Remembering Dave Niehuas

Credit: mariners.mlb.com (shared publicly on Google+, Twitter, etc)

It was three years ago today (Nov. 10) that Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus passed away. Over three years since we last heard his “My Oh My” or his “Swung on and BELTED.”

It really doesn’t do the man justice to simply call him “Mariners broadcaster.” For Mariners fans, he was The Voice. He was like a close neighbor or even a member of the family. Someone we turned to night after night to describe in glorious detail, the game we call baseball. He was one of the best. One of the few who could allow you to actually close your eyes and picture the game as he described it.

Born in Indiana, Niehaus first went to work in Major League Baseball as broadcast partner to Dick Enberg with the California Angels in 1969. Spending time also calling games for the Los Angeles Rams (NFL) and both UCLA football and basketball.

But it was the trip north that etched him into the history books. Niehaus was the first broadcaster for the expansion Seattle Mariners in 1977. A post he stuck with, despite almost two decades of futility. From 1977 to 2010, Niehaus broadcasted 5,284 of the team’s 5,385 games. He had planned on a full slate for 2011.

When the Mariners won the AL West in 1995, I’m sure many Mariners fans (myself included) were just as happy, if not more happy for Niehaus than any member of the team.

He gave us “The Kid”, “A-Rod” and “Death to Flying Things.” He also gave new meaning to rye bread and mustard and taught us that home runs don’t sail over the wall, they “fly, fly away.”

He was honored with the Ford C. Frick Award in 2008, the highest honor in baseball broadcasting. He will no doubt be enshrined in Cooperstown at some point.

As Mariners fans remember today, it started with the Mariners’ MLB.com site circulating the picture above with the #MyOhMy and #RememberingDave.

Fans have since taken to Twitter with those hashtags to post remembrances:

It truly isn’t the same without you. We miss you Dave.

Dave Niehaus (Feb. 19, 1935 – Nov. 10, 2010)