For decades there has been one consistent voice covering the Mariners, Seahawks, and Seattle sports. Following the conclusion of the 2023 season, Larry Stone will be retiring. His columns have been a joy for so many years, and I was lucky enough to get to know him a little over the past year.

His start in journalism came following his graduation from Cal-Berkeley. He started as a sportswriter for the Yakima Herald-Republic in 1979, his introduction to the Pacific Northwest.

Larry has covered the Mariners for the Seattle Times since 1997 but got his start in 1986 for a smaller newspaper that no longer exists, the Bellevue Journal-American. He bounced around the Bay Area for a few years afterward but met his wife in Washington and decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest.

He was hired to cover the Seahawks during the 1996 season and ended up getting the job covering the Mariners for the 1997 season.

In addition to his fantastic work as a columnist, Larry co-authored the autobiography of Mariners legend Edgar Martinez and recently served as president of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

If you have been following the Mariners or Seahawks over the last 30 years you have certainly read much of Larry’s outstanding work. His columns always bring enthusiasm, humor, and an obvious joy for the game of baseball.

As a kid growing up watching Mariners baseball every night, I always knew I wanted to have a voice in the realm of Seattle baseball content. I never really knew how to make this happen, but for years I dreamt of becoming a baseball journalist.

Along with Ryan Divish, Larry has been one of the driving forces of my career in baseball journalism. His columns always captivated me and so many others, and I can truly say I don’t think I would be doing what I am doing today without his work.

I was lucky enough to have Larry join me for a trip down memory lane, as well as to talk about the current Seattle Mariners and their playoff push. Not only do all of us want the Mariners to make the playoffs and eventually a World Series, but their doing so would give him a chance to cover a World Series in Seattle.

I will link the video to our conversation below, but you can also find the podcast form under the podcast tab on the Sea Level homepage! Thanks again so much to Larry for everything he has done for Seattle sports, and me specifically.

Subscribe now

Read more

Marlowe is in his fourth year in the Mariners’ system, but he could just as easily be in medical school.

Subscribe now

“Growing up I always thought I wanted to be a doctor. My mom really wanted me to be a doctor,” Marlowe said with a laugh. He followed this passion for most of his time in college, studying Biology at West Georgia.

Growing up in Tifton, Georgia, Marlowe accepted an offer to play at West Georgia. Marlowe ended up playing four years for the Wolves, a Division II school located about 3 hours from his hometown.

Growing up Marlowe had a passion for science and math and didn’t really see a career in baseball until a summer with the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas are well known for their crazy in-game stunts and entertaining style of play, but it was here Marlowe first got noticed.

Read more

“It’s kind of a wild one. I don’t know that there are many like it. That doesn’t make it good or bad, just different.”

Goldsmith started out as a history major at Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. As graduation approached at Principia, a small Division III school, he got the idea to become a sports broadcaster.

Just 45 days before graduation with no formal training or experience, Goldsmith decided to enroll at Broadcast Center in St. Louis. The academy was a trade school, but despite its name, it was mostly focused on training DJs and news anchors.

During this time Goldsmith says he did what every proud college graduate does, “I moved into my parents basement and learned how to be a DJ.” While it doesn’t seem ideal, he learned to operate equipment and how to be part of a production team.

This training ended up being an integral piece of his journey, serving him well in his time as a minor league broadcaster.

After his training and working at a local appliance store, Goldsmith finally applied for a broadcasting job with the Gateway Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are an independent club based out of the suburbs of St. Louis.

This job paid him just 70 dollars a month, but he was thrilled to be there. The gig consisted of two innings of play-by-play per game, and included an on field interview following the conclusion of the game.

There were a lot of fond memories during this time, but the job didn’t come easy to him. “I was generally terrible the whole year. I had no idea how to interview someone,” Goldsmith said.

Read more

As I settled in to talk with Julio that day I’m not going to lie, I was nervous. I feel pretty comfortable talking to baseball players, coaches, and personnel at this point, but this kid had a special feeling about him.

As we began the interview his natural calmness and confidence in himself became apparent, oozing through the phone with every word he spoke. 

He made me feel confident, this was just a conversation about a game we both love. 

My first question crazily enough was about the transition to center field and how that was going for him. Over the past year, we have seen a superstar major league centerfielder, but it is hard to remember that it didn’t always appear that way.

Few scouts, if any, thought Julio could play center field. The one person that mattered thought he could. Julio Rodríguez.

“It’s really easy to play. It’s a really good position, one that I like to play.” 

Okay, simple enough. 

He goes on to say how thankful he is for Franklin Gutiérrez, Mike Cameron, and Ichiro in camp and all they have done to help him with his outfield play, to become a true centerfielder. 

The conversation flowed towards his new brand in partnership with Blue Chip, and what kind of hoodie I should get. This partnership was just the beginning of the endless amounts of endorsements and brand deals he will receive, especially as a player who has fully cemented himself in the “Face of Baseball” discussion. 

Since our chat, the 22 year old superstar has joined forces with EA Sports to be a cover athlete, and with Adidas with a shoe deal. There may or may not be a big announcement coming soon in that department for Julio, so stay tuned. 

