February 17, 2025 • 18 mins
Seattle Mariners President Kevin Martinez joins Dave Softy Mahler to talk about his long background before becoming President, the future of Root Sports and viewing the team, retiring numbers, Ichiro as a person and his year ahead, and possible ballpark changes.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our annual President's Day Show continues here from the Ameral
Queen Casino. Big thanks to our pal Chuck Arnold from
the Seahawks for joining us on the radio show, but
joining us right now his first time on the air
with us in the official capacity as President of Business Operations.
Longtime Mariner marketing wizard turned president Kevin Martinez joining us
(00:22):
right now on our annual President's Day Show.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Kevin, how are you, Dolci.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm doing great. How are you doing? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, thank you for doing it, first of all, and
second of all, congrats on the promotion.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
This is the first time that you and I have
spoken on the air since you became the President of
Business Operations, and I think a lot of people in
the industry. Obviously our listeners know the name Kevin Martinez,
but they know you as the as the marketing wizard
of the Mariners. You've been there for a long long time.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
What are you?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
First of all, for people that don't know, talk about yourself,
how long you've been with the organization and what your
history is with the franchise.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Sure well, thank you all. Started many moons ago in
nineteen nineties offtee when I moved to Seattle from New
York City, and you know, you think back to then,
it was an incredible time to start with the organization.
You had these wonderfully talented young players named ten Griffey Junior,
Jay Buner, Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, you know, and it
(01:19):
was really a fantastic environment for creativity. And through those years,
I worked my way up through the organization, as you said,
marketing and then communications and broadcasting. You know, I've always
loved the organization, but I really fell in love with
the city of Seattle, you know, and like you, Softie,
(01:44):
you know, we've dedicated ourselves to our respective organizations. I mean,
how long have you been a KJR now?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thirty years? It started four years after you showed up
at the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
How about that, Yeah, I mean I remember you. I
mean like it was yesterday. I mean, it just showed
you how time flies. In the Kingdom. You'd have this
set up behind home plate, you'd be getting interviews with
Mariner players and visiting players. You know, we're both really
truly if we paused for a moment, blessed to have
worked in this incredible city for a long time. We
(02:14):
get to do something we love both working jobs where
you bring community together in a positive manner that's pretty powerful,
you know. And working at the Mariners for me, has
always been that opportunity for me to blend my love
of the game of baseball, which was a huge part
of my family dynamic growing up, and to blend that
passion with the opportunity to build and unite community, you know,
(02:37):
truly a blessing. And again for me, you know, I've
been here thirty five years now. Seattle is certainly home
for me, but it's this incredible sports town that I
don't feel gets enough credit nationally because we're tucked up
here in the upper left corner of the country. But
you know, Seattle sports fans exhibit it across all sports
(02:59):
how great they are. So I'm incredibly grateful for this,
this new opportunity and for the trust and have loved
every minute of it in the five months i've been
been well.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Kevin Martinez again, the president of Business ops for the MS,
is with us on our President's Day show and look,
I'll tell you what, buddy, it's a hell of a
time to be taken over this gig because of how
much the sport from a business perspective is constantly evolving.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I mean, maybe not you know, evolving.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
As fast as college sports, but it certainly is evolving.
And I think the biggest question from a business perspective
that people have about the franchise is what is the
future of television?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
What is the future of root sports? And let's just
start there.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
There's been some rumblings that this might be the last
year for the Mariners on Root Sports. Give the audience,
give us an idea of what the future of the
Mariners on Root sports looks like.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, well, you know, the media landscape, as you well know,
has changed dramatically. You know, I don't. I don't necessarily
think this is the last year for roots sports, but
the regional sports network model, which is provided meaningful revenues
for baseball teams do. It's dramatically change and doing large
parts because people's viewing habits have changed, right. But you know,
(04:13):
our goal is to make sure people can watch our
games how they want to watch them, and we're working
on that. You know, we're taking and you and I've
talked about this. We're taking a new approach of this
spring training. You and I have talked about getting more
spring training games on and you'll be happy to hear this.
