Home » Sports » Seattle Mariners » Old Friends

Old Friends

© C. A. Wright

Of the forty players on the Mariner's roster only 18 were on the team a year ago. (1) Will this upset the Chemistry of the clubhouse? Not likely. Several of the new players are old friends of at least one returnee from last year's team.

The first big acquisition, Catcher Ben Davis, was a Padres teammate of Bret Boone. When Boone walked into the clubhouse at the beginning of spring training he made him feel right at home. "How did you get to be on Boone's team again?" he kidded. [The Herald, "Boone Returns..."18 Feb, 02] (2) Davis also played in the minors with reserve catcher, Blake Barthol.(3)

Jeff Cirillo, the new third baseman, is another friend of Boone. They go back to their college days when they were teammates for three years at Southern Cal. Since Jeff already lived in Seattle during the off season, he is right at home here. (4)

It is not a prerequisite to have known Boone to be on the team of course. Starting Pitcher James Baldwin is a good friend of Mike Cameron. They were in the minors together in the White Sox organization. It may not be easy for him to make other friends right away because he is quiet in the clubhouse, but he wants to let his pitching speak volumes. (5)

Shigetoshi Hasegawa was on the Orix Blue Wave with Ichiro when they won the Japanese Series Championship in 1996. He wasn't a big star like Ichiro but he is a good pitcher. Ichiro got a hit off of him in their first meeting last season, but then Ichiro got a hit off of a lot of pitchers last season. Hasegawa is a great kidder and will help keep things light. He may even help Ichiro and Kazuhiro Sasaki, who he also knew, to improve their English. (6)

Left fielder Ruben Sierra played against Edgar Martinez in the mid 80's in the minor leagues and they have been longtime friends. Edgar says he is "a presence the team needs."[The Herald, "Ruben Sierra's Comeback", 26 Feb, 02] He is a power hitter from both sides of the plate. If he can match his numbers of last year in Texas, he will be an especially welcome presence in the lineup. (7)

The Mariner's third base coach, Dave Meyers, managed new trade acquisition Desi Relaford for three minor-league seasons in the early 90's. He is coming off his best major league season, and according to Meyers, is versatile enough to play infield or outfield. (8),(9) He should also be versatile enough to fit in with the team.