I am a fan of the game...

of baseball. I am a fan of the Seattle Mariners. I grew up a Cubs fan. Well, since 1970 anyway. I attended my first Mariners game sometime in the first half of the 1999 season.

The Kingdome reminded me of the Astrodome. Maybe because it was the only other domed stadium in which I’d seen a game. Maybe it was the gray coloring of the walls and the shiny green carpet. Anyway, it was not the best place to be on a sunny late spring evening in the Pacific Northwest.

July 15th, 1999 welcomed the first game in the new ball park, Safeco Field. Now that’s what baseball is all about. In the bright sunshine or under the stars is how the baseball gods intended the game be played. And if the Seattle sky, as it occasionally does, refuses to provide dry weather Safeco Field comes complete with a “hat.”

Safeco Field has cheered the feats of Ken Griffey, Jr. and Alex Rodriguez. The latter has also been booed as loudly as anyone has been cheered. Randy Johnson left one year before “The Safe” opened. The Safe witnessed Cal Ripken homer into the visitor’s bullpen during the 2001 All-Star game. A plaque marks the place and event.