In a move that surprised no one yet still wrung a fair amount of waterworks out of the assembled crowd – and the man himself – the Mariners announced that Rick Rizzs will be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame next season. Rizzs will be just the twelfth member of the Mariners Hall of Fame, joining fellow broadcaster Dave Niehaus as the only two non-uniformed members of the Mariners HOF (and this is why it’s important that managers wear uniforms).
It was an especially apt announcement as the team celebrated 50 seasons, 41 of which Rizzs has called, albeit non-consecutively. Joining the organization in 1983, Rizzs spent nine years in Seattle as Dave Niehaus’s broadcast partner before going to Detroit for an opportunity to be the lead broadcaster for the Tigers. Rizzs returned to Seattle in 1995 and has been with the club ever since, taking over as the lead radio voice after the passing of Niehaus prior to the 2011 season. His 41 years of service make him the longest-tenured broadcaster in Mariners history; as John Stanton put it during his speech, for generations of fans, the voice of Rick Rizzs is the voice of the summer.
In addition to his work on the field, Rizzs has also been a pillar of the community, jumping in to support Mariners charities while founding his own, the Toys for Kids charity established in 1995. Initially started to give kids in need a special toy during the Christmas season, the charity has expanded to include college scholarships, support unhoused mothers, assist children experiencing challenges with food scarcity, and provide baseball equipment to needy kids who want to play the sport.
The team has yet to announce when the ceremony will occur – gotta have something fun to look forward to in the off-season – or if there will be a statue to echo the one of Niehaus in centerfield (but there’s gotta be a statue, right?), but it seems like a safe assumption it will probably be in August, which is when the team tends to do these kinds of things. If you’re really intent on making sure you don’t have conflicting plans, the Mariners are at home the weekends of August 13th and August 27th, so do with that information what you will.
Given the ceremony today – where Rizzs gave a heartfelt, tearful speech, managing to make a joke even as he was clearly overcome with emotion – you won’t want to miss it. The team might be failing in their job to send Rizzs off with an exciting playoff run in his final season, but the fans will have a chance to properly honor the longtime voice of the Mariners. It’s especially poignant given that that’s something Mariners fans never got a chance to do with Dave Niehaus, whose career was cut short by a heart attack before he had an opportunity to be given the full treatment by the club and the fanbase.
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