We're gonna this year make more spring training games available
than ever before to fans. We'll be producing eight spring
(04:37):
training webcasts on Mariners dot Com, so people can just
log onto Mariners dot com. They're going to be able
to watch eight of our games through that vehicle. And
then plus we'll have seven more games on Root Sports,
so fans will be able to watch more than half
of our our spring training games played down in the
Cactus League. And with so many emerging young players on
(05:01):
you know, our farm system ranked number one, I think
that will be of great interest. So yeah, it's a
changing landscape and we spend an awful lot of time
of working on that and what the future will bring.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So there are some franchises that are starting to launch
these apps right where you can sign up and you
pay one hundred bucks a year or whatever get all
the games on an app. I recently Kevin made the
switch from Comcast to Fubo, and I gotta be honest
with you, I love it. I mean I'm just getting
into an ab at now of getting everything I.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Need off an app. If it's not on Fubo, I
go to HBO.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
If it's not on HBO, I'll go over to Amazon
app or whatever. So I think people are gradually kind
of getting used to the idea of being a lot,
you know, being able to log onto a Amazon Firestick,
Roku stick, whatever and go to their app and get
what they're looking for. Is there a chance that we
could see the ball club do something like that where
I would literally log onto my TV, go to a
(05:55):
Mariner's app and watch the games that way for a
fee every year.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, We're we're working really hard on that, Softie, and
like I said, you know, that's the key. We want
to get our games to our fans the way they
want to watch it. You know, many of our fans
prefer traditional linear delivery of our games, but as you
as you you just made that that switch. There are
fans who would prefer our games to be streamed and
we aren't quite there yet, but rest assured, we're working
(06:21):
really hard on the streaming solution. A lot of layers
to getting that done, but it's certainly on our radar
and you know, more to come.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, Kevin Martinez with us and Kevin, we all know
that there's there's passion for this.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Team no matter what.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Right I mean, I've always said I'd rather have people
be be angry and upset and engaged than be apathetic.
And when the team wins, people are fired up. When
they don't win, people are fired up, right either way.
So there's always going to be passion for this franchise,
which I assume that you love no matter what. But
when you hear criticism, when you hear people complain about
(06:57):
the payroll and criticize the ownership group and criticize the
front office, just give people idea of of of what
your reaction would be to common criticisms that I'm sure
you guys here all the time in the business like
everybody else does.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, you know, we haven't gotten it done on the field,
that's the bottom line, and we're we're frustrated to stopping.
We've been incredibly close, but you know, close doesn't count.
And as I said earlier, this is an incredible sports
down and the fans across all sports are they're they're amazing,
(07:34):
and you know, but I truly believe in in in
the people here. I see it every day. It's great.
I I like to get to the ballpark early in
this off season arriving in the parking lot and seeing
the first car there being Dan Wilson and stopped him
(07:56):
by his office on the way to mine and just seeing,
you know, how enthusiastic he is and how intense he is.
You know Dan, you know Dan a long time. He
might be the kindest uh person of the planet. He's
just such a good human being. But he's he's a winner,
and he's a competitor and he he was he kind
(08:19):
of came up through this game under lou Ponela. So
he's got that fire. He just doesn't express it the
same way, but but he's got it. And you know,
the players, we've gotten that clubhouse, you know, being down
here and seeing how many players are already here early, uh,
the whole squad here, you know, but we got to
go out and we got to do it. I get that.
(08:41):
But you know, I just say, please keep that that
passion going because it's going to get rewarded. And Softy,
you and I we will we will be uh, we'll
be dancing in the streets and Soto and International District
and Pioneer Square one day, celebrating that championship. I truly believe.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well, yeah, and I hope so. And by the way,
if it does happen, there's gonna be a lot more
than dancing going on. I can tell you that right now.
I mean you can, I know you, yeah, you can envision.
And I love the way that you describe Dan Wilson
because I agree that, you know, Dan's kind of a
silent assassin. I mean he may not have that you know,
outgoing amazing in your face like lou was personality, but
(09:21):
he's not a pushover at all. But Kevin Martinez is
with us on our President's Day show here, the branding
president of Business Ops for the m has been with
a team since nineteen ninety. And look, there's a lot
going on this summer, each hero in the Hall of Fame,
Eachiro getting his number retired. Let's first of all, talk
about if you can share with people the process for
(09:42):
retiring a number. We've all wondered kind of what the
standards are, how that process works, talk about kind of
what goes on behind the scenes to get.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
To that point.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Well, you know, it's actually it's all stated. You probably
have a Mariner's the information guy. You can reference it
on page one seventy. It's all there in black and
White the guidelines and essentially stuff the player had to
be active in a Mariner's uniform for a substantial a
meaningful portion of their Mariner career and made significant contributions
(10:18):
to Mariners Baseball in the franchise. And the players should
have either been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame,
and I said meaningful portion of the career. To get
the number retired, you have to be a Mariner for
at least five years and either get elected in the
National Hall of Baseball Hall of Fame or come close
(10:40):
to election. You know, I think players need seventy five
percent of the vote to get into the Hall of Fame,
so you'd have to have a meaningful portion of their vote.
