Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - My Oh My! Locked On Mariners Remembers Dave Niehaus

Episode Date: February 20, 2020

D.C. Lundberg and guest Jonathan D. Miller reminisce about the late, great, Hall of Fame Mariners play-by-play announcer Dave Niehaus on what would have been his 85th birthday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Good afternoon or evening, depending on when I finish editing this. I am D.C. Lundberg, and this is a special edition of Locked-on Mariner's. Before I tell you exactly why this is a special edition, I would like to remind you that you can download, rate, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariner's on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, whichever podcasting app you are using right at this exact moment. Also, ask your smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast or Locked on Team Name Here podcast and it will do it. On Twitter, you can find the show at L-O underscore Mariners and you may find me on Twitter at DC underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G,

if you are scoring at home. Ladies and gentlemen, today would have been Dave Nehouse's 85th birthday. And while he's been gone over 10 years now, his legacy indoors, and he is fondly remembered and missed by Mariners fans. We're going to do a little bit of reminiscing on today's show, and here to help me with that is Jonathan D. Miller. John, welcome to Locked-on Mariners. Thank you very much for having me. It's a pleasure to have you. I guess the first question I'll ask is, what's your favorite call of Dave Nehouses? I think just about everybody has one. There are several that immediately spring to mind. His call when the Mariners first won the American League division in that tie-breaking game over the California Angels 1995.

Randy Johnson raising his arms to the roof of the kingdom. And that one, along with the call for the double, are kind of immortalized in the minds of, Mariners fans. I think if you ask the average Mariners fan on the street, what their favorite call is, the double is going to come up quite a bit. The call where Randy Johnson struck out tin salmon is another classic as far as I'm concerned. And when Edgar hit the Grand Slam in game four against the Yankees, that's, you know, they get up the rib bread and the mustard. That's a classic call of his. Yes. I kind of liked when he would do radio. And I know this is kind of bizarre and out there, but it was memorable to me how he would describe pitchers getting in jams at times.

Like he would say the pitcher's working himself into a lather or some gooey stuff or something like that, just kind of using bizarre terms that art really have nothing to do with baseball. And also for me, it was kind of the way he would describe the weather. He had such a way with words, not just calling baseball, but, you know, describing how the mountains looked over the city, over the Seattle skyline. when they moved to Safeco Field and things of that nature. He was very, very good at that. One thing I do remember, and I'm not quite sure how this fits,

and I got this idea from family members, is a Mariners game would be on the ESPN, some national broadcast. Yeah. And we would watch that because that's the only channel you could watch it on, but then we would have the television muted and be listening to the Mariners radio broadcast so that we could hear Nehouse.

We did that too, and I'm sure that we were not alone, because, you know, you guys obviously did that. Also, I mean, he's such a local treasure. It also didn't help that the national broadcasters, you know, a lot of people make fun of them, they're generally not very good. Dave Nehouse just knocked those guys out of the park. He really did. And he and guys like, say, Ernie Harwell and to dare mention him with the great Vince Scully.

Mm-hmm. Those guys just had a finesse about broadcasting that few announcers have, and as good of an announcer as Dave Sims is, and we really like him, there's just something about a mystique almost, about some of these great broadcasters that can't be touched. You're absolutely right. And I know that there is a segment of Mariners fans who are not fans of Dave Sims. I like him. I don't have a problem with him.

And his call of Felix Hernandez's perfect game, he could not have handled that better as far as I'm concerned. But I think the word to describe the Harwells of the world and the Vince Scullies, and I'll put Dave Nehous in that category as well, Jack Buck also, they were wonderful wordsmiths. They knew which words to use to describe anything, really. Yeah. They would be telling a story and whether you were listening to the radio broadcast

and he's bringing you into it and I'm driving down the highway and I'm picturing what is going on with the few words that he's using or if you're watching it on the television it's the same thing and it's as if you are at the ballpark. Absolutely. And one thing that Vince Scully

specifically and Dave Nehouse had in common is they knew when to drop in a story. into the broadcast, and they always had a knack of finishing it, no matter what the situation was, before the half-inning ended. That's tough to do. Yes, and they had the art, and some of these modern-day announcers, they don't quite get it. They will be telling the story, and they will keep telling the story and miss whatever action is going on. Vin and Dave and the like will interrupt the story and tell you, exactly what was going on with such excitement and enthusiasm.

