Break Out The Rye Bread, Heaven.

November 10, 2010 5:55 PM

Dave Niehaus, the longtime play-by-play announcer for the Seattle Mariners, has passed away at the age of 75.

He was given the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball", in 2008. The voice of baseball for several generations of Pacific Northwest baseball fans, he made the worst baseball you've ever seen worth listening to.

posted by The Hamms Bear (35 comments total)

MY OH MY! Bye, bye, Dave.
posted by Feisty at 6:06 PM on November 10, 2010

Oh wow, that's a big loss for the team and city. He was the voice of my childhood summers. My favorite call of his was a split-squad spring training game in the early eighties, "That double play goes 6-4-3 if you're scoring at home, but I don't know why you would be". RIP Dave.
posted by vito90 at 6:14 PM on November 10, 2010

"Get out the rye bread and the mustard grandma! It's a graaaaand salami!"

Pretty much summarizes my childhood. He's been the best part of the Mariners for years. :)

Does anyone else remember his call when Junior rounded third in game 5 of the 1995 division series?
posted by Galen at 6:18 PM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]

OH NO!!!

Damn. He was a legend and amazing. I loved listening to him when I lived in Seattle. In 2001 during the 116 win season I always looked forward to listening every night.

.
posted by josher71 at 6:20 PM on November 10, 2010

I was just composing a similar post. Now I don't have to worry about too much editorializing or try to find more supporting links.

This one hits me hard. I grew up in Ohio listening to Joe Nuxhall and Marty Brennaman calling the Cincinnati Reds game on the radio. When I moved to Seattle in the early '90s I started listening to the Mariners games. My first reaction was, "Who is this guy? Why does he call the team the Mao-iners? Is this a joke?" But over the years I came to love listening to him on the radio. A genuine guy with a genuine love for the game of baseball and a genuine love of the Mariners. I count myself lucky to have experienced over two decades of listening to Dave Niehaus on the radio.

I always get a little verklempt when I hear his call on the video in this link, but I literally cried all the way home as they played his memorable calls on the sports radio station and reminisced about his fabulous career. I stopped at the grocery store to get some salami, rye bread and mustard, so I can pay tribute to Dave's great grand slam call by sharing sandwiches at the office tomorrow.

Rest in peace, Dave. As they were saying on the radio this evening, you always rose to the occasion and you managed to lead an entire city through many, many years of downright awful baseball and make it fun. It's a shame you never got to call a World Series, but the games you did call will always be a treasure. Harold Reynolds, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Alex Rodrigues, Ichiro, Lou Piniella... all great Mariners, but in my book the greatest Mariner of all time is Dave Niehaus.
posted by Balonious Assault at 6:22 PM on November 10, 2010 [7 favorites]

I stopped at the grocery store to get some salami, rye bread and mustard, so I can pay tribute to Dave's great grand slam call by sharing sandwiches at the office tomorrow.

I salute you. A great idea.
posted by josher71 at 6:24 PM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]

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posted by Jumpin Jack Flash at 6:29 PM on November 10, 2010

I remember him when he partnered with the great Dick Enberg broadcasting the Angels in the early '70s... that was one big shadow to work under, but sometimes, I liked his game calling better (sacrilege!) - he just seemed to be having more fun at the game, even though the Angels were a boring team at the time (their only real asset was pitcher Nolan Ryan who pitched no-hitters while his own team couldn't get on base). I'm waiting for TV's Only Successful Sitcom Writer/Sportscaster Ken Levine, who worked with him in Seattle, to write up what will be a definitive obit.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:34 PM on November 10, 2010

RIP, Dave. You are (were, sniff) one of the reasons I, despite all evidence suggesting I shouldn't, follow the mariners.
posted by maxwelton at 6:42 PM on November 10, 2010

Oh, no no no no. I am a Seattle transplant too and I have grown to love the Mariners as much as my own native Bosox. And Niehaus is the one, the only voice of the Ms for me. It breaks my heart to lose him. So glad he was recognized during his lifetime . . . it certainly thrilled him, and all of us fans, in 2008.

I'm dropping some tears with this memorial period.