And once that happens, a recommendation is made to the
Mariner's Board of Directors and then they have the ultimate phip.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Gotcha, what are your experiences with each Yiro?
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You know, we don't we don't know him as well
as we do maybe other players that have come through here.
You got a quick sixty second anecdote you can share
about him?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
All right, I'll try to make this quick and you know,
working with him, getting to know each row really has
been one of the true joys of my career. And
I've got a long list of stories, so maybe this
summer we can we can talk about it. But I'll
tell you that the first one, which just showed me
his sense of humor right off the jump. It was
(11:32):
January of two thousand and one, was the first time
I met him. He was arriving in Seattle, and the
organization asked me to go to the airport and welcome
each Row and his wife when they arrived in Seattle,
and show them around Seattle and get them settled in
their hotel because they were going to look at homes
and get settled before spring training. Right, So I go
(11:56):
to the airport. We've got ted Hyde with me, who's
was our international scout. He spoke Japanese, and you know
there's media everywhere, right, you know, there's so much interest
in Japan of this first position player coming to you know,
coming to play Major League Baseball. So meeting Turo, we
(12:17):
get into the car, we go to the hotel and
media is following everywhere. So as we're walking to the
front desk, I say to each year. I look at
him and I'm say in English, Hey, would you like
the room to be under an alias, right, and so
Ted Hyde translates it, and each hero looks at me.
(12:39):
I mean, just this huge smile, and his first words
in English to me were, Brad, I was I didn't
see it coming. I was floored. I'm laughing, you know,
belly laughs. He's got a huge lab in the love
he's died, and he loved the question and then the
(13:03):
answer just on the dime you dropped Brad Pitt. And
it was really really special because on the day he
got announced it to be inducted in the Hall of Fame,
we did a little pressure here at the ballpark and
we were waiting to go into the room and I
recall that story with him and we both had a
(13:25):
shared laugh. Again. Wow, it was a great moment. But
you know, there's there's a ton of him. I again,
working with the team, you get access and moments that
are pretty pretty special. And yeah, just I mean, one
of the most dedicated the work ethic amazing, but the
(13:46):
sense of humor. I don't know if it's really ever
come out to as much publicly, but man, just just wonderful. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
We saw that in his Mariner Hall of Fame induction
speech when he spoke in English, which was a powerful
thing for a lot of people. And I'm hoping he
does his Cooper's town speech as well in good Good.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I love that well.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Kevin Martinez again, President Business Ops for the EMS. Kevin
got about five more minutes here with you on the air.
And there's been a lot of conversation. One thing each
hero no longer has to deal with is that stupid
marine layer, right, or the or the batter's eye. So
there's been a lot of talk about the ballpark and
how hard it is to hit in the ballpark. The
fences were moved in a while back, I think about
(14:30):
ten years ago. You guys tinkered with that. How much
conversation is there behind the scenes over there about what
to do to make this a more hitter friendly stadium?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah, I mean there, And you know I'm not necessarily
a part of all those conversations. That's really, you know,
a better question for baseball. Yeah, but yeah, I do know.
I do know there are a lot of conversations going on.
In fact, I walked by a meeting room a couple
of weeks ago and that that indeed was the topic.
(14:59):
You know, It's funny and we talk about this too
here and perhaps you've talked about it on the air
staff the you know, we won forty nine games last
year at home, right, we had the second best home
record in the American League, the second best home mark
in the AL in twenty twenty three. And despite that, right,
because very pitching centric ball club, there are those discussions
(15:23):
going on everything from the angle to the color of
the batter's eye. So yeah, it's lots of ongoing dialogue.
So you know, we'll see, we'll see if it changes.
