Mariners News: MiLB signings, Steelheads uniforms, new statue honoring 2001

The Seattle Mariners will soon be reporting to Peoria for spring training, and they sure seem determined to put the finishing touches on their roster before they get there.

To wit, some surprising names stood out when the Mariners released their list of non-roster invitees to spring training last Friday. It functioned as the reveal that the team had signed some players to fresh minor league deals, specifically catchers Brian O'Keefe and Jackson Reetz, infielder Will Wilson and right-hander Michael Rucker.

Mariners fans might recognize O'Keefe's name from his time with the team in 2022 and 2023. He appeared in 10 games across the two seasons, going just 3-for-22 at the plate. The 32-year-old has spent almost all of his 11-year pro career in the minors, so he's certainly a long shot to earn the backup job behind Cal Raleigh.

Reetz, Willson and Rucker also have previous major league experience, including as recently as 2025 for Reetz. He appeared in 34 games with the Cleveland Guardians, so he's yet another name in the hat that is Seattle's catching depth chart underneath "Big Dumper."

Mariners pitchers and catchers will report for spring training on February 12, with the squad's first full workout set for February 17.

Mariners will honor Negro Leagues with Steelheads uniforms every Sunday home game in 2026

Meanwhile, the Mariners have a new look for Sunday home games at T-Mobile Park this season. Out are the cream-colored uniforms that had been the standard on Sundays since 2015, and in are replicas of the uniforms of the 1946 Seattle Steelheads.

Though the Steelheads were part of a league that folded after just three months in 1946, they are notable for being a side project of Abe Saperstein, best known as the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters. The Steelheads played at Sick's Stadium, which later housed the Seattle Pilots when they became the city's first MLB team in 1969.

The Mariners debuted their Steelheads uniforms in 1995, though this season will mark their first as a regular feature at T-Mobile Park. Indeed, the Mariners are the first MLB team to commit to using a Negro Leagues uniform as part of its regular rotation.

The 2001 Mariners will be honored by a new statue at T-Mobile Park

Another big reveal to come out of Mariners FanFest over the weekend is that there will be a new statue outside T-Mobile Park this year. It will honor both the 116-win Mariners club of 2001 and the 25th anniversary of September 11th.

The statue will depict Mark McLemore and Mike Camerson raising an American flag, an image from after the Mariners clinched the AL West on September 19th of 2001.

The moment was not planned. It was Carl Hamilton, a Marine veteran and the club's video coordinator, who brought out an American flag that night after a 5-0 win over the Angels. McLemore took it and brought it to the mound, resulting in an impromptu prayer circle and a request from public address announcer Tom Hutyler for a moment of silence.

“This was the high point of my career, definitely my highest moment in baseball,” McLemore said that night. “And it was right. After what our country has gone through, what many of our people have gone through, this was tasteful and respectful.”

The statue will be unveiled on September 3, 2026 before the Mariners' game against the Athletics.