Dave Myers

Dave Myers never played in the major leagues, but baseball is the only job he has ever known. His baseball career spanned over 40 years in a variety of roles, including as third-base coach for the 2001 Mariners, where he frequently motioned go-ahead and winning runs home in their record 116-win season.

David Kenneth Myers was born on August 8, 1959, in York, Pennsylvania, the son of Lorna Mae (Gross) and Kenneth “Kenny” Myers.1 Dave grew up in York with his parents and three siblings: Daniel, Jeffrey, and Lisa.2 He played baseball from an early age, which was perhaps unsurprising given that Kenny, a former pitcher, signed with the Baltimore Orioles out of high school and played three seasons in the minor leagues. After his baseball career, Kenny, who was an elite amateur golfer, made his living as a welder for Teledyne McKay.3 Lorna worked in the lab at a local hospital.4

Dave lettered in baseball and basketball at William Penn Senior High School and played American Legion ball for York IBEW.5 The 6-foot-4 pitcher-shortstop continued his baseball career at Temple University in Philadelphia, a little over 100 miles from York. He flashed enough promise as an infielder to attract the attention of scouts. The New York Yankees selected him in the 27th round of the June 1980 amateur draft, but he chose to return to Temple for his senior year after spending the summer playing for the Cotuit Kettleers in the talent-laden Cape Cod League.6 This proved to be a life-altering choice for Myers, who was then drafted by the Mariners in the 13th round of the June 1981 draft and was signed by scout Bill Kearns.7 Myers started his professional career in Bellingham, Washington, with the Bellingham Mariners of the short-season Class-A Northwest League.

Myers, who at times went by the nickname Slats, never emerged as a prospect, instead settling in as a versatile infielder who could help round out starting lineups.8 After Bellingham, he played seven more seasons for Mariner minor-league teams, reaching Double-A Chattanooga and Burlington (Vermont) in his final season. He never advanced beyond Double A. In 795 minor-league games, Myers batted .272 with 26 home runs. But the statistic that was perhaps the most indicative of his overall role was his five pitching appearances in the minors, all games finished in an era where position players finishing games was rare. In 7⅓ cumulative innings he gave up just one home run while striking out five batters with a 3.68 ERA.

In 1989 Myers became the manager of the Mariners’ rookie-league team based at their spring-training complex in Tempe, Arizona. This transformed him from an aging Double-A depth player to a young, up-and-coming manager. Myers spent two seasons managing in Tempe, where he worked with a pair of 17-year-olds who eventually made the major leagues, outfielder Marc Newfield and southpaw starter Mike Hampton. In 1991 Myers was promoted to manager of his first team, the Bellingham Mariners. He managed a handful of future major leaguers during his time there, including pitchers Shawn Estes, Derek Lowe, and Bob Wolcott, as well as catcher Chris Widger. Myers also managed Craig Griffey, the brother of Mariners superstar Ken Griffey Jr.9

After two seasons in Bellingham, Myers was promoted to manager of Riverside in the high-A California League. He spent two seasons there and managed future major-league pitchers pitchers Ryan Franklin, Jim Mecir, and Ron Villone, as well as position players Desi Relaford and Charles Gipson. The 1994 Riverside Pilots were particularly dominant, going 87-49 while winning both the first and second halves of the season. Myers’ work perhaps contributed to his promotion to manage the Port City Roosters (Wilmington, North Carolina) of the Double-A Southern League 1995. Port City’s roster included future Red Sox star Jason Varitek, arguably the best prospect Myers ever managed.

An example of Myers’ coaching philosophy involved a tentative young shortstop at Port City who Myers did not feel should have been in Double A. Myers recalled telling the player, “If you make a bad throw, throw it out of the stadium. If you get thrown out at second base, get thrown out at second base. Don’t stop halfway and think you’ll get back. Making aggressive mistakes is a good philosophy to live (or die) by.”10 The quote, which appeared in a 1996 Tacoma News Tribune article, likely referred to Wilson Delgado, who played in parts of nine major-league seasons.11