But you talk about winning games and then you've got
these these stats that support that, so it's a fascinating
topic of dialogue.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Well, keV, before you go, people always want to know
what's happening with the concessions. I frankly need more mister
Softy soft Serf stands. It's the absolute best soft serf
I've ever had in my life, and not just because
it's called mister Softy. I first had it back on
the East Coast when I was about ten years old,
and it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You know the krack and have it. You guys have it.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
So the more mister Softie stands we can provide for fans.
I'm a fan of but give us in the final
minute and a half here or so, just some thoughts
on changes to t Mobile Park starting this year.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah yeah, well, you know, mister Softee is also one
of the greatest theme songs of any ice cream truck
in the history, no question, question. Yeah. You know, the
folks that work on our food and beverage program, they're
so good at what they do, and they love what
they do. And that's the thing that I always love
to see in anybody who does their work is how
(16:38):
much love they bring to it, enjoy they get out
of it. And you know, the Mobile Park food and
Beverage is always ranked. You can see that all the time,
is the best in baseball. But they did some tastings
here a couple of weeks ago. There's a new risk
It sandwich coming this year, which is just killer. For
the first time in ballpark history. There's a Cherryochi bowl
(17:00):
that people were going crazy over. Pulled pork sliders are
coming this season. Back when he played, Eachie Row was
notorious for eating chicken wings before and after a game
or after a game, and so we're bringing itchy wings
to the ballpark in honor of the Hall of Famer
and you talk about ice cream and I haven't seen these,
(17:21):
but people are talking about them ice cream nachos, so
get ready for those as well. But lots of creativity.
The Value Beer program is back and better than ever,
so they'll be the food prety was coming out in
a couple of weeks offee, and that's that's always great.
You'll get you'll see everything on all the social media
and hopefully you can come down and and and uh
(17:43):
and sample some of the new things. But yeah, we're
we're excited about that. That's always a fun part of
each season to roll out those those new food items.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
All right, man, go get him this year. Congrats on
the new gig. Happy for you and we will talk
down the road. Man, appreciate this pal.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
All right, sounds good, Thank you, thanks for having me,
and we'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Good stuff man. Kevin Martinez, the brand new president of
Business Operations for your Seattle Mariners, joining us right here
on our President's Day show from the Emerald Queen.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
When we come back.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
The outgoing president at UDUB got about five more months
on the job, but first she talks to us Anamara,
cause President at Washington will join next on ninety three
to three KJRFM.
Our annual President's Day Show continues here from the Ameral
Queen Casino. Big thanks to our pal Chuck Arnold from
the Seahawks for joining us on the radio show, but
joining us right now his first time on the air
with us in the official capacity as President of Business Operations.
Longtime Mariner marketing wizard turned president Kevin Martinez joining us
(00:22):
right now on our annual President's Day Show.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Kevin, how are you, Dolci.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
I'm doing great. How are you doing? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Well, thank you for doing it, first of all, and
second of all, congrats on the promotion.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
This is the first time that you and I have
spoken on the air since you became the President of
Business Operations, and I think a lot of people in
the industry. Obviously our listeners know the name Kevin Martinez,
but they know you as the as the marketing wizard
of the Mariners. You've been there for a long long time.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
What are you?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
First of all, for people that don't know, talk about yourself,
how long you've been with the organization and what your
history is with the franchise.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Sure well, thank you all. Started many moons ago in
nineteen nineties offtee when I moved to Seattle from New
York City, and you know, you think back to then,
it was an incredible time to start with the organization.
You had these wonderfully talented young players named ten Griffey Junior,
Jay Buner, Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, you know, and it
(01:19):
was really a fantastic environment for creativity. And through those years,
I worked my way up through the organization, as you said,
marketing and then communications and broadcasting. You know, I've always
loved the organization, but I really fell in love with
the city of Seattle, you know, and like you, Softie,
(01:44):
you know, we've dedicated ourselves to our respective organizations. I mean,
how long have you been a KJR now?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thirty years? It started four years after you showed up
at the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
How about that, Yeah, I mean I remember you. I
mean like it was yesterday. I mean, it just showed
you how time flies. In the Kingdom. You'd have this
set up behind home plate, you'd be getting interviews with
Mariner players and visiting players. You know, we're both really
truly if we paused for a moment, blessed to have
worked in this incredible city for a long time. We
(02:14):
get to do something we love both working jobs where
you bring community together in a positive manner that's pretty powerful,
you know. And working at the Mariners for me, has
always been that opportunity for me to blend my love
of the game of baseball, which was a huge part
of my family dynamic growing up, and to blend that
passion with the opportunity to build and unite community, you know,
(02:37):
truly a blessing. And again for me, you know, I've
been here thirty five years now. Seattle is certainly home
for me, but it's this incredible sports town that I
don't feel gets enough credit nationally because we're tucked up
here in the upper left corner of the country. But
you know, Seattle sports fans exhibit it across all sports
(02:59):
how great they are. So I'm incredibly grateful for this,
this new opportunity and for the trust and have loved
every minute of it in the five months i've been
been well.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Kevin Martinez again, the president of Business ops for the MS,
is with us on our President's Day show and look,
I'll tell you what, buddy, it's a hell of a
time to be taken over this gig because of how
much the sport from a business perspective is constantly evolving.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I mean, maybe not you know, evolving.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
As fast as college sports, but it certainly is evolving.
