out of a world series win for the mariners.
This day came too suddenly. I loved his humor. I remember Glenn Abbot, the “Tall Arkansan,” telling Dave in an on-the-air late spring training interview that it was getting to “nut-cutting time” as the roster got pared down. Dave couldn’t suppress the giggles. I will never forget him.
Very, very sad. Needless to say, worst post ever.
Man alive . . . and after a season like this, too. I could at least wish he’d gotten one more season with a good team.
Time to break out the rye bread and mustard….in honor of Dave, it’s Grand Salami time. The homers (and sandwiches) won’t taste as sweet without him.
Rest in peace Dave. You were the soundtrack of my summer.
Thank god my roommate isn’t home, I have a few tears running down my face right now.
My heart sunk as soon as I heard. In fact I can still hear his voice. I love how the last few years he was slipping a little. Calling a 78 mph change-up a fast ball and vise versa. I am 35 and the 95 season is a huge part of my life. Working at the Enumclaw Safeway having the radio on in the produce section, Niehaus had a way of bringing the game to where ever you had a radio. He is gonna be missed. RIP Dave, there will never be a equal.
As far as I recall this is my first post here although I have lurked for years. Losing Dave is like losing a friend, he has been a part of so many important memories for me. I’m trying not to mist up at work. RIP, Dave.
Conversations at KCTS 9: Dave Niehaus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjT_7DqbHVw
RIP, Dave, thanks for the memories.
This is awful. I don’t have the words.
Just got the news….feel awful. He’ll be greatly missed.
Cheers to you Mr. Niehaus, and thanks for making baseball interesting even when it wasn’t.
What a loss to the M’s community, he will be sorely missed. What a hell of a career.
There are no words.
Damn.
RIP Dave. Thank you for the memories … from the time of Tom Paciorek’s GS to beat the Yankees on the day I got my drivers license; through Edgar’s series winning hit in ’95 and all of Ichiro’s historic achievements.
Damn … sad day.
The only person who could properly express the loss of Dave Niehaus is Dave Niehaus himself.
It won’t be the same anymore.
What a loss to Seattle baseball — but I’m so glad I got hear him broadcast so many games. My, oh, my….
No words at all…
i can’t believe it. dave’s spirit was so strong, this is just a total shocker. truly a LEGEND of the game.
you will be missed dearly dave.
I am floored. I never met the man, but I’m about to cry. A part of my childhood, and a part of my love for baseball just died with him.
I don’t even know what to say. Rest in Peace, Dave. The Mariners won’t ever be the same without you.
Rest in peace. I have been enjoying your broadcast for years. There is one day when you look down, the M’s will win a ring for you.
Baseball will never be the same. You will be missed Dave!
This.
I am trying not to cry at work now ):
I am just floored by this. Dave’s been calling the Mariners’ games for as far back as I can recall. It’s just not going to seem like the Mariners without his voice on the TV and radio.
Spring training is going to be weird. I’m not ready for this.
Rest in peace, Dave. I hope you’ve had some small awareness of what a special place you’ve held in our hearts.
I knew he was having a lot of heart trouble, so in one sense I’m not surprised, but oh damn. I just wish he’d been able to broadcast them in the Series.
He was so fun to listen to. His “smokey smoothe” voice, as one writer once called it, was comforting and warming to hear. It is so sad, it’s like a grandfather of yours: you never quite feel like its their time yet.
I will remember forever “And Ichiro threw something out of STAR WARS nail Terrance Long!”
Another great call of his…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGoyIbE41pU&feature=related
(skip to 0:30 if you want)
Such surprising and sad news
Thanks for the KCTS link. Pitmann and Calabro, with Drayer to come are reminicing on 710 and taking calls. Someone else said there was to be a special on several channels at 9:30
Farewell Dave.
Thanks for the many great memories!
Favorite call ever: The Double.
Godspeed Dave.
There was no better harbinger of spring than your voice on the radio come March 1.