And then they will go calm right back down and go right back to the story where they left off without missing a beat. And I think there's more to it than that, because even as they were telling the story, if it's just an inconsequential pitch and at bat, they'll just say, and that's a curveball on the lower outside corner for strike one. And then they get right back to it. They would not miss a beat in calling the action while telling their story. and you are absolutely right. I remember the All-Star Game broadcast last year. They completely missed Daniel Vogelbach's at back completely. And it was really frustrating as a Mariners fan to watch that.

And we're going to take a break at this time, but it is time for the League Commish Fantasy Minute. And you know, my fantasy is Sarah and Taylor Anderson as a doubles curling team competing in their underwear. and USA Curling, if you're listening to this, I'm kidding. Anyways, today's featured fantasy player is Daniel Vogel back, oddly enough. In what I thought was going to be a make or break year for the Mariners' DH first baseman, he started off very well, hitting everything in sight,

and finishing April with a 310 batting average and a 732 slugging percentage. It was all downhill from there, though, despite a decent month of June. After the All-Star break, Vogi hit just 162 and only slugged 3.41. Overall, he hit just 208 for this season, managed to hit 30 home runs, but 21 of those came prior to the All-Star break. With his second half struggles, this may be Vogi's last chance. Fantasy-wise, he may be someone who could help your team with power numbers against right-handed pitching. He does have something of a platoon split, and he also hitched much better. on the road and with much more power. I'd be tempted to take a chance on him, but I wouldn't draft him in the

first half of any draft. I'd wait to see if he slips down to the final few rounds and then take him. And that has been the Fantasy Minute, sponsored by League Commish. What are you doing for the game? It's a universal question. Whether the casual follower, the tweets everything, the beginner, the diehard, the stat nerd, the smack talker, the appetizer guy, The couldn't care less, or the makes everything into a competition person, we all have our place in the sports world. The same personalities apply to fantasy sports, and League Commish exists to ensure your fantasy sports experience is the best one for you.

We match managers to leagues as we lay the foundation for your new league. It's as easy as sign up with your preferences, get matched, and approve of that match before any commitment on your end. Sign up with League Commish by February 1, February 1,000, 29th and receive 15% off by entering the code locked on in the referred by section of the sign-up form. The first 25 people to sign up using our code receive their first match for free. What are you doing for the game? Find your next fantasy sports league at league commish.com.

And with that, it's time for today's Mariners trivia question. On April 22nd, 1993, Chris Basio tossed the second no-hitter in Mariner's history against the Boston Red Sox. This no-no was saved by Omar Visckel, bare-handing a ground ball over the second base bag and throwing out the base runner for the final out. Who was this final out? I'll let you know who it is after the break. And remember, if you've got a question for me or a comment on the show, email it to, Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I will consider using it for the Friday mailbag segment. Questions about anything.

Does not have to be a baseball question. We are probably doing a mailbag this Friday, so stay tuned for that. And this episode of Locked-on Mariners will continue at some point. Hey, this is Taylor Blake Ward with Locked On Angels, and you're listening to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network. Now here's your host, my guy, DC. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Taylor Blake Ward for leading us back into the program. As a matter of fact, I appeared on Taylor's show this morning, Locked On Angels,

which you can check out right here on the Locked On podcast network, or, of course, T-L-O-P-N, or Tlopin. Today's Mariner's trivia question. Chris Basio tossed the second no-hitter in Mariner's history. Who was the final out of this no-hitter? John, do you remember who it is? I don't remember who it is. Ernest Riles. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was Ernest Riles of the Boston Red Sox, former San Francisco Giant. We are back here with Jonathan D. Miller, or John Miller, as it were, talking about Dave Nehouse. And personally, I will never forget the day that he passed away.

