SEATTLE -- It has housed a Kid and a King, Big Dumper and Broccoli Guy. It has played host to bowl games and salmon races, seen hockey played outside and hot dogs falling from the sky.
Needless to say, it’s been a full 25 years for T-Mobile Park.
Friday, as the Mariners returned from the All-Star break and opened a pivotal series against the Astros, the club officially celebrated the 25th anniversary of its ballpark at the corner of Dave Niehaus Way and Edgar Martinez Drive. The occasion was four days late, with the official anniversary of its opening -- July 15, 1999 -- landing on Monday.
And they had a few familiar faces on hand to help with the celebration.
Jamie Moyer threw eight innings of one-run ball in the park’s debut, tossing 131 pitches. Friday, he was back to throw one more, delivering the ceremonial first pitch at the yard where he threw 808 career innings -- second among all pitchers in park history, behind Felix Hernández -- to Dan Wilson, another club legend.
“It’s a wonderful place,” Moyer said before the game. “Wonderful memories here. You go from the past and you look to the present, and you’re in the midst of a wonderful season. That’s Mariners baseball, and that’s the fun about being here in this facility.”
Beyond the simple anniversary, this year also marks the point at which the Mariners have been at T-Mobile Park longer than the 23 years they played at the Kingdome.
Both of those milestones almost didn’t happen, because T-Mobile Park nearly was never built. In 1995, with the Kingdome falling apart with age, the King County Council put a tax package on the ballot to fund a new ballpark. It failed, putting the Mariners on the brink of a move out of Seattle.
As the voters said no, though, the Mariners went on their famous “Refuse to Lose” run, winning 19 of their final 28 games -- and seven of the 10 after the vote -- then went on to win a one-game playoff and beat the Yankees in the AL Division Series. The surge of success prompted the governor to call a special session of the state legislature, which authorized the county to levy a bond to fund the new ballpark.
On March 8, 1997, Ken Griffey Jr. led the official groundbreaking a couple of blocks south of the Kingdome. Two and a half years later the Mariners made the switch to their new park coming out of the All-Star break.
The new yard’s advantage over the old one was as striking that day as it was Friday, with an 83-degree evening and no clouds in the sky.
“The frustrating thing for me playing in the Kingdome was, on a day like today, I went into the Kingdome at 12, 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and then didn’t come out until 10, 11 o’clock at night,” Moyer said. “I wasn’t able to experience the weather. That was the thing that we missed playing in the Kingdome.”
Other advantages soon began to play, especially for pitchers. Since it opened its doors, T-Mobile Park shares the third-lowest total WHIP of any full-time MLB park (1.27), the fifth-lowest total batting average (.245) and the fourth-lowest total OPS (.701)
The pitcher-friendliness has gotten even more one-sided of late. Since 2020, no MLB park has a lower OPS than T-Mobile’s .665, and the 23-point gap between T-Mobile Park and second place (Tropicana Field) is the same as the difference between second place and 13th.
“This is a pitchers’ ballpark, and it’s always been a pitchers’ ballpark,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “The Kingdome, not so much. But fan support here has always been fantastic, certainly as it heats up here.”
And the 25-year celebration coincided with things heating up, with the Mariners in the hunt for their first AL West title since the historic 2001 season that saw them win a record 116 games.
“You come over here, and what you see is what you get: a wonderful facility,” said Moyer, who led that 2001 squad with 20 wins. “History is being, not re-created, but there’s a new history being created at T-Mobile Park.”