SEATTLE -- Veteran baseball writer Larry LaRue, who covered the Mariners for 25 years for the Tacoma News Tribune, died Monday from a heart attack while visiting family in California.
LaRue, 68, was one of the Mariners' primary beat writers from 1988-2013 for the News Tribune, and he was renowned for his storytelling ability, self-effacing sense of humor and ever-present camera.
"He taught me so much about ball writing even before I got on the beat," said now-retired Everett Herald reporter Kirby Arnold. "Just reading his work was such a pleasure. And when I took over the beat in 1999, I felt like a kid at Disneyland, not because I was covering big league baseball, but because my seat was next to his."

After leaving the Mariners beat in 2013, LaRue worked for two more years as a news columnist at the News Tribune before retiring in 2015. Prior to coming to the Pacific Northwest, he covered the Angels for the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
LaRue authored a book in 2013 titled "Major League Encounters," containing 100 vignettes of some of his favorite memories from his baseball-writing career.
LaRue was living in Gig Harbor, Wash., and is survived by his wife, Marie, daughter, Jessica, and grandson, Caleb.