.
posted by bearwife at 7:08 PM on November 10, 2010

There are some more great Niehaus calls and memories here and here. I'm still trying to find his call from the one-game playoff against the Angels in 1995, when Randy Johnson came out of the bullpen to close out the game and struck out the final batter. "Randy looks to the sky!... which is covered by the dome..." Damn, I'm going to miss him. I think his passing solidifies 2010 as the worst year ever for the Mariners.
posted by Balonious Assault at 7:16 PM on November 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Fly, fly away, Dave.
posted by jamjam at 7:19 PM on November 10, 2010 [5 favorites]

I spoke up in Bellingham in July. On the way back to Seattle I listened to the latter half of the Mariners game on one of those crystalline sort of Northwest nights -- clear sky and all. And as was the case with the 2010 Mariners, they weren't scoring any runs. This particular night, the problem in particular was terrible baserunning.

Late in the game, Mariners had Jose Lopez on first with one out in the bottom of the 9th. Milton Bradley comes up to pinch hit, and he's fighting and fighting for a good pitch. Finally, he gets one, but he doesn't get all of it, and he flies out to right. However, Jose Lopez, for whatever reason, wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him. RF throws ball in, doubles Lopez off first, inning over.

Niehaus at this point says "And yet AGAIN the Mariners come away without a run." And then he lets off the most sarcastic "MY OH MY" I've ever heard him do. It was so impressive and so beautiful I actually called my wife to see if she'd heard him do it, too.

So, yeah, the '95 run, the no-hitters, Ichiro throwing out Terrance Long, it's all great and optimistic mental picture painting. But in that moment, here was Dave Niehaus, Mariners fan, doing the exact thing EVERY Mariners fan has done for the last 34 seasons -- sigh, shrug your shoulders, and think this team will be the death of you.

That's what made him great. Not just being the soundtrack of the summer up here in the hinterlands, but that he'd sat through 34 years of misery punctuated by occasional bright moments that would be crushed under the weight of the reality of being a Mariners fan, and so yeah, he knows just how you feel, buddy. He wasn't Jack Buck's poetry or Ernie Harwell's careful diction or Vin Scully's cool California gravity. He was just The Voice Of The Beleaguered. Sisyphus with a golden voice, just wondering if Grandma had her rye bread and mustard on hand.

.
posted by dw at 8:08 PM on November 10, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'd really like to change the header to "Fly, fly away."
posted by The Hamms Bear at 8:29 PM on November 10, 2010

Wow, this has had a stronger effect on me than I would have expected. Goodbye Dave, thanks for all of the wonderful years.

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posted by calamari kid at 8:50 PM on November 10, 2010

.

I loved Dave. His was the voice of summer for me.
posted by prodigalsun at 8:58 PM on November 10, 2010

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posted by Superfrankenstein at 9:04 PM on November 10, 2010

Goodbye, Dave.

Listening to you call Mariners games in my kitchen is one of my earliest memories. 25 years later I still looked forward to hearing you each game. You will be missed.

.
posted by jz at 9:28 PM on November 10, 2010

I've watched the Seattle Mariners 1995 "My Oh My!" video more times than I could possibly count, and teared up during more of those viewings than I would care to admit, but my most indelible memory of Dave Niehaus is waking up to the 96 Seattle earthquake, my nine year old brain exploding in terror, and hearing a calm voice emanating from the radio in the living room. That voice will be sorely missed.

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posted by Dr. Christ at 9:52 PM on November 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

I was driving home one night after visiting my Father. We had just placed him in an assistance center as his health problems were too much for my mom to handle anymore. As I left I knew this would be the last stop for my dad, that he would never be returning from this place.

Dad and I had been watching the Mariners game together, he fell asleep in about the 8th inning, so I decided to head for home. After a little bit I decided to turn on the radio; the game was over but the post-game interview show was running.

Dave Niehaus was interviewing Mike Cameron who was then a new addition to the Seattle Mariners. Cameron had hit a crucial home run during the game and Niehaus was asking him about what he had been looking for etc. When the interview was over, Cameron sort of paused and then sheepishly asked if he could hear Dave's call of his home run. Mr. Niehaus complied, and after some fussing around technically, they replayed the call which was classic Niehaus.

After the call was over Mike Cameron and Mr. Niehaus just totally cracked up, a laugh full of life, like two kids on the sunniest summer day.

Driving in the near dark, I laughed, and thought of my dad showing me how to play the infield, a strawberry milkshake after a Saturday afternoon game.

My dad is gone now, but Dave Niehaus was that connecting voice.

Thank you Mr. Niehaus, and my most sincere condolences to the Niehaus family.

