Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Seattle Mariners

Angie Mentink back in Mariners broadcast booth after offseason stroke

Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentnik wasn’t going to miss the start of baseball season, even after suffering a stroke in February. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times)
By Adam Jude Seattle Times

SEATTLE – Baseball’s beginning soon became a finish line for Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentink after she suffered a stroke on Feb. 21.

No way was she going to miss opening day.

“There’s definitely a sense of normalcy being back here,” Mentink said Saturday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, preparing for her second game broadcast back on the job. “I love the steady drumbeat of baseball season. This year, it was just more even – more welcoming to me walking down the hallways and stepping on the elevator. It was like, ‘Oh, yeah, this feels good.’ ”

A reporter and host for Mariners broadcasts since 1997, Mentink last year became the first woman in club history to serve a regular role as an in-game color analyst.

In 2017, Mentink said she was overwhelmed with support when she went through surgery and radiation treatments for breast cancer. It was a similar feeling this time around.

The stroke left her paralyzed on her left side, and she had to relearn how to walk and everyday tasks like unloading the dishwasher.

It didn’t take long for her to turn her attention back to baseball. She initially was determined to stick with plans for a mid-March trip to Arizona to see the Mariners in spring training. Her bosses with the club talked her out of that.

“The Mariners have been so awesome,” she said. “I was trying to get back for spring training. I was like, ‘I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.’ And they were just like, ‘Stop. Don’t worry about that. Let’s focus on opening day and make that your goal.’ And I was grateful for that.”

She’s been flooded with calls and text messages since news of her stroke was revealed in a profile story Friday in Seattle Met magazine.

“Obviously, we all wish her the best as she gets through this,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said after an interview with Mentink on Saturday. “She’s been a pioneer in this game, and it’s tremendous. She does a great job, she bleeds Mariner blue … and we’re lucky to have her here in Seattle.”