Together, M’S Doing It Team’s Original Slogan Finally Has Some Merit

The Seattle Mariners’ original slogan “We Can Do It Together” left some questions in 1977.

What was it they could do?

Could the expansion team elude last place?

Could they avoid losing 100 games?

It certainly wasn’t meant that together they could win the World Series or even contend for a pennant. Expansion baseball teams stocked with players other teams discard have next to no chance of thriving in their first few seasons.

The inaugural Mariners’ team didn’t lose 100 games - and 98 losses was good enough to finish a half-game ahead of Oakland for sixth place in the American League West Division - but the organization wouldn’t do much of anything together for nearly two decades.

Eventually, when everything did come together for the Mariners in a rush at the end of the 1995 season, the one slogan most identified with the franchise from then to now answered a lot of questions.

The Mariners had gained a following and become contenders because they simply “Refuse to Lose.”

Since the playoff transformation in their 19th season, the Mariners have established a new identity that has supplied several of the moments most celebrated as the franchise recognizes its first 20 years.

The organization could easily be observing its 20th anniversary on its first birthday in another city, if things had not so radically reversed in the past few years.

All-universe center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. admits, “I would’ve been gone,” if the fortunes of the organization hadn’t turned. And with Griffey may have gone the team.

But now that the Mariners have experienced the playoffs and become a nationwide favorite, Seattle is suddenly a “baseball city.” That’s a term you didn’t associate with Seattle during the largely unspectacular first two decades.

“Playing in Seattle was like playing for Mr. Rogers in the beautiful neighborhood, very low-key, tranquil,” former Mariners infielder Lenny Randle once said. “The fans were polite and applauded. But Seattle was not a contending team. It was as though Seattle didn’t register with the rest of America as a major league franchise.”

In fact, according to long-ago closer Bill Caudill, the Mariners in some aspects weren’t on the same competitive playing field as their counterparts when he pitched in Seattle in 1982 and ‘83. But while he has retired to live in Kirkland, he’s seen an amazing transformation.

“To watch the progress of this organization, that really at one time was a farm club for the rest of the major league systems, with new ownership to get a manager the caliber of Lou Piniella and keep players like Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, (Jay) Buhner and Edgar Martinez, this is a great organization,” Caudill said. “They are going to be a contender for a long time. This team is very young. As talented as any team in the major leagues. If their pitching stays healthy, this team has a chance to get in the postseason again and do well.”

The postseason. While that is every team’s goal in spring training, it typically became an afterthought for Mariners teams before the first day of summer.

Seattle didn’t have its first winning team until 1991, when Jim Lefebvre guided the Mariners to an 83-79 mark. He was rewarded with a pink slip and Seattle went 64-98 in 1992. The Mariners had actually been worse, losing 104 games in 1978, 103 in 1980 and 102 in 1983.

Through their first 20 seasons, the Mariners finished an average of 21 games behind the A.L. West champion.

Utility man Mike Blowers grew up in Tacoma and went to games in the Kingdome, but the Mariners often weren’t the featured attraction.

“We’d go to games when other teams would come in that obviously had the players we wanted to see,” Blowers said. “When I was a kid it wasn’t whether the team won or lost. I didn’t know anything about the standings or anything like that. It wasn’t as big a deal as just being here and seeing major league baseball players, which was what the fun was.”

Now, the Mariners have fans who travel across the country to see Griffey, Buhner, Alex Rodriguez, Martinez, Johnson and Lou’s crew.

It took 20 years of wrong turns and detours, but the organization is now circling the pinnacle destination - the World Series - just trying to find a way in.

For Griffey, the World Series is the only thing to care about. He says he doesn’t care who he plays for, how many highlight-show catches he makes or how many home runs he hits. And he thinks the 1997 Mariners are “close. But it’s still a long ways away.”

Seattle was established as an odds-on favorite to win the A.L. this season, quite a change from the days when Sports Illustrated wrote, “The Seattle Mariners tried a novel promotion gimmick Saturday night - winning.”

That was 1981. Tom Paciorek hit home runs to beat the New York Yankees on back-to-back nights in the Kingdome and that was as sweet a feeling as the team had.

It took until the late 1980s before the makings of continued success arrived. Obviously, the selection of Griffey as the No. 1 pick in the nation in 1987 was the single acquisition that can be designated as the turning point. In the time it took Griffey to reach the majors as a 19-year-old, Martinez worked his way up the Mariners’ farm chain, Buhner was acquired from the Yankees and Johnson from Montreal.

“That’s one thing people don’t remember,” said Mark Langston, who led the A.L. in strikeouts as a rookie in 1984 and made the All-Star team in 1987 before being traded for Johnson. “That’s probably the best trade that ever happened for the Seattle Mariners. It’s kind of ironic.”

The irony came in the fact that the ace of that time, Langston, and ace of now, Johnson, wound up facing each other in the one-game playoff for the 1995 A.L. West title.

Of course the Mariners and Johnson won and Langston, although one of the best left-handers in the game for a time, still hasn’t gotten into the playoffs.

Langston went to Montreal for Johnson and Brian Holman before spending the past eight years with the Angels.

When he left, the organization made its first commitment to winning.

“Maybe they realized over the years when you have young players come up you’ve got to hold on to them,” Langston said. “It seemed like when they blossomed they were always somewhere else.

“They’ve seen a lot of teams that hold on to their young players and build around that group, how well the teams do. I think they had a great nucleus of young players at the time I left. They’ve kept them all here. They’ve kept them together and had success with that.”

Since Langston was traded away in 1989, the M’s have provided more spectacular and rare moments that have grown to define the organization’s existence than they did to that point.

No-hitters by Chris Bosio and Johnson, beating the Yankees in the first ever wild-card playoff series and a plethora of homers and catches from Griffey have replaced most of the moments that brought ridicule to the Mariners for what seemed like forever.

“Those are memories that you’re going to have for the rest of your life,” said Blowers.

“To be on the club and see those things happen and things in the past I’ve been a part of like seeing the game Boz threw his no-hitter in, that was awesome,” Blowers said. “Playing in the playoff games, that one-game playoff against California (for the ‘95 A.L. West title), being a part of all that is stuff I’ll never forget.”

Now, having worked their way to the biggest lead atop the A.L. West in franchise history, the Mariners are on their way to providing a whole new generation with a raft of golden memories.