It was November 10, 2009. I got a text from my very good friend Calvin, who I know listens to this program. And he told me the news. So, of course, I go look for it. and it's confirmed. And I was living at home at the time. And my mother was out shopping or she may even at work. I don't remember.

She was at work. And so I waited until I knew she was going to get home. And I greeted her at the door. And she told me that I just looked pale and gray. And she knew something was very wrong. And so, of course, I told her, we jump in the car. We turn on 7.10 a.m., I believe, was a sports station at the time.

And they had wall-to-wall coverage, remembering Dave Nehouse. And we just drove around for hours and hours listening to that coverage. We were each taking turns crying because it hit us so hard. I will never forget that day as long as I live. John, we talked briefly before the show when you don't remember exactly specifically where you were when you found out. But you talked about the emotion that you felt when that happened, and I'd like you to share that on the end.

There was just a sense of tremendous sadness, this person that you've come to know and been around your whole life and the whole life of your team. And in the middle of the off-season is suddenly gone and thinking, what are we going to do for next year? We've got good backup announcers, Rick Riz, Ron Fairley, but. they're not Dave Nehouse. It's true. And Ron Fairley, you know, since then he passed away this last October. So, you know, he's joined Dave Nehouse up at the big radio booth in the sky, as it were. That emotion was felt by so many Mariners fans.

I don't know if you were able to make it to the memorials that they had at Safeco Field, the public memorial. And then the kind of ceremony that Rick Riz led, which was more or less a funeral type situation. The first one, they had Dave Nehous's artifacts on the field, his scorebook from the first game. His family was on the field. Rick Riz was on the field, introducing his family to fans. And they served salami sandwiches on rye bread as appetizes to the people in attendance. And that's another day that I will just never, ever forget. Didn't you at one point recall a story that you ran into?

Was it Rick Riz on the field? It was at this event where I met Rick Riz on the field as fans were lined up to look at Nate Neathouse's various baseball artifacts. And Rick Riz was at something of a receiving line and introduced Mr. Nehous's family to the fans. And he seemed like he obviously was shaken by. everything that had been going on, seemed like a very nice man. I happen to say to him, you know, it's a pleasure to meet you.

I wish he was under better circumstances. And he said, well, come on by the booth and we'll meet under better circumstances or something like that. And he did not have to do any of that. He was very good to the fans in attendance, which shows you a lot about his character, I think. And Chuck Armstrong was in the fans also meeting people. and while it was very nice to be able to meet these people, part of it was, it's very tough to describe. I cannot put it into words.

Something else that comes to mind is how the Mariners organization and the fans have continued to welcome Dave's wife, Marilyn, and honor her at events, and just the tremendous care they've taken of her and the respect and love that we have for her. That's a very, very good point. Thank you for bringing that up. Yes, whenever the Mariners induct somebody into their Hall of Fame or during the number retirement ceremonies for Griffey and for Edgar Martinez, they invite Marilyn Nehouse

to be a part of the celebration, you know, not only to honor her husband, Dave Nehouse, but, you know, you're still a part of our Mariners family. not going to change. They do take very good care of her, yes. And with that, I think it's pretty much time to go. John, thanks for joining us here this afternoon. Where can people find you on Twitter? You can find me on Twitter at Seattle Pilot 69. All right. Thank you very much. And I hope you'll be back on the show as the season progresses. If you'll have me. Absolutely. Yes, you got it. Thank you once again. And ladies and gentlemen listening, remember that you can download, rate and subscribe to Locked-on Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio,

or whichever podcasting app you care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or any of the other wonderful programs here on the Locked-on Podcast Network, and it probably will do it. I bet you anything that it will. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners, and follow me on Twitter as well at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Special thanks once again to John Miller for joining us on today's program talking about the late great Dave Niehaus. Dave, we miss you. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.