Former Seattle Mariners Join 'The Payoff Pitch' at the Hall of Fame Classic
This past Saturday, I had an opportunity to cover the Baseball Hall of Fame Classic in Cooperstown, N.Y.
This event happens every year and brings several prominent former big leaguers to Doubleday Field to play a game in front of the fans, and their families.
As a Seattle Mariners fan, I took the chance to go and speak to all the guys that were playing that had former Mariners ties.
Each interview is between :30-2:00 long, so they are easy to listen to and digest.
Listen and enjoy some Mariners nostaliga:
1) Brian Fuentes - while Fuentes is most known as a Colorado Rockies relief ace, he made his major league debut with the 2001 Mariners. He pitched in 10 games for Seattle this year and went on to pitch in 650 career games in total. He was a four-time All-Star and led the league in saves during the 2009 season.
He talked about making his major league debut and the pressure of joining a team that was in the process of winning 116 games.
2) Brendan Ryan -- He spent 10 years in the big leagues with the Cardinals, Mariners, Yankees and Angels (2.5 with the M's).
He talked about joining the Mariners at the age of 29 and where the team was at in terms of its development. He also talked about playing defense behind Felix Hernandez for his perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Plus, he told a hysterical story about being traded at the Hall of Fame Classic.
3) Jeff Cirillo -- He was a 14-year veteran with the Rockies, Brewers, Mariners, Padres, Twins and Diamondbacks, having spent two years in Seattle.
He talked about the pressure of joining the Mariners in the 2002 season, right after the 2001 history-making season. Ironically, he was traded for Fuentes, who we spoke to above.
4) Matt Thornton -- Finally, I caught up with the lefty reliever who made his debut with the Mariners in 2004. He pitched in 74 games with the M's over two seasons before becoming an All-Star with the White Sox. He spent parts of eight years with the White Sox and talked about what clicked for him in Chicago vs. Seattle.
He pitched in a career-high 74 games in 2012 with the White Sox and also went onto play for the Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals and Padres.
All in all, it was a great day on the field at Cooperstown. Ironically enough, no players actually representing the Mariners were there. Thornton represented the White Sox, Cirillo represented the Brewers, Fuentes represented the Rockies and Ryan represented the Yankees.
In the two previous Hall of Fame Classics that I went to, the M's were represented by Eddie Guardado and Desi Relaford.
The modern-day Mariners are currently 29-27 and will travel to Texas for a huge road trip beginning on Friday night. They'll also take on the Padres and Angels over the course of the trip.
They enter Friday's game against Texas at 6.5 back in the AL West.
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