Port City struggled to a 62-80 record under Myers, but his handling of young starter Bob Wolcott, whom he had also worked with in both Bellingham and Riverside, showed the stature and respect Myers had in the Mariners organization. Wolcott did not carve out a long career in the major leagues, but he began the 1995 campaign in Port City and by the end of the season was starting multiple games for the Mariners in the heat of their “Refuse to Lose” campaign that culminated in the franchise’s first playoff berth. A Tacoma sportswriter wrote that Tacoma Rainiers manager Steve Smith wanted Wolcott to start the season in Triple A, but Myers did not feel Wolcott was ready and pushed for him to start the year in Port City instead. Myers won the argument and advocated for Wolcott’s promotion later in the season, decisions that proved to be fruitful for both Wolcott and Myers.12

After one season in Port City, Myers was named manager of the Tacoma Rainiers, the Mariners’ Triple-A Pacific Coast League affiliate. This was the first team he managed that competed at a higher level than any he had reached himself. Myers shared his perception of Triple-A ballplayers: “At this level, most guys know how to play the game. It’s just trying to refine what they know – what will help us and what will help the big club. That’s the fun part for me.”13 Myers acclimated to the role well, spending five seasons, managing in Tacoma, more time than at any other place in his career. He guided the Rainiers to three winning seasons and finished just under .500 in the other two. In 2000, Myers’ final season managing the Rainiers, the Tacoma News Tribune characterized him as “not the sort of passionately demonstrative skipper who breaks chairs and bangs bats over clubhouse food table,” adding, “He is content to serve as a guiding light, less a drill instructor than an instructor with a reverence for the details of a drill.”14 But Myers did not lack personality or a desire to win. He lamented the current play of his team, stating, “I’m embarrassed. I’ll kiss your (rear end) if we’re not better than this.”15

The Mariners promoted Myers to be their third-base coach in 2001. He had played or managed in over 2,100 games across 20 years for Mariners minor-league affiliates before stepping into the third-base coach’s box at Safeco Field on Monday, April 2, 2001, the season opener against the Oakland Athletics. A sellout crowd witnessed Myers’ major-league coaching debut, though most fans were likely more interested in the team on the field, including Japanese sensation Ichiro Suzuki, who also made his US major-league debut that day.

The Athletics jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Mariners clawed back. The game was tied, 4-4, in the bottom of the eighth. Jim Mecir, whom Myers had managed in the minors, was on the mound for Oakland. Mecir walked Carlos Guillén to open the inning, and Ichiro followed up with a bunt. Mecir fielded the sacrifice, but Ichiro’s dazzling speed was too much. In his rushed attempt to get Ichiro at first, Mecir threw the ball away, allowing both runners to advance. With the go-ahead runner on third base, Mike Cameron came to the plate.

When Cameron hit a fly ball to center field, Myers faced his first dilemma as the Mariners’ third-base coach. Was the ball hit deep enough to send Guillén home? Manager Lou Piniella later said he did not expect Myers to always make the same decisions he would. “The only thing I told him is that I want him to be aggressive,” said Piniella, echoing a similar sentiment Myers shared with that tentative Double-A shortstop in 1995.16 However, aggression has its limits. Myers had Guillén bluff down the line but held him at third base. The throw home was badly offline, meaning Guillén could have scored. Ruiz wrote that the crowd booed, and Piniella appeared distraught in the dugout.17

The decision to hold Guillén at third base was not among the more memorable moments of the 2001 Mariners season, but it was memorable for Myers personally. “I had never had 45,000 people boo me,” he said in 2002. “I might have had 1,200 at a time, but not 45,000. I’m not coaching third to please these people. I’m coaching third to give our club what I think is the best chance to score runs and win the ballgame. I make the decision based on what we need to win the game – not to send a guy so these people see action when it’s not really the right move.”18

After Cameron’s fly out, future Hall of Famer Edgar Martínez was given an intentional walk, loading the bases. John Olerud followed with another fly ball to center field. This one, Myers judged, was deep enough. He sent Guillén home with the go-ahead run. It was all the Mariners got and all the Mariners needed. Kazuhiro Sasaki came in for the save, finishing off the first win of the season, with 115 more to follow.

Not much went wrong for the Mariners in the 2001 regular season, so it was unsurprising when Myers returned to Piniella’s staff as third-base coach in 2002. Piniella left for Tampa Bay after the 2002 season, and first-time manager Bob Melvin was hired from outside the organization to replace him. New leadership often means a new coaching staff, but Melvin opted to keep Myers as third-base coach in 2003. However, Piniella’s departure was just the beginning of a tumultuous stretch for Mariners leadership. General manager Pat Gillick moved on after the 2003 season and was replaced by Bill Bavasi, who kept the existing coaching staff in place for 2004. However, after a disastrous 99-loss campaign, Bavasi replaced Melvin with veteran manager Mike Hargrove, and this time the changes included replacing Myers with Jeff Newman. However, Myers remained in the Mariners organization as a minor-league coach and then managed the short-season Everett AquaSox in 2006. The summer managing in Everett was Myers’ final role with the Mariners.

Myers left the Mariners but never left baseball or the Pacific Northwest behind. After working as the hitting coach for the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, he transitioned into a scouting role for the Rays that allowed him more time to be around home and his family.19 Myers also spent time in the 2010s coaching youth around his home through the Gig Harbor Baseball Academy, which included the Narrows Baseball Club, a 13- to 18-year-old club team for players looking to further develop outside of the high-school season.20

Despite the mix of coaching and family time, Myers’ itch for managing and competing never went away. In 2018 – 12 years removed from his last managing stint in Everett – he told a newsman, “I get the urge to get back on the field. I’m watching baseball now; I’m not participating in baseball. I have no control over the outcome, and I have no horse in the race.”21 Myers opined about how baseball had changed: “You don’t run into too many people in high-ranking positions who played this game anymore. A different breed of people are running the game of baseball. I can’t say it’s good or bad. It’s not that I’m bitter about it. It’s just a change. It’s different than the game I came up with.”22

During Myers’ quarter-century in the Mariners organization, he climbed the minor-league ladder slowly as a player, then again as a manager, cracking the major leagues as a coach after years of commitment and dedication to one organization. It was a noteworthy career arc, the type that is hard to imagine happening now with the way the game has changed. Myers carved out a long, successful career in baseball despite never playing a day in the major leagues. The game also left a lasting impact on him, sending him on an odyssey from York, Pennsylvania, to the Puget Sound, where he raised a family with his wife, Christine.23

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

NOTES

1 Kenneth E. Myers obituary, York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch, https://www.yorkdispatch.com/obituaries/mpa084198, accessed April 8, 2025.

2 Frank Bodani, “York High’s Dave Myers Works Pro Baseball from a Different Angle,” York Daily Record, April 3, 2018, https://www.ydr.com/story/sports/baseball/2018/04/03/york-highs-dave-myers-works-pro-baseball-different-angle/468430002/; Kenneth E. Myers obituary.

3 Kenneth E. Myers obituary.

4 Lorna Myers obituary, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/york/name/lorna-myers-obituary?id=13569948, accessed April 10, 2025.

5 David K. Myers, Publicity Questionnaire for William J. Weiss, April 24, 1982, accessed through the SABR Research Collection.

6 Mike Lough, “Yanks Draft Dave Myers,” York Daily Record, July 7, 1980: 15.

7 Myers, Publicity Questionnaire from 1982.

8 David K. Myers, William J. Weiss publicity questionnaires from July 6, 1981, and April 12, 1984, accessed through the SABR Research Collection.

9 Claire Smith, “Big Baseball Names for 2 Little Brothers,” New York Times, February 25, 1996: section 8, page 1.

10 John Lawrence, “New Rainiers Manager Likes to Throw Caution to the Wind,” Tacoma News Tribune, February 9, 1996: C1.

11 Delgado was actually 22 years old at the time, but nobody who played regularly for Port City in 1995 was younger than 21. Delgado appeared in 13 games at shortstop for Port City, committing five errors. He did not log any steal attempts, despite the comment about his tentative baserunning. Delgado was traded to the San Francisco Giants along with Shawn Estes for Salomón Torres on May 21, 1995.

12 Lawrence.

13 Lawrence.

14 John McGrath, “Rainiers Make Physical, Mental Errors,” Tacoma News Tribune, June 11, 2000: C7.

15 McGrath.

16 Don Ruiz, “Major Adjustment: Ex-Rainiers Manager Myers in Big-League Spots as Mariners Third-Base Coach,” Tacoma News Tribune, July 31, 2002: C1, C5.

17 Ruiz.

18 Ruiz.

19 Bodani, “York High’s Dave Myers Works Pro Baseball from a Different Angle.”

20 Rodika Tollefson and Scott Turner, “GH Baseball Academy Hones Skill and Confidence,” Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, Washington), May 1, 2011, https://archive.kitsapsun.com/news/local/gh-baseball-academy-hones-skill-and-confidence-ep-418600222-357254291.html.

21 Bodani.

22 Bodani.

23 Kenneth E. Myers obituary.