Lifelong Mariners fan honored after 20 years of service
By Alex Coffey
When the Seattle Mariners, the Public Facilities District and architecture firm NBBJ met in late 1996, they had some important decisions to make. A funding package had recently been approved for a new facility to be built south of the Kingdome. But referring to Safeco Field as a “facility” seemed to be counterintuitive. Facilities are cold and unfamiliar — two things the ballpark at the intersection of Edgar and Dave was never meant to be.
From the start, the Mariners intended for Safeco Field to be more than a place to play games. They wanted it to be a destination that would become a baseball mecca for generations of families to come. What Wrigley is to Chicago, and what Fenway is to Boston, is what Safeco Field would be to Seattle.
Iconic ballparks are iconic because of their features. Wrigley has its ivy, and Fenway has its Monster. So what would Safeco Field have?
To answer that question, the Mariners went to David Eskenazi.
“Someone asked me for a quintessential Seattle baseball image to put on the stanchions,” Eskenazi recalled. “I immediately thought of a photograph of 18-year-old Fred Hutchinson, mid wind-up, while playing for the Seattle Rainiers. I told them it would be my number one choice.”
And that was the choice the team went with. To this day, Eskenazi’s image of Hutchinson graces the end of every northwest green row in Safeco Field, a proper ode to a Seattle sports icon. More than 20 years later, Eskenazi will receive an ode of his own, when he is recognized as the Mariners’ Fan of the Year this Friday. As the team’s go-to consultant on all things Seattle baseball history for more than two decades, the award was a long time coming.
“When I met Dave in the early 1990s, he was touted as an unmatched historian of Seattle baseball,” said Kevin Martinez, the Mariners SVP of Marketing and Communications. “We were looking to do a Turn Back the Clock game in 1993, and wanted to do a tribute to the Seattle Rainiers. In talking to people in the baseball community, they said ‘You have to talk to Dave Eskenazi.’”
A man whose life had been deeply intertwined with Seattle baseball long before the Mariners played their first game in the Kingdome, Eskenazi found the collaboration to be as natural as a ferry crossing Puget Sound.
“I’m a native, and have always been immersed in all things Seattle,” Eskenazi explained. “I used to go to Seattle Angels games, Seattle Pilots games. My grandfather was a big fan of the Pacific Coast League of the 20s, 30s and 40s, and owned a shoe repair shop (Eclipse Shoe Repair) on 7th and Union. He became friendly with a lot of the Seattle Rainiers players, because the players’ hotel was right across the street from his shop. That was how he developed relationships with guys like Fred Hutchinson and Eddie Taylor.”
For the uninitiated, Fred Hutchinson was essentially Seattle baseball royalty. He was scooped up by the Seattle Rainiers out of Franklin High School in 1938, pitched for the team for one year (going 25–7 to compliment a sparkling 2.48 ERA), and was purchased by the Detroit Tigers at the green age of 19. He spent ten seasons in the Motor City (missing four to military service), posting a 3.73 ERA for his career.
But what really solidified Hutchinson in Seattle baseball lore was what he did after his playing days were over.
“He essentially did the unthinkable,” Eskenazi said. “The Tigers tried to renew his managerial contract in 1955 for only a year, and he chose to return to Seattle to manage his hometown team (the Rainiers), who had finished fifth under Jerry Priddy the year before. They cobbled together a group of former MLB notables, like Vern Stephens and Lou Kretlow, and won the pennant.”
It would be Seattle’s second to last Pacific Coast League title, as the Angels went on to defeat the Tulsa Oilers in 1966. To this day, 1955 still seems to carry more weight, not only as a heartwarming underdog story, but one involving a hometown hero. If the Mariners were going to do a throwback night, Fred Hutchinson’s moment in the sun would be the place to start.
“They put me in charge of getting together all of the old players,” Eskenazi recalled. “We almost had the whole 1939 Rainiers pitching staff at the event. Paul Gregory came all the way from Mississippi. Hal Turpin, who lived in Oregon on a farm, was notorious for showing up at spring training, winning 20 games every year, and heading back to his farm without saying a word. He showed up, and got a standing ovation. Artie Wilson, the last black player to hit .400 in the Negro Leagues and the first black player on the Rainiers, sprinted out of the dugout.”
The Mariners won the game 6–3, Dan Wilson hit his first big league home run — in a Rainiers uniform — and a team tradition was set in stone. Seattle had found its historical resource.
“He gave us photos and information that we then used to create a scorecard that harkened back to the ones they used in Sicks Stadium,” said Martinez. “We sold them for a quarter or something like that. In getting to know him through that event, and seeing how passionate he was about the game of baseball, we kept him right by our side through the years. When we started moving into Safeco Field, he was really instrumental. Through Dave’s photo collection, we were able to basically decorate the ballpark.”
Martinez’s assessment is no exaggeration. Eskenazi’s collection can literally be seen all over Safeco; it just might not be blatantly apparent at first. Along Dave Niehaus Way, there are trees planted every couple of feet leading up to the statue of Ken Griffey Jr. The big metal grates surrounding those trees feature an image of a ballplayer, crouching down, waiting to field a play.
“That’s modeled from a 1907 Seattle Siwashes program cover,” Eskenazi answered instantaneously. “They just changed it from ‘1907’ to ‘1999,’ to commemorate when the ballpark opened.”
Grates and stanchions only scratch the surface. David helped the Mariners create their Hall of Fame, suggesting thematic ideas and loaning newspaper clippings, scorebooks, and artifacts ranging back to the 1880s. Above various concession stands, you can see tickets stubs, dating back to a time when it only cost $3.50 to get into Sicks Stadium, and souvenir buttons that refer to the Rainiers “Knothole Gang.”
Details like these might seem small, but they give Safeco Field its character. They are a subtle reminder of a Pacific Northwest baseball tradition, one that continues to this day.
“I remember hearing a lot of my grandfather’s old stories about the Seattle Rainiers,” Eskenazi said. “That was embedded in me early on, and was invigorated when the Seattle Mariners came to town. They have always recognized and wanted to pay tribute to our 125-year plus professional regional baseball history, even though it’s not major league baseball history. It’s not lip service. They really want to devote positive energy to it, and the sense of community that it builds and fosters.”
As the Mariners and Eskenazi continue their partnership, they build on a twenty-year foundation dedicated to honoring the past. If you have any doubts, look no further than the 18-year old pitcher who appears at the end of every row.