The star centerfielder struggled in April but took hold of the spot at the top of the order in May, never letting it go. After posting a batting average below the Mendoza line early on, Rodríguez exploded, posting a 146 WRC+ for the season at just 21 years old. 

He put on a show at the home run derby at Dodger Stadium and spearheaded the Seattle Mariners snapping the longest playoff drought in major professional sports. 

Now a year older and wiser, the 22 year old is also a lot richer. In August he signed a 12 year contract extension that could turn into 17 years and over 400 million dollars. 

Even with the fame, the contract, and the endorsements Rodríguez has stayed a steady and fun-loving presence. He is already the face of Seattle sports and isn’t too far off of being the face of our sport. 

Julio Rodríguez loves Seattle too, as was on display in his article in the Players Tribune on Wednesday morning. He loves Seattle and more importantly, he loves the game of baseball. 

On Thursday night he will take the field in front of a jam-packed T-Mobile Park, ready to lead the Mariners toward a new goal, the World Series. 

Through all the change and development over the last year, one thing has been steady. Julio Rodríguez is still the same kid the Mariners signed out of Lomo de Cabrera in 2017, and it is going to stay that way. 

“He just wanted to let me know I had been dealt to Seattle and wished me luck. It was very ‘Moneyball’ like,” Hummel said with a grin.

He turned to his wife after the short conversation to let her know they would be heading to Seattle, then called his parents and friends before even receiving a call from the Mariners.

Thirty minutes later he got a call from the Mariners, finding out he was traded for former American League Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis.

This deal was just another wrench in a long journey since growing up just a few hours South in Portland, Oregon.

In fact, his journey of twists and turns goes back even further than this. When Cooper Hummel was a freshman in high school he was told his baseball career would never amount to anything, and that he should give up catching and switch hitting.

This turned into fuel for the 28 year old utility player, earning a scholarship to play for the University of Portland Pilots, a Division I baseball program. Eventually, the catcher who was “too small” and “wouldn’t amount to anything” turned into an 18th-round draft pick under head coach, Geoff Loomis.

Hummel was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers, and his first season in pro ball was quite a shock. Coming from a college atmosphere that was focused on a team-first mentality, professional ball can be ruthless and cutthroat.

“You don’t have a lot of control over your career at first. It is somebody in an office making the decisions and watching you play.”

Hummel went through a variety of difficult obstacles in each professional season, all of them shaping his abilities as a player. The Lakeridge High School alum has spent parts of six seasons in the minor leagues, each of them with its own particular challenges.

Read more

Those who follow the game closely know the journey of a prospect is rarely linear, and Riley O’Brien’s path has been anything but straight.

The goal of many young baseball players is to play Division I baseball, and ultimately get drafted and make it to the Major Leagues. 

O’Brien describes the high school version of himself as “good, but not good enough for Division I.” He doesn’t describe the college version of Riley O’Brien with anywhere near the same sort of fondness, “I really struggled, especially my sophomore year.”

An attendee of Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Washington, O’Brien opted to stay close to home by enrolling at Everett Community College.

In two years of playing in the NWAC conference, O’Brien struggled mightily with control and confidence, in part due to mechanical changes he was attempting to make. He had every tool you would want in a young pitcher but became completely lost on the roster by his sophomore season.

Going weeks at a time without throwing can be a frustrating process, especially being relegated to only pitch in mid-week games. With conference games on the weekend, midweek games are typically used as a developmental time for players who do not receive regular playing time.

“I was in my head a lot. I wasn’t pitching, I was thinking about my mechanics and just not throwing any strikes,” O’Brien said.

Struggles like this can produce a very lonely feeling for a young college player. His experience in Everett was anything but a success. This caused the Shoreline native to re-think whether or not continuing to play was an option for him.

“I really thought baseball had run its course.”

Following his first two years, O’Brien really thought his baseball career was over. It would have been too if it weren’t for an opportunity provided to him by his coaches at Everett.  They contacted Shawn Humberger, the head coach at the College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. The small NAIA school was willing to take a chance on a talented kid who hadn’t yet put things together. 

By this point in his life, O’Brien had done so much work on the mechanics of his delivery that he had lost what made him a good player in the first place. What he needed was a full reset, to just go back to square one and let his body work more naturally.

Upon arrival at the College of Idaho, O’Brien had a talk with the coaching staff and let them know what he needed to be successful.

“I told them I need to do what I need to do to throw a strike. I can’t worry about where my foot is or where my glove is” O’Brien says. “I need to look at the zone and throw a strike.”

The process of finding himself didn’t happen right away though according to teammates. “He wasn’t a dude right when he showed up, but his senior year he really dialed it in. He was always a great teammate and got along with everybody,” college teammate Jake Eddy said.

It turns out simplicity was the best thing for the six foot four inch right-hander, who rediscovered his mechanics over 36 appearances with the ‘Yotes. He posted a career ERA of 2.70 with 141 strikeouts, dominating NAIA hitters with his fastball and curveball.

Following his senior season he was selected in the 8th round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. Not many NAIA players are selected every year, but O’Brien would be one of the few who would try to make the leap.

Read more