My favorite call: Calling the last couple innings of Scott Erickson’s no-hitter live. While also calling the Mariners’ game simultaneously. He seamlessly bounced between the games, and you never got confused.
Summers just won’t be the same for me without that familiar voice providing the background music.
At least his passing during the offseason makes it a little easier to take. I only wish his last season didn’t have to be such a downer.
R.I.P., Dave. I’ve enjoyed you since 1986. Looking forward to hearing you again in the next life.
“Fly fly away” Dave Niehaus. You were a true hall of famer and always made Mariner baseball worth watching regardless of the score. Mariner baseball and my summers will never sound the same. You will truly be missed.
This is a sledgehammer. I actually screamed when I saw the PI Alert email…
I heard him call the very first Ms game in 1977, when I was 7 years old. It shouldn’t have ended like this… to me this is a bigger blow than Griffey leaving (both times)…. oh, I am so sad. I raise my glass. Dave, you WERE Ms baseball. I don’t know how we’ll get along without you.
RIP Dave. Mariners, actually baseball will never be the same sir. My oh my.
RIP Dave Niehaus. A huge part of my childhood as well. He truly brought the game to life and could bring a smile to the most cynical listener with his descriptions. It’s been said over and over but I’ll repeat it: M’s baseball will never be the same.
@Nickster: I also yelled at my computer screen. And wanted to punch my non-baseball fan roommate who didn’t seem to care.
This is now officially the worst season in franchise history, and perhaps the worst baseball news I’ve ever heard.
I’ve been listening to Niehaus fathfully since I was 6, and now I don’t know what the hell to do.
Thank you Dave for all of your years of dedication and ardent commitment. I was glad you made me a part of it.
I am in shock. I was 13 years old the first time I heard that amazing man. Very few games were on TV, so Dave Niehaus and Ken Wilson brought the games to life. RIP, Mr. Niehaus. I think it’s time for some rye bread and salami and a few adult beverages to wash it down.
First words out of my wife’s mouth as I came through the door from work: “They’re reporting that Dave Niehaus just died…”
Watching KOMO news, and it sounded like Dan Lewis’ voice was about to crack as he reported the details…
I’ll miss hearing Dave’s voice in the summer evenings…Enjoy life’s post-season, Dave.
The Kid is on 710 right now…
Classy move from the Kid. Even better for 710 not to bring any Griffey leaving stuff up doing the interview too. Good job Shannon.
*during
So sad. Everyone has their favorite calls; mine came during a conversation when Jack Cust came to bat:
Dave: ‘And here’s Jack Cust, by all accounts not the most…engaging young man in baseball.’
As I cracked up, a friend from Boston I was watching the game looked puzzled. So I translated for him: You might not get it, but Dave just called Cust the biggest f***ing p****k in the game.
The games won’t be the same without him. He did get to do almost everything though. It’s too bad he didn’t get to call a World Series.
Okay, here’s my vow. First World Series game at Safeco, I will carry a sign with Dave’s picture and the words “wish you were here”.
Who’s with me?
I think one of my favorite moments was when Jr. presented Dave with that blown up picture of the two of them at spring training early in Jr’s carrier on the air. I think that sums up his fondness for Dave.
Words can’t describe the feeling of loss RIP Mr. Seattle Mariner:(:(
I’m glad Dave lived long enough to make his speech at Cooperstown.
He will never be forgotten.
I may have only lived in this region since ’94, but still, so many great memories…
One of the legendary voices of the game has moved on to the Field Of Dreams, and Mariner Nation will never be the same…
RIP, Mr. Niehaus!! :.(
Like Kinsella, he knew how to paint a picture of this sport. He loved baseball in a way that few in this world can appreciate, and I felt that I learned so much from his broadcasts.
He taught me to appreciate the shadows stretching across the diamond and the beads of sweat on the fingers of a late game reliever. Every inning I listened to as a kid was called by him, and a game on the radio feels fake without his voice. This is a truly devastating blow for this franchise. We’ll miss you, Dave.
Amen.
I am, brother!
My favorite call was a summer game against Boston.