And I think the biggest question from a business perspective
that people have about the franchise is what is the
future of television?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
What is the future of root sports? And let's just
start there.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
There's been some rumblings that this might be the last
year for the Mariners on Root Sports. Give the audience,
give us an idea of what the future of the
Mariners on Root sports looks like.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, well, you know, the media landscape, as you well know,
has changed dramatically. You know, I don't. I don't necessarily
think this is the last year for roots sports, but
the regional sports network model, which is provided meaningful revenues
for baseball teams do. It's dramatically change and doing large
parts because people's viewing habits have changed, right. But you know,
(04:13):
our goal is to make sure people can watch our
games how they want to watch them, and we're working
on that. You know, we're taking and you and I've
talked about this. We're taking a new approach of this
spring training. You and I have talked about getting more
spring training games on and you'll be happy to hear this.
We're gonna this year make more spring training games available
than ever before to fans. We'll be producing eight spring
(04:37):
training webcasts on Mariners dot Com, so people can just
log onto Mariners dot com. They're going to be able
to watch eight of our games through that vehicle. And
then plus we'll have seven more games on Root Sports,
so fans will be able to watch more than half
of our our spring training games played down in the
Cactus League. And with so many emerging young players on
(05:01):
you know, our farm system ranked number one, I think
that will be of great interest. So yeah, it's a
changing landscape and we spend an awful lot of time
of working on that and what the future will bring.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
So there are some franchises that are starting to launch
these apps right where you can sign up and you
pay one hundred bucks a year or whatever get all
the games on an app. I recently Kevin made the
switch from Comcast to Fubo, and I gotta be honest
with you, I love it. I mean I'm just getting
into an ab at now of getting everything I.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Need off an app. If it's not on Fubo, I
go to HBO.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
If it's not on HBO, I'll go over to Amazon
app or whatever. So I think people are gradually kind
of getting used to the idea of being a lot,
you know, being able to log onto a Amazon Firestick,
Roku stick, whatever and go to their app and get
what they're looking for. Is there a chance that we
could see the ball club do something like that where
I would literally log onto my TV, go to a
(05:55):
Mariner's app and watch the games that way for a
fee every year.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, We're we're working really hard on that, Softie, and
like I said, you know, that's the key. We want
to get our games to our fans the way they
want to watch it. You know, many of our fans
prefer traditional linear delivery of our games, but as you
as you you just made that that switch. There are
fans who would prefer our games to be streamed and
we aren't quite there yet, but rest assured, we're working
(06:21):
really hard on the streaming solution. A lot of layers
to getting that done, but it's certainly on our radar
and you know, more to come.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, Kevin Martinez with us and Kevin, we all know
that there's there's passion for this.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Team no matter what.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Right I mean, I've always said I'd rather have people
be be angry and upset and engaged than be apathetic.
And when the team wins, people are fired up. When
they don't win, people are fired up, right either way.
So there's always going to be passion for this franchise,
which I assume that you love no matter what. But
when you hear criticism, when you hear people complain about
(06:57):
the payroll and criticize the ownership group and criticize the
front office, just give people idea of of of what
your reaction would be to common criticisms that I'm sure
you guys here all the time in the business like
everybody else does.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, you know, we haven't gotten it done on the field,
that's the bottom line, and we're we're frustrated to stopping.
We've been incredibly close, but you know, close doesn't count.
