Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1999 to the present, the Mariners have played in Safeco Field. more...

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The "Mariners" name originates from the prominence of the marine culture in the city of Seattle. They are nicknamed "the M's", which was featured in their primary logo from 1987 to 1992. The current team colors are navy blue, "northwest green" (teal), and metallic silver, after having been royal blue and gold from 1977-1992. Their mascot is the Mariner Moose.

An expansion franchise, the club was founded in Seattle in 1977. Then based in the Kingdome, the Mariners would face little success until 1995, when they won their division and defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the ALDS, the winning hit being an iconic moment in team history that is honored by a mural in Safeco Field. The Mariners hold the record for most wins in a single season with 116, which they achieved in 2001. Despite this, they have never played in a World Series, being one of four MLB teams to have never won a league championship.

Franchise history

Before Seattle got major league baseball, Seattle was a AAA stronghold of the Pacific Coast League. The first attempt to land a major league team failed when a bid by William Daley to move the Cleveland Indians to Seattle in 1965 failed. In late 1967, Daley, by then having sold the Indians, led a consortium to win a franchise in the 1969 expansion. That team was the Seattle Pilots.

1970s and 1980s: Creation and Persistent Stagnation

The Mariners were created as a direct result of a lawsuit. In 1970, in the aftermath of the Pilots' purchase and relocation to Milwaukee by future Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig, the City of Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington (led by attorney general and future U.S. Senator Slade Gorton) sued the American League for breach of contract. Confident that, somehow, major league baseball would return to Seattle within a few years, Seattle built the Kingdome, which would hold the NFL's expansion Seattle Seahawks in 1976 regardless, as a multi-purpose stadium.

The lawsuit continued until 1976. At trial, the American League offered to give Seattle an expansion baseball franchise in return for dropping the suit. The details were ironed out over the next year. To keep the league with an even number of teams, a formal expansion proceeding was held, with a second team, the Toronto Blue Jays, being awarded.

The Mariners played their first game on April 6,1977 to a sold-out crowd of 57,762 at the Kingdome, losing 7-0 to the California Angels. That year, pitcher Diego Segui, in his last major league season, became the only player to play for both the Pilots and the Mariners.

Read more at Wikipedia.org