R. Soraino stuck out Manny in the eigth inning of a 1 run game.
Dave described the pitch as a 98 mph wiff of smoke.
Nobody has ever been better on the radio.
We’ll miss you Dave!
The man was awesome. He made loosing seasons so much better! MUCH LOVE DAVE!!! RIP!
I grew up in a Dodger family in Los Angeles in the 1960s, and I thought Vin Scully was the master. Then, in 1982, I moved to Washington, became an M’s fan, and heard my first Dave Niehaus radio play-by-play, and there was NO comparison. Niehaus was THE master. No one could describe the sights, sounds, and even smells of the game like Dave.
He made us LOVE the game, and LOVE the M’s, even when they were pitiful. ESPECIALLY when they were pitiful.
We love you, Dave. My, oh my.
Terribly sad he never got to call the World Series. He really was the embodiment of the team, through all of the incredible horseshit of George Argyros, Jeff Smulyan, moving to Florida, bankruptcy threats, falling roof tiles. He kept the flame burning for the fans.
And his off-air comments were hilarious.
I’ll miss him. Terribly. God Bless you Mr. Niehaus, rest in peace.
He is going to be missed beyond belief. The best sports announcer of all time but beyond that a great man. R.I.P. Mr. Niehaus
I grew up on Vin Scully and thought I’d never hear someone of his caliber again after moving from the LA area to the Seattle area. I could not have been more wrong.
It has been a pleasure listening to Mr. Niehaus all of these years. My heartfelt thanks go to Dave and positive thoughts to his family and friends. Thanks for the ride, my friend.
Loved hearing him call a game. RIP Dave
Anyone could make a great call out of The Double. What I loved about Dave was his ability to weave little bits of poetry into the quiet spaces. I remember him talking about “the warm, narcotic summer evening” and it took me back to sitting in my grandfather’s back yard, listening to Lon Simmons call Giants games. Dave Niehaus IS baseball to me. Spring has just lost a little of its luster.
Dave Niehaus and his memory are an inspiration me and I’ll miss him terribly. He was unique. While I would have wished, for his sake, that he would had been able to call a Mariners World Series championship, I’m so happy that he was able to savor his place in Cooperstown.
i would trade felix to have dave back
Fly, fly away…
Some things hurt forever…
Niehaus is in the top 10 trending topics on Twitter both in the US and worldwide…
Memorial page is up at Facebook…http://seati.ms/9L5SJ1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcA5w0ztMp0 (scroll to about the 4 minute mark) to see Dave’s appearance on Almost Live in 1996.
I liked Niehaus all the time, but remember him during bad games (and there have been a few) especially. I remember Mike Macdougal of the Royals making a horrendous error on a tapper, throwing the ball to the backstop trying to get a force at home, and Dave saying something like “Now this is just ridiculous.” I remember the last out of one terrible recent season, he said “and the season, mercifully, is over.”
He watched the game with the joy and engagement that all broadcasters should watch it. Irreplaceable. RIP, Dave.
The Associated Press article is good; I was wondering how the national media would cover this story, and whoever wrote the AP article appreciates what Dave Niehaus meant to the fans of the Mariners. This is not just some sports broadcaster who passed away, this was our Vin Scully, our Ernie Harwell.
Losing Bob Blackburn was a blow too, but he’d been retired for a long time. This was so sudden, and he was still the Mariners’ broadcaster.
I was more or less composed until I read this one.
The whole thing just seems so wrong. His last year was not supposed to be like this. It’s been a miserable year for the M’s and the fans, and it seemed appropriate at the time, but I don’t think I’ll ever again use the expression “it can’t get any worse”.
It was my honor to have talked to him on a few occasions. He was not just a Mariners’ announcer…he was an ambassador for the entire game of baseball.
What a loss…
I say we all boycott ESPN. A legend died today, yet their (and by their, I mean AP’s) story on Niehaus is barely even in the MLB section. A couple trade rumors and the story will fall into the archives.
RIP Dave. Hope you have a commentator booth waiting for you in heaven, where the Mariners always make the World Series.
