Rizzs surprised with Mariners HOF nod during Top 50 players ceremony 

SEATTLE -- Putting together an event to honor one legend can be a challenge and spectacle enough. The Mariners would know; they’ve retired a number each of the past two seasons.

Honoring 50? That’s something on a whole other level -- and it's the task the organization took on for its 50 Seasons celebration, ahead of Saturday’s game against the Rays.

A process that began months ago to select the 50 greatest Mariners of all time reached its climactic conclusion in front of a packed house at T-Mobile Park, as the celebration that began late Friday night under the lights in the Alumni Home Run Derby carried into Saturday, with 44 of the legends on the list in matching letterman jackets taking the field to roars that only grew louder.

“It’s a day of celebration, for sure,” manager Dan Wilson said.

But the loudest cheers of the day came for one man who never hit a home run, stole a base, threw a pitch or even donned the uniform.

Rick Rizzs, in his 41st and final season as the radio voice of the Mariners, took his usual place as the event’s emcee -- just like he had earlier this season when the club retired Randy Johnson’s number. But after his opening remarks to the assembled group of players and a speech from “Mr. Mariner” Alvin Davis, Mariners Chairman John Stanton stepped to the mic.

At that point, Rizzs learned that he wasn’t just part of the celebration; he was the focus of it, announced as the 12th member of the Mariners Hall of Fame.

“He’s always been a Hall of Fame broadcaster,” Stanton said in a statement, “and we look forward to making it official next season as he joins his longtime partner and friend Dave Niehaus as the only two non-uniformed members of the Mariners Hall of Fame.”

That’s when the words -- and the emotions -- started pouring out for Rizzs.

Which, for someone in his profession, is only fitting. Even if he was struggling to follow one of the first lessons Niehaus taught him in his first game in the Seattle booth.

“I was talking so much Dave actually turned off my microphone in the second inning and said. ‘You don’t have to talk after every pitch,’” Rizzs recalled. “I was so excited.”

Rizzs was originally hired to join Niehaus in the Seattle broadcast booth in 1983, but after nine seasons, he moved to Detroit to become the lead voice of the Tigers. He didn’t stay away long; his first season back in the Pacific Northwest culminated in the Mariners’ historic run in the 1995 postseason, and he’s been here ever since.

In January, Rizzs announced that this season would be his last behind the mic. Now, though, he’ll be back next year for the ultimate honor.

“On behalf of our family, I can’t thank you enough for becoming the shortest member of the Mariners Hall of Fame,” Rizzs said.

Rizzs’ honor was just one of a few surprises Saturday. Alex Rodriguez made his return to T-Mobile Park to hearty applause from a crowd that spent much of the past quarter-century considering him a villain after he left Seattle to join the Rangers in 2000. To the surprise of the players, legendary manager Lou Piniella arrived to throw out the first pitch -- arguably to the loudest non-Rizzs-related cheers of all -- to Wilson, with the other 43 honorees in attendance crowded around him.

“It’s really cool,” said J.P. Crawford, one of seven current players on the list. “Fifty years, that’s a lot of different eras that baseball’s been played in Seattle. It’s really cool to see a lot of legends here. It’s like a big old family reunion.”

The process to name the 50 best players in franchise history began in the offseason and featured fan voting as well as input from players, coaches and media, culminating the list released Saturday. The day’s festivities began with honoring the two deceased members of the list: second baseman Julio Cruz and center fielder Dave Henderson.

From there, it was a rolling procession of legends walking onto the field from the dugouts, starting with Ruppert Jones -- the first player the Mariners selected in the 1976 Expansion Draft. After Felix Hernandez took the field as the 46th player on the list, Seattle’s four retired numbers -- Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki and Randy Johnson -- crossed the outfield to take their place with the group.

Joining Crawford as current players on the Top 50 list were both sides of Saturday’s starting battery -- Cal Raleigh and George Kirby -- along with Julio Rodríguez, Andrés Muñoz, Bryan Woo and Logan Gilbert. Also on the list is Luis Castillo, whose five-year tenure with the Mariners ended last week when he was traded to the White Sox.

It was to those current players -- and the rest of the squad in the home dugout, going through one of its roughest stretches of a tough season -- that Davis wrapped up his remarks addressing.

“Outsiders have doubted this franchise for 49 years,” Mr. Mariner said. “Let that doubt fuel you. Prove them wrong. We believe in you -- prove us right.”