Dave Niehaus lives on in our hearts and imaginations

At Dave's Celebration Saturday

I made a point of heading down to the Safe Saturday despite the monsoon conditions to be a part of  ” A Celebration of Life for Dave Niehaus“. I am glad I did. As powerful and beautiful as the tributes were for Dave, I went to be there with, and for my fellow fans. I needed some healing and a start on some closure so I  can try to move on, though things will never be the same without our old shipmate.

Rick Rizz did a marvelous job as the MC, sadly he broke down at one point in tears and looked back at a picture of Dave in centerfield, as if looking for back-up from his old reliable partner, before being surrounded by the strong arms of support from Dan Wilson, Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez who came up to the stage to support the grief-stricken Rizz. This was one of the powerful moments of the event, as perhaps it finally hit Rizz that his partner is really gone.

It was also very touching to hear from Dave’s children Greta and Andy as they described our Dave at home. And we all finally got to see his marvelous and strong wife Marilyn when the camera panned onto her off and on through the event. You could definitely see the resemblance between Greta and the old man and she went out of her way to let all of us know how much it meant to the family for us all to be there Saturday, along with all the support and messages of love the family has received in the past month.

   There were a lot of funny stories and anecdotes as well from Jay Buhner, Ron Fairly, and Dan Wilson mostly revolving around some quirk of Dave’s, especially his old-school wardrobe. Dave represented not only the Mariners and our city, but a generation of Americans that were my father’s age and still thought Frank Sinatra was King. Dave I guess represented a Father to some, a Grandfather to others and most importantly a close friend to us all.

  I grew to know and like Dave and his style after listening to him for 30 years through thick and thin dating back to the old Kingdome days, where I along with Dave were there when Edgar hit “The Double” in 1995. I ran into him only once at Boeing field, and yet like a lot of us I feel like I have lost a close friend and indeed someone I loved. I loved Dave for not only the wonderful announcer he was, but because he was a creative, funny and warm man.

   I even was sort of able to come to a truce with Chuck Armstrong today after he announced that the Mariners will be wearing a patch on their sleeve next year for Dave and that there will be a statue created for Dave as well.

  As the crowd cleared out in orderly Northwest Fans style, I could not help but linger in the barren stadium and look up at the announcers booth hoping to catch one more glimpse of my old shipmate  perched up in his crow nest aloft the good ship Mariners. But alas he has sailed away never to be heard from again except in our imaginations, where he always will be with us as long as we can still believe in the magic of Baseball. Smooth Sailing Dave, Tugboat Jeff. http://jeffsmariners.com