As floored as I am right now, I think it’s going to hit me hardest on Opening Day 2011.
Call this dumb…but I’ve never had an Opening Day without Dave Niehaus’ voice, I just don’t think spring- while losing none of its hope- will have quite the same joyous heralding.
Dave is the reason I love baseball-listening to him on the radio years ago over at a friends house, painting a picture so vivid that this then non-sports fan went to a game in 1989 and fell in love. He created the green fields of the mind.
And at least he got to call a fantasy M’s world series game 7 in 1994 on the radio. I just dug my cassette tape out of him calling Randy Johnson vs Greg Maddox. So his bobblehead is on my mantle with a candle. Hard to imagine spring and summer will ever be the same. Bye Dave.
I’ve been stewing over the lack of an ESPN headline for a while now.
Apparently it doesn’t constitute news unless the announcer is for the MFing Yankees.
I am in absolute shock.
LOL. ESPN just put it on the main page since I posted that ^
My condolences to all M’s fans…as a LA boy & Dodger fan who has lived in Puyallup/Tacoma for the last 10 years I rue the day we get this news about Vin. My wife is just in shock as shes been a fan since she can remember. Fly away Dave, and when you get there break out the rye bread and mustard.
“Seventy-two delicious degrees here in Safeco Field!”
Always loved that.
Sad news, best of memories with Niehaus and the Mariners. Too bad, thanks for everything Dave.
Yeah. I think ESPN put it on because all of us were absolutely bashing them in the comments of the article for not having it on the front page.
So glad I could be there on Opening Day in 2008 to see him ride around the field as a soon to be HOF’er. Baseball has lost one of its true greats, and America has lost a treasure. His voice could get you through anything, be it a bad season or a bad year. I loved Dave like a member of the family, he will be missed.
I am so sad. This last season in particular, I spent a lot of time reflecting during the games on how much I loved listening to Dave, how listening to him call a game felt as comforting as an old pair of slippers. Just hearing his voice in the background added a level of comfort and enjoyment and I remember hoping that I’d get to listen to him for years to come. God bless you Dave and thanks for coming into my house and heart.
The only thing I can think to do right now is cry.
this sucks
Crap.
A big piece of a lot of childhoods went away today. There was no other feeling like tuning in the radio for that first spring training game and hearing Dave Neihaus. I guess we were lucky to have him for so long. I’ll miss him.
It’s pretty hard to have a thread here without some disagreement, but this is the clear exception. There can be nothing but love and respect for Dave.
I knew there was only one thing that would ever get him out of the booth. I just wish he could have called a Mariners World Series before he left us.
I am not a Seattle native but in the last 15 years I came to love the Mariners through the voice of Dave Niehaus. His infectious enthusiasm made it impossible not to love the team. May he rest in peace.
Touch ‘em all in heaven too Mr. Niehaus.
You know, I’ve had many players that I was (and still am) a fan of, and I have fond memories of the Kingdome (yes, even of that concrete monstrosity); but Niehaus has been there through it all. He outlasted stadiums, players, owners, jerseys, and more. His voice just WAS the Mariners. So rich, such clear descriptions. He is missed.
Tim Booth, who grew up listening to Dave call games
Wow! I don’t even know what to say right now. Mariners baseball will never be the same again.
RIP Dave and thanks!
RIP Dave.
You will be missed more than words can express.
Like so many others, I became an Ms fan because of Dave. Moved to Seattle at the start of the ’83 season and it didn’t take much more than a game or two for me to realize what a gem of an announcer Seattle was blessed with.
I spent the four years before that as a long-haul driver and had listened to probably every radio play-by-play voice of the time. And Dave was the best. He was old-school. Poetry on the fly.
Even in the middle of a putrid game in a horrific season, he kept me listening. For 27 years Dave was the soundtrack of my life from the first pitch of spring training to the last pitch of the season. I cannot imagine what the first pitch of 2011 will be like.
A major reason for being a day-in day-out Ms fan no matter what just disappeared.