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posted by somnambulist at 10:32 PM on November 10, 2010 [3 favorites]

I was never a baseball fan growing up. But in 1995, fresh off of a totally shitty (and entirely predictable) young divorce, I found myself with jack shit on television other than the Mariners' improbable run and decided to give it a shot. And so I found myself watching the Angels one-off game where Randy came in late and was unexpectedly riveted, not only because of the utterly thrilling events transpiring, but also because of Dave Niehaus' exhilaration as he called the game. I'm certainly not the biggest fan you've ever met by any stretch, but Dave has a large amount of credit into even getting me into the game at all. He was terrific. This is a palpable loss for Seattle.
posted by Skot at 11:42 PM on November 10, 2010

About 15 years ago I left home for Germany.

Dad was a drunk. Only things I remember of him were playing catch, eating Oreos and drinking coffee during Mariners games and ending up in Everett once on the way to a Boeing night M's because my father, the consummate redneck, got lost leaving the small town we lived in. The logic escapes me now, but for some reason I used this among many justifications to hate baseball.

I would call my Gram 3-4 times a week and she would always talk of the Mariners and how "Dave" had said this or that. Of course I still disliked baseball and would just listen along politely. When my mom passed away, I came back and stayed with Gram to organize things and such. I eventually took her to a game and dutifully drank beer. It's then I noticed this tick in my head. During the time back in Seattle the game was always on TV and I remember hearing the announcer and thinking "Jesus Christ that's Dave Niehaus, I used to eat double stuffs with him."

About a year after this happened I came back to Seattle from Germany again and inexplicably me and Gram went to 3 games. Me, the baseball hater, forced myself to watch all the games plus any other game I could find. Went back to Germany with a Safeco Field hat because "Gosh I don't really like baseball but I like home." I loved that hat. That was about 6 years ago and the last time I saw Gram or Seattle.

While in Germany I finally admitted maybe I did like the game. Got excited when the Red Sox beat the Yankee in that one game. In the last year I moved back.

Last week I spent a couple days literally reading this wiki link I found of the 100 best players of all time. Now I've been unemployed and just recently got some on-call work. The money is slowly trickling in and I decided to get an M's cap as my big splurge. That was yesterday.

Then I wake up to this. Goodbye Dave.
posted by I love you more when I eat paint chips at 7:17 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Many years ago I was a baseball-obsessed 12 year old girl and the Mariners were a brand-new expansion team. I went to my first game in June 1977 on a Junior Mariner club ticket and listened to all the games I could on the radio. (Outfield first level tickets were $1.50 back then. Hard to believe now. But most of the games I saw that year from from the Junior Mariner package, 6 or 7 brightly colored tickets in a booklet with that classic original Mariners logo.)

After that first season, KVI (the M's radio home at the time -- they played music when they weren't broadcasting M's stuff) ran a weekly radio show, a Hot Stove League sort of thing (though I don't remember if they called it that). Every week Dave would talk baseball with various guests and lots of callers for an hour or two.

I listened to it religiously and found some excuse to call in live every single week.

After a while the producer, Bob Robertson Jr., recognized my voice right away. He would put me through to the live broadcast where Dave would greet me like an old friend. I am sure I just sounded like a goofy kid. But it was great fun and I never felt that I was being treated like a stupid kid. I remember asking Dave once if he thought a woman would ever play major league baseball. He insisted it could never happen, but I disagreed. I'm sad that he didn't get to see me proved right on that one. I told him I wanted to work in radio someday and he encouraged me.

(Another time I called in when Danny Kaye was the guest and was treated to a long story about the history of the Boston Red Sox. What I wouldn't do for a tape of that one...)

The next spring I went down to the Kingdome and sent a message up to the press box before a game, and was told that I was invited to come up for a tour. So my mom and I went up and said hi to Dave and got a tour of the place. (That spring I also met several fans at the ballpark who recognized my voice from the radio. That was weird.)

Anyway, I grew a bit older and eventually out of my baseball obsession a bit, though I still followed the M's over the years. I didn't call in to radio shows any more but I always looked forward to hearing Dave's voice over the airwaves. It meant spring, and summer, and what kind of ballgame would it be without it?

For the last 15 years I have been thinking that I should send him a letter to say hello and tell him how I grew up, though I didn't know if he'd remember a skinny 12 year old from 1977-78. I never did. I wish I had.

I wish he had been able to call a World Series. He deserved it. I'm glad he was alive to get inducted into the Hall of Fame.

