Edgar Weekend Is Here! But What Happens Next August?

At its inception, the Mariners Hall of Fame was an exclusive club that only added a member every couple of years when a true team star retired. Between Alvin Davis’ induction to create the club in 1997 to Edgar Martinez’s 2007 celebration, only two other people went into the Mariners Hall of Fame, Dave Niehaus in 2000 and Jay Buhner in 2004.

Since 2012, however, an early August legend celebration has become a Mariners tradition, as fans flock into town to celebrate their heroes of yesteryear. Smartly, the organization has continued holding these gatherings year after year because it makes them a ton of money.

This weekend marks the sixth consecutive year with an August celebration, as we will see Edgar Martinez’s number 11 retired, which will be just the second number retired by the Ners after Ken Griffey Jr’s #24 was retired last August. The M’s have also recently inducted Jamie Moyer (2015, left), Lou Piniella (2014), Griffey (2013) and Randy Johnson & Dan Wilson (2012) into their Hall of Fame.

But next year, Seattle will run into a problem. For the most part, it’s already inducted all of its worthy retired players into the team Hall of Fame, as the recent decade-and-a-half of losing hasn’t exactly yielded new, memorable stars to enshrine. Plus some of the team’s recently great players, such as Ichiro or Adrian Beltre, are still under contract with other organizations.

Surely though, the Mariners as an organization will want to continue this extremely lucrative tradition. So what will they do next? Here are five guesses:

#1 Retire Jay Buhner’s No. 19

To me, this seems like the most likely option. Buhner (right) is one of the longest tenured Mariners ever, playing parts of 14 seasons with the team, and is sixth all time in WAR among hitters in the organization’s history. On top of that, he’s been a great servant of the organization since his retirement (especially in his hilarious weekly home broadcasting appearances), and he’s well like around the Northwest (Trucks, Trucks, and More Trucks!). Buhner is by no means on the level of a Griffey or an Edgar, but he’d be the next most logical player to elevate from team Hall of Famer to retired number status.

#2 Put Rick Rizzs in the Mariners Hall of Fame

This one is a little outside the box: Rizzs isn’t quite the legend that Niehaus was, but Rizzs has given his heart and soul to the Mariners organization. He’s called games for the team for 32 years, from 1983 to 1991 and then 1995 to now and is unquestionably, as Aaron Goldsmith calls him at the start of each broadcast, “the voice of the Mariners.”

Rizzs can be nutty at times, but his status as an all-time great “Mariner” is secure. How else would we know how to say goodbye to a baseball? Plus, it would be a great reward for all of the induction ceremonies he’s hosted in the past few years and his still constant reverence for Niehaus, which he shows by telling old Dave stories and using his signature “rye-bread” Grand Salami call.

#3 Put Alex Rodriguez in the Mariners Hall of Fame

Before I even get into this one, I’ll acknowledge that this still feels extremely unlikely. Some of my earliest memories as a Mariners fan involve watching fans shower the field with paper money when ARod came to bat for the Rangers. That distaste plus his steroid history make him an unlikely inductee.

But if anyone not currently in the team Hall of Fame has a statistical cause to be in it, it’s ARod. He’s fourth in team history in batting WAR, and all of the top 9 in that category are either in the team Hall of Fame or still active. Plus, Americans have remarkably come around to ARod in the last few years, as he’s gone from hated baseball outcast to lovable announcer and studio host and hero to men everywhere for dating Jennifer Lopez.

However, it seems unlikely since the fanbase still likely harbors too much ill will. Maybe this is one to revisit in three or four years.

#4 Put Bret Boone in the Mariners Hall of Fame

This is the suggestion I like the least, but it has to be acknowledged that Boone is the only member of the club’s top 10 in batting WAR to not be active in the Hall of Fame or be dating Jennifer Lopez. Boone actually began his pro career as a Mariner and he was the offensive thump for the most legendary squad in club history, the 116-win 2001 team.

Boone has a lot working against him though, as his tenure with the team was relatively short and his offensive explosion in the early 2000s is heavily rumored to have been chemically enhanced. Still, he’s been around the organization a lot more in recent years and is perhaps the most deserving, least controversial player option available.

#5 Honor one of the two legendary teams (1995 or 2001)

This feels like a better one to save for either 2020 (25th anniversary of the 1995 team) or 2021 (20th anniversary of the 2001 team), but at this point, the Mariners are kind of short on options. Instead of finding another individual great player to bring in for a weekend, why not bring back an entire squad of Seattle’s heroes?

It’s probably only fair to honor the 1995 team first, and that would be quite a spectacle, with stars like Griffey, Edgar, Randy and Buhner returning and appearances from fun role players like “The Sheriff” Norm Charlton, current color commentator Mike Blowers, and all-time fan favorite Joey Cora. Plus, it could be a decent litmus test for the fan base on ARod, who played 48 games for that team. Still, this idea would probably make sense for one of the round-number anniversary years.

With a look at this list, it’s obvious that the team is pretty short on options. Ultimately, if they want to continue the tradition, Buhner or Rizzs feel like the only logical options and of those, Buhner seems most likely but the honor would probably mean more to Rizzs, who has dedicated most of his adult life to the team.

#Opinion