No…
Oh, please, no.
Thank you so, so, so much Dave.
Godspeed, Dave. You brought life to your work and a smile to many faces.
I’m an east coast transplant, 15+ years ago, and I owe a lot to Dave to quickly help me adjust here and have my own (new) team again to follow.
Dave, thanks for making me feel welcome to become a Mariners fan!
A member of the family, and the truest Mariner ever is gone.
Nothing else to say.
Man… I want to say how much he meant (oh man, past tense…) to me… But all I can come up with is sadness. Ugh.
Rob Neyer has posted about Neihaus’ passing, as I expected he would (being from around here originally).
Jim Caple has a piece up as well.
I just have been lost all night.
I moved here in 1995 from California, as a 15 year old kid. I loved football and only sort of liked baseball.
Some things changed that. One of them was the timing of the move, watching that team rally back and hearing Dave’s voice detail it.
You just feel like you were there, you know? He’d describe the players, the way the dirt kicked up, the sun going down, all of it.
Somewhere, a football fan turned into a baseball fan. I’ll now regret not going to see his HOF induction forever, but I’ll also thank him for his part in turning me on to the most wonderful game ever.
Thank you Dave, and I hope you’re with us when we finally celebrate the one thing you wanted as much as us.
I’ve been a Mariners fan for most of my life. I’ve seen the occasional highs, and the frequent lows. I felt the elation of “the double”, and the dispair of 100 loss seasons. But, as a Mariners fan, I have never been as heartbroken as I am tonight.
R.I.P Dave.
Just got back from the store to buy a Haywire Hefeweizen, The beer I drink at Safco Field, toast to Dave and realized why I feel like a family member died. My father died when I was four so it was Dave that introduced me to and taught me about this game. So again Dave thanks for all the memories and I am glad that you never let a bad team dampen your spirits because you helps many more people get through the summer months then you will ever know.
My older brother and I grew up in Kamloops British Coloumbia in Canada. Our parents are from the Seattle area so natrually we were Mariner fans. Baseball news was hard to come by except via radio. Reception was poor on 710 being so far away so we spent many summer nights tenting so we could get better reception and hear the great Dave in the later innings. The first baseball memories I have are from the radio period in the 80s. Would we have done this if not for Dave?? I think not…thanks Dave. RIP
To steal the line from Bret “the Hit man” Hart
Dave Niehaus truly was in my mind “The best there is, The best there was, and The BEST there EVER will be!’
It’s just so damn unfair that Dave will never get a chance to call a Seattle World Series game. (Just as unfair as my father passing on three months before his Red Sox finally won it all.) And I still can’t imagine tuning in to broadcasts in seasons to come, and hear someone else described as “the voice of your Seattle Mariners.” Sorry, but not a chance.
Sad, sad day.
Thank you, sir, for those 5000+ days you devoted to making Mariners baseball a better experience.
And thank you for helping us make it through this last year. I only wish we could have sent you off on a higher note.
You’ll be missed. Both by the 10 year old who first heard you on opening day in 1977, and the 43 year old who feels a tad guilty for thinking you’d lost a little bit this past season. Both then and now, you were always the only voice I wanted to hear call the games. And I was always a little disappointed when I tuned in to either the radio or the tv broadcast when the “other guys” were on.
Opening day 2011 is going to be a very sentimental moment. If the M’s do it right, NOBODY will call the first pitch that day. Just silence, and the crack of the ball hitting either the mitt, or the bat. And after that they should immediately stop things and give that 1st pitch ball to Marilyn, your wife, to keep in your honor.
Farewell, sir.
My thoughts are a little long to post here, but I’ve written in my blog about how Dave helped my son fall in love with baseball:
http://bit.ly/94A3sF
Here in Seattle, we have had many ups and downs with respect to the Mariners. But one thing we could always depend on to be world-class was Dave Niehaus. No matter how the team was doing, you could depend on Dave to make the situation as enjoyable as possible.
