Longtime Seattle Mariners play-by-play announcer Dave Niehaus died of a heart attack at age 75 today. He had been the Mariners PBP voice since their inaugural season of 1977.

 

He was one of those announcers I loved to hear on the highlight reels.

 

"Swung on and belted! It will... FLY, FLY AWAY!"

 

 

RIP. My, oh my.

Damn, man. I loved hearing his home run calls.

 

May he rest peacefully.

 

 

RIP Dave Niehaus.

"Belted! And I MEAN BELTED!"

 

"Ichiro with something out of STAR WARS!" - On Ichiro's line drive throw

 

RIP Dave

Yeah, he was one of the good ones.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOWnLqjF40g

 

A little off topic, but I really think the Mariners were the most iconic team of the 90s.

A little off topic, but I really think the Mariners were the most iconic team of the 90s.

 

 

Elaborate a little bit on what you mean by iconic. When I think 90's, I think Yankees and Braves.

A little off topic, but I really think the Mariners were the most iconic team of the 90s.

 

 

Elaborate a little bit on what you mean by iconic. When I think 90's, I think Yankees and Braves.

Same here. Those were the teams of the 90's. The Mariners weren't even any good for the first half of the decade and only made the playoffs twice in the 90s.

Talking about cultural iconography.

 

Griffey was easily the most marketed player of the decade, which ushered in ton of Griffey merchandise and Mariners gear outside of Seattle. I was always astonished on how many people wore Mariners stuff despite not having any real ties to Seattle. Their color scheme was very much in line with the 90s fads, so I think that had a lot to do with it too. This was the era of Starter jackets and if people weren't wearing the home team, they were wearing the Mariners, not New York or Atlanta.

 

Of course Maddux and Glavine were big names but I don't think they had the pop culture presence that Griffey had. And the Yankees had no marketable players until Jeter and he didn't really have much of a presence until the very tail end of the decade.

Talking about cultural iconography.

 

Griffey was easily the most marketed player of the decade, which ushered in ton of Griffey merchandise and Mariners gear outside of Seattle. I was always astonished on how many people wore Mariners stuff despite not having any real ties to Seattle. Their color scheme was very much in line with the 90s fads, so I think that had a lot to do with it too. This was the era of Starter jackets and if people weren't wearing the home team, they were wearing the Mariners, not New York or Atlanta.

 

Of course Maddux and Glavine were big names but I don't think they had the pop culture presence that Griffey had. And the Yankees had no marketable players until Jeter and he didn't really have much of a presence until the very tail end of the decade.

 

For the sake of being on topic, I'm throwing another "my, oh my" into this.

 

You're right about that, but I think that's more Griffey than Seattle. I don't remember anyone talking much about the Mariners back then but everyone talked about The Kid.

 

My, oh my!

Yeah, I think that's more Griffey being the most iconic player of the decade than the M's being the most iconic team.