I know it was linked above, but... listen again.

.
posted by litlnemo at 7:48 AM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nice obit piece on KOMO yesterday.

Dave on Almost Live!
posted by The Hamms Bear at 8:15 AM on November 11, 2010

The Mariners made a memorable playoff run in 1995, during which Niehaus popularized his home run call of "get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it's grand salami time."

At the beginning of the following season, Mariners PR sent ... wait for it ... rye bread, mustard and salami to members of the media.

So long, Dave. Thanks.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:05 AM on November 11, 2010

Great man he will be missed. The city of Seattle is grieving.
posted by idixon at 10:23 AM on November 11, 2010

He's announced long as I've been alive. He will be sorely missed.
posted by uni verse at 2:11 PM on November 11, 2010

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posted by spinifex23 at 4:26 PM on November 11, 2010

My husband grew up listening to Dave call the Mariners games with his grampa, one of his favorite childhood memories. I brought home rye bread, mustard, salami, & the rest of the works to make really awesome grand salami sandwiches for dinner tonight in honor of Dave thanks to the idea up there in this thread. My husband was totally touched by it. Thanks for the great idea!
posted by susanbeeswax at 8:08 PM on November 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

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posted by clearly at 10:44 PM on November 11, 2010

You rock, susanbeeswax!

Here's the clip I was looking for yesterday, and I was wrong, Randy Johnson didn't come out of the bullpen for that game. He started the game and went the distance. Here's the clip from several days later when he came out of the bullpen to face the Yankees in the final game of the best-of-five series, with the score tied and two on, nobody out in the 9th. He got out of that jam, stayed in the game, and finally gave up a run in the top of the 11th, setting the stage for Edgar Martinez's game-winning double in the bottom of the inning which became one of Dave's most memorable calls (already linked above several times but most of them cut out the first few seconds, which in my opinion really enhance the call).

I realized this evening that I actually started the day yesterday celebrating what was a great day for Seattle radio. It wasn't that we had yet another Greatest Rock Hits of the '60s and '70s station. It wasn't that that station is on the AM dial so I'll no longer only get to listen to half of the Beatles songs with their elaborate stereo mixes on the office radio with a wonky speaker. It was because until yesterday that station's format was Political Hate Radio. Canned music isn't even close to a return to its glory days--I learned today that it had actually been the flagship station for the Mariners at their inception--but KKKVI had become KVI again, and that was something to celebrate. Then the news of Dave's passing hit in the afternoon and what had begun as a great day for radio in Seattle turned awful.

But still, there's something very sublime about the way the joy and sadness are intertwined, somehow epitomizing Dave Niehaus and his unwavering devotion to the hapless Mariners and their beleaguered fans. As I continue to listen to Niehaus clips today I still find myself welling up with emotion. When I start to get overwhelmed I just listen to this one, and there's something that just seems perfect about remembering the great man with a combination of tears and a huge grin on my face.

In the world of sports, athletes are all too often referred to as role models. Dave Niehaus wasn't an athlete but I think a big part of what made him so special to so many people was the way he truly was a role model, accepting the tough breaks that seemed to come along more often than the Mariners ever deserved, and yeah, even complaining about them occasionally, but always marching on with an optimism that had no limits, ready to rejoice with unbridled enthusiasm at the good moments, no matter how small or insignificant. That's something I hope to carry with me for the rest of my life.
posted by Balonious Assault at 11:01 PM on November 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

A public memorial is being planned for this Saturday at Safeco Field. I don't have any more details, as they're still being hammered out. But I'm going to try to be there.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:11 PM on November 11, 2010

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Dave Niehaus was often the only thing about the Ms that didn't suck. And was always the only thing about sports broadcasting in Seattle that didn't suck. We're doomed now.

Fly away, Dave. You'll be missed, especially come spring.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 12:10 PM on November 12, 2010

More info on the memorial: Safeco Field will be open for an informal open house and celebration of his life from 12-3pm on Saturday, Nov. 13th. There will be a book of remembrance that fans and mourners can sign, as well as a display of memorabilia from his long and illustrious career with the Seattle Mariners.

Planners request that you get there early if planning on attending, as they are expecting thousands of people for this.
posted by spinifex23 at 2:14 PM on November 12, 2010

I wasn't able to go to the memorial. Were any of you? What was it like?
posted by litlnemo at 12:40 AM on November 16, 2010