One of my favorite moments this past season was hearing Dave’s description of Colomé’s struggle to throw a strike: “Watching him pitch is like watching a hen lay a dozen eggs all at once. It’s gotta hurt!”
This season was one of the worst that I’ve ever endured as a baseball fan. Yet, somehow Dave Niehaus was able to transform a moment of the tragedy of 2010 into comedy.
Rest with the angels, Dave.
Such a sad day. Whenever I watch a game, it is always Dave’s voice in my head. The way he dropped an octave with “That was low and outside”. The way he made every long fly exciting. And such a great laugh. I wouldn’t be an M’s fan if it wasn’t for Dave. It helps, a little, to see there is a community of people here who feel the same way.
I heard this news on the radio as I was driving home from the grocery store and had to immediately pull over. I found a little bar where I knew some diehard Mariners fans hang out, and we all raised a cold one to the greatest broadcaster this City will ever see.
If you look up my address on that Google Maps feature that lets you see a photo of any place you want to look up, you can see me hanging out on my front porch in my Adirondack chair, drinking a beer and listening to Dave Niehaus on the radio. And that’s what is so profoundly sad to me. I’ve just lost the great storyteller I spent the last 30+ years hanging out with on my front porch – a true friend, a grandfatherly presence. Summer will never be the same.
Dave Niehaus is really the only reason I still own a portable radio, which seems so outdated and anachronistic today. I guess I won’t be needing that anymore.
Goodbye, Dave. We’ll miss you terribly. I hope there is an afterlife, and that there is a broadcast booth waiting for you at a baseball stadium so beautiful that only Dave Niehaus can adequately describe it. Rest in peace, my friend. I’ll think of you often.
Beautifully said, Pete. I can think of nothing to add but
That can scarcely say it all, but it’s the best I can muster right now. One of the true greats, a man who knew the game, loved the team and the city, but never played the shameless “homer.” We’ve lost a treasure…
Ken Levine has a great piece also.
No question about that.
Though I couldn’t help being amused by this line in the ap orbituary:
Niehaus, who called the first pitch in Seattle Mariners history and described more than three decades of occasionally good and mostly bad baseball, …
It was the golden voice of Dave Niehaus that made this (then) youth fall in love with a very bad Mariners team some 23 years ago. I fell asleep to his play-by-play calls on late summer nights more times than I can remember. More than creating a love-affair for me with the Mariners, he helped create a love in me for the game. He was everything good about what baseball is to the fabric of America. You will be missed, Dave
I just created this Facebook page group to petition the city of Seattle to rename the section of 1st Ave. S. next to Safeco Field, between S. Royal Brougham Way and Edgar Martinez Blvd. on the south, Dave Niehaus Ave. in honor Dave.
Feel free to join if you like and pass it around!
GarForever reminded me of something else that I really appreciated about Neihaus. He loved the Mariners, but he was very fair in his commentary. If RRS was out there struggling to find the strike zone, Dave would say exactly that. If an opponent made an amazing play, Dave would sound almost as excited about it as if it were a Mariner. When the M’s got the benefit of a bad call – he’d say that too.
I’ve listened to other teams’ broadcasts on occasion, and that degree of even-handedness is very rare. I suspect it was the result of Dave’s great love and respect for the game itself.
This blog post by Ken Levine is well worth reading …
Farewell, Dave. I would not have become a baseball fan without you.
Here’s a shot that brought tears to my eyes… (Not the greatest photo, but definitely does the job).
Hallowed Ground
Hall of Famer says it all. My heartfelt sympathy to the Niehaus family, I hope they throw out the first pitch this year. And my condolences to Rick Rizzs and Kevin Cremin for their loss too. I can’t imagine the first day back in the booth for them.
These past 34 seasons, no matter how lonely I ever got, no matter how crummy a day I might have had, no matter what loss I might have suffered or affliction I might’ve endured, I always had the radio and Dave to fill up the space and reassure me that every day was a brand new game. Hope is what the Voice of Summer created so well.
Westside guy — thanks so much for the link to Caple’s piece. That was poetic.