And as I said earlier, this is an incredible sports
down and the fans across all sports are they're they're amazing,
(07:34):
and you know, but I truly believe in in in
the people here. I see it every day. It's great.
I I like to get to the ballpark early in
this off season arriving in the parking lot and seeing
the first car there being Dan Wilson and stopped him
(07:56):
by his office on the way to mine and just seeing,
you know, how enthusiastic he is and how intense he is.
You know Dan, you know Dan a long time. He
might be the kindest uh person of the planet. He's
just such a good human being. But he's he's a winner,
and he's a competitor and he he was he kind
(08:19):
of came up through this game under lou Ponela. So
he's got that fire. He just doesn't express it the
same way, but but he's got it. And you know,
the players, we've gotten that clubhouse, you know, being down
here and seeing how many players are already here early, uh,
the whole squad here, you know, but we got to
go out and we got to do it. I get that.
(08:41):
But you know, I just say, please keep that that
passion going because it's going to get rewarded. And Softy,
you and I we will we will be uh, we'll
be dancing in the streets and Soto and International District
and Pioneer Square one day, celebrating that championship. I truly believe.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well, yeah, and I hope so. And by the way,
if it does happen, there's gonna be a lot more
than dancing going on. I can tell you that right now.
I mean you can, I know you, yeah, you can envision.
And I love the way that you describe Dan Wilson
because I agree that, you know, Dan's kind of a
silent assassin. I mean he may not have that you know,
outgoing amazing in your face like lou was personality, but
(09:21):
he's not a pushover at all. But Kevin Martinez is
with us on our President's Day show here, the branding
president of Business Ops for the m has been with
a team since nineteen ninety. And look, there's a lot
going on this summer, each hero in the Hall of Fame,
Eachiro getting his number retired. Let's first of all, talk
about if you can share with people the process for
(09:42):
retiring a number. We've all wondered kind of what the
standards are, how that process works, talk about kind of
what goes on behind the scenes to get.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
To that point.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Well, you know, it's actually it's all stated. You probably
have a Mariner's the information guy. You can reference it
on page one seventy. It's all there in black and
White the guidelines and essentially stuff the player had to
be active in a Mariner's uniform for a substantial a
meaningful portion of their Mariner career and made significant contributions
(10:18):
to Mariners Baseball in the franchise. And the players should
have either been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame,
and I said meaningful portion of the career. To get
the number retired, you have to be a Mariner for
at least five years and either get elected in the
National Hall of Baseball Hall of Fame or come close
(10:40):
to election. You know, I think players need seventy five
percent of the vote to get into the Hall of Fame,
so you'd have to have a meaningful portion of their vote.
And once that happens, a recommendation is made to the
Mariner's Board of Directors and then they have the ultimate phip.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Gotcha, what are your experiences with each Yiro?
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You know, we don't we don't know him as well
as we do maybe other players that have come through here.
You got a quick sixty second anecdote you can share
about him?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
All right, I'll try to make this quick and you know,
working with him, getting to know each row really has
been one of the true joys of my career. And
I've got a long list of stories, so maybe this
summer we can we can talk about it. But I'll
tell you that the first one, which just showed me
his sense of humor right off the jump. It was
(11:32):
January of two thousand and one, was the first time
I met him. He was arriving in Seattle, and the
organization asked me to go to the airport and welcome
each Row and his wife when they arrived in Seattle,
and show them around Seattle and get them settled in
their hotel because they were going to look at homes
and get settled before spring training. Right, So I go
(11:56):
to the airport. We've got ted Hyde with me, who's
was our international scout. He spoke Japanese, and you know
there's media everywhere, right, you know, there's so much interest
in Japan of this first position player coming to you know,
coming to play Major League Baseball. So meeting Turo, we
(12:17):
get into the car, we go to the hotel and
media is following everywhere. So as we're walking to the
front desk, I say to each year. I look at
him and I'm say in English, Hey, would you like
the room to be under an alias, right, and so
Ted Hyde translates it, and each hero looks at me.
