Some Center-Cut, Barreled-Up Food for Thought (12-10)
While not sponsored by the EQC tracer (nor the McDelivery SuperMo) I am writing this amidst spending some quality brother time with one of my favorite people in the whole world, CJ Blowers, son of former Ms player and color commentator Mike Blowers, and salt-of-the-earth wonder woman, Nicole Blowers.
The much needed hangout sparked an impulse in me to shine a quick light on how important broadcasting is in the sport of baseball— and just how amazing it is to see and hear how much Blowers was and is appreciated by lifelong Mariners fans.
When I first rack my brain, Mike has always just been my friend’s dad— a dad who, with the unwavering help of Nicole, always provided for his kids (and often his kid’s friends), both while playing and broadcasting, despite it meaning constant roadtrips away from the family and long hours at the park during home-stands
But when I think about it more, especially now that we’ve been exposed to Angie Mentink, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Dave Valle’s TV analysis for almost a month, I realize he’s been more than that for me.
Whenever CJ and I weren’t forgoing ballgames to, instead, play Yu-Gi-Oh on the floor of my childhood living room, or poorly freestyle to the latest Earl Sweatshirt instrumental, Mike’s voice was a consistent summer comfort that perpetually permeated into my subconscious, and a no-frills, fact of the matter cornerstone of reason during plenty of seasons where frills were few and far between and facts (rather than false hopes) needed to be heard.
Good broadcasting is crucial *and undervalued* in nearly every sport— but in a game where you are exposed to it practically everyday for 6-7 months, the role they play seems to hold significantly more weight when compared to others whether you are aware of it or not. And when you compound that with the 17 seasons worth of commentary Blowers provided, it’s easy to see how proliferating his presence ended up being for the fan base.
I would be remiss to leave out the fact that Mike was also a significant contributor to the Mariners’ success in the early to mid-nineties. On a star studded 1993 roster, Blowers put up 3.1 WAR on the back of a .280 BA. In ’95 he produced 96 RBI with 23 homers in 134 games. After a few stints with LA and Oakland, Mike retired a Mariner in 1999 and it warms my heart that he was there for the return to play-off baseball in Seattle in 2022.
Most people’s most vivid memory of Mike Blowers might be his oracle-like “pick-to-click” prediction on Matt Tuiasasopo’s first home run as a Mariner, followed by Dave Niehaus’s iconic commentary upon its coming true— but for me, my favorite Mike memories will always be something like faintly hearing his voice while drifting into a high-school-aged induced couch nap on a Sunday day game as Logan Morrison strikes out for a 3rd time during a forgettable, mid-season 1-0 loss on Felix Day.
Cheers,
Noah
Terrace Club Blues 