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Out of Left Field: How the Mariners Made Baseball Fly in Seattle
Presents a history of the Seattle Mariners, from their first season in 1977, through a decade of losing seasons, until their resurgance in the 1990s with star players and winning teams.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 13, 2024
Good book!! I guess keeping the Mariner’s in Seattle was the 95 season. We cannot live in the past. The future of upgrading, next season, and wanting to win must be in the future. Stop living in the past!!!!!!
December 20, 2008
This could've easily been a fluff piece about the Seattle Mariners rise to prominence in the Northwest. Instead, it turned out to be a very thoughtful look at the politics involved behind the scenes in professional sports and the relationship between a city and its sports teams (for better or for worse).
July 2, 2007
The history of the Mariners, from the start to the glory days of 1995 (Griffey, Edgar, Buhner, Danny ... *sigh* Those were the good days) to Ichiro and 2003.
September 18, 2025
I really loved this book! As a long-time Mariners fan, I remember all of the drama surrounding the team, especially being on pins and needles that the team would leave. I also recall the crazy joy of the 1995 team including the late-season come back, the play-in game vs. the Angels (which I attended), Edgar's double to beat the Yankees, and the crushing loss to the Indians. That's what made it so fascinating and fun to read the inside accounts of this preposterous story from many of the participants, especially Jay Buhner.
That said, the best part of the book for me was the opportunity to read something from Art Thiel again. I was a regular reader of his column in the PI, and Art has such a unique ability to come up with a unique and funny turn of a phrase, including my favorite, that the Mariners were "as lucky as the towel boy in a cheerleaders' locker room."
Thank you, Art, for writing this story. Well done!
That said, the best part of the book for me was the opportunity to read something from Art Thiel again. I was a regular reader of his column in the PI, and Art has such a unique ability to come up with a unique and funny turn of a phrase, including my favorite, that the Mariners were "as lucky as the towel boy in a cheerleaders' locker room."
Thank you, Art, for writing this story. Well done!
July 14, 2022
A must read for Mariners fans, and a should read for all other baseball fans. The M’s are now the only team in baseball not to appear in the World Series since their inception. This book goes into the ownership difficulties, the players, and how for a glorious time from 1995 through 2001 they were the talk of the town.
As a baseball fan I hope Portland gets a team and the Portland-Seattle rivalry makes both cities great baseball towns!
As a baseball fan I hope Portland gets a team and the Portland-Seattle rivalry makes both cities great baseball towns!
October 18, 2023
This book was written in 2003, around the time I became a Mariners fan, so it was fun to learn more about the history before I actively watched. Did you know: Ken Griffey Jr. was drafted by the Mariners in part because a scout lied about Griffey's scouting report to make him seem better than he how he really graded out? Crazy.
January 1, 2013
I haven't read a lot of sports books, much less one that is 10 years old, but Out of Left Field was a fun book to read on several levels--particularly as a long-suffering Mariners fan.
Thiel does a good job of recapping what a pathetic franchise the Mariners were and how they became a powerhouse. What I like best is the book leaves us at the end of the Pinella era when the fan base was huge and optimism ran high.
It's also good to see in retrospect how much the present CEO, Howard Lincoln, is responsible for the dismal state of the club. Arriving with his rigid formulas that worked so well at Nintendo, Lincoln survives in baseball only because of the loyalty of aging Nintendo owner Hiroshi Yamauchi. Mariner fans continue to suffer from Lincoln's poor choices--the disastrous win-now policy instituted by Bill Bavasi in which very talented young players were dealt to other clubs for washed-up veteran or just poor players, and of course his iron fist on budgetary matters. For any number of years the owners of the Mariners made big money, and then their goal was just to break even, so they broke even and have finished last for so-o-o-o-o many years.
Out of Left Field was fun to read in a depressing way, which is exactly how it should be: the glory days of the past don't add up to the present. If you're interested in read a breezy book about the hard times to glory days to the present flailing Mariners baseball team, you could do worse.
Thiel does a good job of recapping what a pathetic franchise the Mariners were and how they became a powerhouse. What I like best is the book leaves us at the end of the Pinella era when the fan base was huge and optimism ran high.
It's also good to see in retrospect how much the present CEO, Howard Lincoln, is responsible for the dismal state of the club. Arriving with his rigid formulas that worked so well at Nintendo, Lincoln survives in baseball only because of the loyalty of aging Nintendo owner Hiroshi Yamauchi. Mariner fans continue to suffer from Lincoln's poor choices--the disastrous win-now policy instituted by Bill Bavasi in which very talented young players were dealt to other clubs for washed-up veteran or just poor players, and of course his iron fist on budgetary matters. For any number of years the owners of the Mariners made big money, and then their goal was just to break even, so they broke even and have finished last for so-o-o-o-o many years.
Out of Left Field was fun to read in a depressing way, which is exactly how it should be: the glory days of the past don't add up to the present. If you're interested in read a breezy book about the hard times to glory days to the present flailing Mariners baseball team, you could do worse.
December 16, 2013
A fun read for me, providing a lot of details of the mythology I had come to think I knew. Well researched, paced and constructed, it is a must for any Mariner's fan ��� even if it only carries to 2003. AND, I survived reading it despite Thiel's penchant for the BA BA BUM CH overwrought/silly metaphor at the end of almost every paragraph. Although, when he didn't do that �����some Mariner's front office man, player or politico provided it for him. I love this game!
Philip Swanstrom Shaw
Philip Swanstrom Shaw
January 26, 2008
This book is probably only interesting to me, but I love the hell out of it. Art Thiel is one of my favorite Seattle sportswriters and his talents are put to great use here. Sadly, at this point it also serves to make me incredibly depressed when I think about the current state of the Mariners. My GOD, will we ever have decent starting pitching?
January 24, 2015
When I first pick this book, I was skeptical. As I finished the first couple chapters, I was pleasently surprised. These are the type of books I enjoy the most. A complete history of teams from start to present. All the good and bad throughout the orginization, sometimes city politics mixed in. As a resident of a suburb of Cleveland, it is nice to see
June 28, 2009
Art Thiel ROCKS! My favorite sports journalist ever. He's funny as hell, too, and takes the time to answer his email - I really like that!
This history of the Seattle Mariners (who are whuppin LA as I write this) is a thrilling account of a refuse to lose team.
This history of the Seattle Mariners (who are whuppin LA as I write this) is a thrilling account of a refuse to lose team.
April 18, 2011
I am currently reading this book right now and i really like it. This book is about the Seattle Mariners and there franchise through the years and how it has gone through tough and good times. And how the front office of the Mariners and the posibilities of them moving the team
August 4, 2008
A well-written and fascinating look at the rise of the Mariners. Definitely of interest to die-hard Mariners fans, even during this dismal season!
September 7, 2011
It's a little slow reading but so much fun to relive the early days and the more recent fun days. It gives you reason to keep cheering with hopes for the future.
November 30, 2011
a good enough read. loses points for the faulty premise of making baseball "fly in seattle" though.
February 23, 2012
Great read. Opened up many different views into why the Ms are the way (and where) they are today. AND maybe what they could be in the near future..?!
May 13, 2015
The Seattle Mariners formed a lifelong bond with me in 1995 when I was 8 years old. How could I not love the story of their origins, struggles, near-departure, and ultimate triumph (1995 and 2001)?
April 17, 2008
This is really a three-star book, but because it's about the Mariners, I'm giving it an extra star.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews