Let’s remember when Dave Niehaus was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, on this day in 2008 (July 27)
The nostalgia and goodwill that we saw in Seattle last weekend when legendary Mariner Edgar Martinez was finally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame need not wind down, as there’s another reason to keep the Seattle baseball good vibes coming, regardless of what the Mariners do on the field.
On July 27, 2008, Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus (1935–2010) receives the Ford C. Frick Award in a ceremony at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The award, given annually for excellence in broadcasting, comes midway through his 32nd season with the team. It earns him a permanent place in the Hall’s “Scribes and Mikemen” area and represents the high point of a career during which Niehaus achieved extraordinary popularity as the voice of the Mariners.
Niehaus was the original play-by-play announcer for the Mariners. He was a member of the California Angels broadcast team when the Mariners hired him late in 1976, prior to their inaugural season. Since then he had broadcast nearly every game the team had played. He was known for his trademark phrases — such as “It will fly away!” for home runs and “My oh my!” for spectacular plays — and the ability to switch smoothly from low-key to high-energy, depending on the drama of the moment. His description of the double that Edgar Martinez hit in 1995 to win the team’s first playoff series became part of team lore, and the recording was played at games for years afterward. Niehaus was so popular that he was chosen to throw the ceremonial first pitch when Safeco Field, the Mariners’ new $425-million stadium, opened in 1999. By 2008, after 31 seasons, he was the beloved face as well as the voice of the franchise.
On February 19, 2008, his 73rd birthday, Niehaus was at home in Issaquah when he got a phone call informing him that he would be that year’s winner of the Ford C. Frick Award for outstanding broadcasting. It meant his picture and name would go into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “It’s the most humbling experience, without a doubt, I’ve had in my life,” he said that day. “It’s the biggest thrill in my life. For us in the broadcasting business, it’s our Oscar.”
The award had been instituted in 1978. Niehaus was its 32nd recipient and the first person, player or otherwise, who had spent the bulk of his career in Seattle to make the Hall of Fame. As a Frick Award winner, his picture and description would be added to the Hall’s “Scribes and Mikemen” area.
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