How three Mariners Hall of Famers and an improbable run saved baseball in Seattle
In 1995, the future of Seattle Mariners baseball managed to look bright and bleak at the same time.
Inside the white lines, a loaded roster featuring three future Hall of Famers in Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez, along with up and comer Alex Rodriguez, brought electricity and hope to a franchise that had never tasted the postseason.
Outside those lines though was nothing but uncertainty. The league was coming off an eight-month strike. The Kingdome was deteriorating and the search for a new ballpark was leading nowhere. A proposal for a new baseball-only stadium failed in September, fueling the belief that the Mariners would be playing the 1996 season in a new city.
So how did the Mariners and Major League Baseball end up surviving in Seattle?
That's the story that will be told in "MLB Network Presents: The 1995 Mariners, Saving Baseball in Seattle." The documentary style film will premiere on Sunday, July 7 at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT on MLB Network.
The one-hour program details the most critical stretch in Mariners franchise history. From the moment the Kingdome was shut down for repairs in 1994, forcing Seattle to finish the strike-shortened season on the road, to the dramatic two-month surge that brought the city together and ignited a new passion for baseball in the summer and fall of 1995.
But to properly tell the story of success, it also lays the foundation on what led to fan apathy in the northwest.
In nearly two decades, the Mariners had only produced two winning seasons and had never finished above third place in the AL West standings. In fact, the franchise had never played a truly meaningful September game before 1995. The process that brought it all together, and the serendipitous timing, form a magical story that’s told through those who lived it.
Hall of Fame trio changes the game
Every winning team needs a strong foundation.
The Seattle Mariners foundation was formed in 1989, and it had Hall of Fame written all over it.
Throughout the 80s, attendance in Seattle threatened to reach Miami Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays levels. That all changed when Ken Griffey Jr. debuted on April 3.
Griffey’s sweet swing and flair for the spectacular forced people to pay attention. He became an attraction and the face the franchise desperately needed.
Later that season, Edgar Martinez was given his first extended MLB playing time and Randy Johnson was brought over in a trade from the Montreal Expos.
Success wasn’t immediate. Other key pieces of the puzzle were added along the way. The most important being the hiring of manager Lou Piniella in 1993. But the fingerprints of Griffey, Johnson and Martinez were all over every signature moment that built the bridge from irrelevance to jubilation.
The documentary delves into the impact each player had and how they collectively willed Seattle to success.
It felt like the movie 'Major League'
That's how Alex Rodriguez, who was a 19-year-old rookie in 1995, described the season’s final two months.
Like the fictional Indians, they were a franchise known for losing that needed to make an improbable run to save their season and baseball in Seattle. And there were numerous hurdles to overcome.
Griffey had missed half the season with a broken wrist, and with only 55 games remaining they were 13 games behind the Angels.
Yet they managed to rewrite history.
This documentary allows us to relive the entire run, through their classic tiebreaker against the Angels and ALDS comeback against the New York Yankees, to the moment the future Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) was approved during the ALCS. And it’s all told through the experiences of Griffey, Johnson and Martinez, along with other memorable Mariners mainstays, like Jay Buhner, Tino Martinez and Dan Wilson.
The Mariners rallying cry then was "refuse to lose."
The documentary, which was narrated by Seattle native and Grammy award-winning artist Macklemore, focuses on the tagline "not all victories are created equal." Because they weren't for the 1995 Mariners.
Why you should watch
Everybody loves a good underdog story with a happy ending.
Though they fell to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS, the 1995 Mariners authored a classic tale that baseball fans lived with them, and can relive now through their memories.
You don't have to be a Mariners fan to feel the goosebumps all over again. Watch along and be reminded why there's nothing better than baseball at its most unpredictable, chaotic and joy-filled best.
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