Five-year-old Tanner Clark (left) and friend Jackson Alesna, 7, of Belling-ham make their way into Safeco Field.

No quarantine for baseball fever

LORRINE THOMPSON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Tuesday, April 2, 2002

SEATTLE -- Even for the, oh, 5.9 million Washington residents who didn't have tickets to the Seattle Mariners' opening game Monday, there was plenty of baseball fever to catch outside the walls of Safeco Field.

As the first game of the season got under way around 2 p.m., a full-fledged block party had been under way for hours.

Several beer gardens bloomed out of nearby parking lots with music, snacks and people standing elbow to elbow, chatting about the team -- some of them looking longingly at ticket holders.

Even non-ticket holders could hug the Mariner Moose as he strolled around, gawk at two fans wearing giant papier-mache baseball heads, and watch three radio stations broadcast live from booths surrounding the stadium.

You could buy foot-long sausages, Kettle Korn, steak sandwiches, peanuts, giant foam Ms in teal, Mariners-colored Mardi Gras beads, Mariners books and posters, and Japanese fans splashed with the Japanese symbols for "the best."

You might even pick up a little of the spoken language from Japanese news crews stationed outside the stadium reporting on the crowd.

Japan is watching

Takeo Nakajima, a correspondent with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, scanned the crowd for good camera shots and interviews before the game.

"The fans here are great. They're passionate. Passionate and patient. Not like New York," Nakajima said.

His company will broadcast 81 Mariners games live in Japan this year, and Nakajima hopes to be assigned permanently to Seattle.

The politically minded among fans could sign two initiative petitions -- one to allow police officers and firefighters to control their pension money, and one to require state legislators to take the Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests.

Or fans could donate to a group of teens raising money for a drop-in center for homeless teens.

There was also plenty of opportunity to people-watch, to enjoy thousands of smiling faces and to see old and new fans bump into each other in line.

Like Galen and Reid Mickelsen of Bellevue, attending their 25th Mariners season opener.

Though she smiled at the prospect of the coming game, Galen admitted she misses the old days -- when parking was easy to find and you could haul plenty of bags and snacks into the Kingdome.

The couple, who've had season tickets since the M's first year -- 1977 -- stood on a street corner next to 16-year-old James Stewart of Burien. Stewart was ditching school to ask people on the corner if they had extra tickets to the game.

Not a baseball fan normally, Stewart said he'd heard the Mariners were good and he wanted to get into a game for the first time in his life.

Asked if he was skipping school for this chance, he shook his head. "No, I just didn't go."

Isn't that skipping?

"I'm going to bring a note tomorrow," he reasoned.

Serious Series hopes

Across the crowded street from Stewart, two new Mariners fans raced through the crowd, decorated in M's jackets and hats and carrying team blankets.

Gloria Benedict, 72, and Betty Brashear, 76, were attending their third Opening Day and have differing opinions on the merits of coming to the season's first game.

"It's a rush," Brashear said.

"It's a mess," Benedict laughed.

Whatever it is, they agreed it's the start of an important season. "We just want them to go all the way," Brashear said. "How many years have we waited?"

That sentiment was echoed again and again in conversations around the stadium by fans who want to see their team break through a wall that has stopped them at the gates to the World Series in recent years.

"We're a World Series team. We're going," said Bernadette Ash of Lakewood.

Her husband, standing next to her in line, said that "team" is the most important word, that Seattle players aren't just operating like a collection of separate stars.

"It's more fun to watch now that they're a team. I never used to watch spring training, but I did this year, because they're fun to watch," said Richard Ash.

And if the M's don't make it? Will they still be worth watching?

"Oh yeah," Richard Ash said. "We have a team now. And we know we're going to keep having a team."

Lorrine Thompson covers Thurston County and health for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5431 or lcthomps@olympia.gannett.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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