“There Goes Joy”

The Seattle Mariners lost their Voice yesterday. I know that line might sound cheesy, but it’s true. Dave Niehaus, one of the greatest baseball announcers of all time, died yesterday of a heart-attack.

Dave was the Voice of the Mariners since their inception in 1977. For me, this means that Dave was the voice that I listened to during every Mariners game for my entire life. I still get goosebumps listening to many of his calls (see the entire 1995 season), and it’s hard to imagine Mariners baseball without him. For those who have followed the Mariners or heard Dave call a game, you know what I’m talking about. And for those who never heard a Mariners game or a Niehaus call, I wish you could have.

One of the little “inside jokes” that Kate and I have is my emotion surrounding the 1995 Mariners season. She thinks it’s cute that I still get goosebumps hearing/seeing some of the clips from that season. She loves hearing me talk about it, but try as she might, she can’t experience what I experienced because she didn’t go through it like I did. My greatest sports memory ever happened that season, and they played that clip on the radio today while Kate was driving to the airport. Here’s the text I got from her…

“They just played Martinez’s double on the radio w Niehaus and I started to cry! :(“

Thanks for the memories, Dave.