(12:39):
I mean, just this huge smile, and his first words
in English to me were, Brad, I was I didn't
see it coming. I was floored. I'm laughing, you know,
belly laughs. He's got a huge lab in the love
he's died, and he loved the question and then the
(13:03):
answer just on the dime you dropped Brad Pitt. And
it was really really special because on the day he
got announced it to be inducted in the Hall of Fame,
we did a little pressure here at the ballpark and
we were waiting to go into the room and I
recall that story with him and we both had a
(13:25):
shared laugh. Again. Wow, it was a great moment. But
you know, there's there's a ton of him. I again,
working with the team, you get access and moments that
are pretty pretty special. And yeah, just I mean, one
of the most dedicated the work ethic amazing, but the
(13:46):
sense of humor. I don't know if it's really ever
come out to as much publicly, but man, just just wonderful. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
We saw that in his Mariner Hall of Fame induction
speech when he spoke in English, which was a powerful
thing for a lot of people. And I'm hoping he
does his Cooper's town speech as well in good Good.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
I love that well.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Kevin Martinez again, President Business Ops for the EMS. Kevin
got about five more minutes here with you on the air.
And there's been a lot of conversation. One thing each
hero no longer has to deal with is that stupid
marine layer, right, or the or the batter's eye. So
there's been a lot of talk about the ballpark and
how hard it is to hit in the ballpark. The
fences were moved in a while back, I think about
(14:30):
ten years ago. You guys tinkered with that. How much
conversation is there behind the scenes over there about what
to do to make this a more hitter friendly stadium?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah, I mean there, And you know I'm not necessarily
a part of all those conversations. That's really, you know,
a better question for baseball. Yeah, but yeah, I do know.
I do know there are a lot of conversations going on.
In fact, I walked by a meeting room a couple
of weeks ago and that that indeed was the topic.
(14:59):
You know, It's funny and we talk about this too
here and perhaps you've talked about it on the air
staff the you know, we won forty nine games last
year at home, right, we had the second best home
record in the American League, the second best home mark
in the AL in twenty twenty three. And despite that, right,
because very pitching centric ball club, there are those discussions
(15:23):
going on everything from the angle to the color of
the batter's eye. So yeah, it's lots of ongoing dialogue.
So you know, we'll see, we'll see if it changes.
But you talk about winning games and then you've got
these these stats that support that, so it's a fascinating
topic of dialogue.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Well, keV, before you go, people always want to know
what's happening with the concessions. I frankly need more mister
Softy soft Serf stands. It's the absolute best soft serf
I've ever had in my life, and not just because
it's called mister Softy. I first had it back on
the East Coast when I was about ten years old,
and it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
You know the krack and have it. You guys have it.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
So the more mister Softie stands we can provide for fans.
I'm a fan of but give us in the final
minute and a half here or so, just some thoughts
on changes to t Mobile Park starting this year.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah yeah, well, you know, mister Softee is also one
of the greatest theme songs of any ice cream truck
in the history, no question, question. Yeah. You know, the
folks that work on our food and beverage program, they're
so good at what they do, and they love what
they do. And that's the thing that I always love
to see in anybody who does their work is how
(16:38):
much love they bring to it, enjoy they get out
of it. And you know, the Mobile Park food and
Beverage is always ranked. You can see that all the time,
is the best in baseball. But they did some tastings
here a couple of weeks ago. There's a new risk
It sandwich coming this year, which is just killer. For
the first time in ballpark history. There's a Cherryochi bowl
(17:00):
that people were going crazy over. Pulled pork sliders are
coming this season. Back when he played, Eachie Row was
notorious for eating chicken wings before and after a game
or after a game, and so we're bringing itchy wings
to the ballpark in honor of the Hall of Famer
and you talk about ice cream and I haven't seen these,
(17:21):
but people are talking about them ice cream nachos, so
get ready for those as well. But lots of creativity.
The Value Beer program is back and better than ever,
so they'll be the food prety was coming out in
a couple of weeks offee, and that's that's always great.
You'll get you'll see everything on all the social media
and hopefully you can come down and and and uh
(17:43):
and sample some of the new things. But yeah, we're
we're excited about that. That's always a fun part of
each season to roll out those those new food items.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
All right, man, go get him this year. Congrats on
the new gig. Happy for you and we will talk
down the road. Man, appreciate this pal.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
All right, sounds good, Thank you, thanks for having me,
and we'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Good stuff man. Kevin Martinez, the brand new president of
Business Operations for your Seattle Mariners, joining us right here
on our President's Day show from the Emerald Queen.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
When we come back.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
The outgoing president at UDUB got about five more months
on the job, but first she talks to us Anamara,
cause President at Washington will join next on ninety three
to three KJRFM.
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