Mark McLemore

IN HIS 19-YEAR big-league career, Mark McLemore never won a batting title or Gold Glove Award, nor was he named to an All-Star roster. But he could draw a walk, swipe a base, move a runner up, and provide steady defense at multiple positions. For this skill set, the oft-injured player known as Mac was popular with fans and the press. Teammates valued his leadership on and off the field. “He’s a good player that can do a lot of things for you,” Hall of Famer Edgar Martínez offered. “He’s a super guy to have around the clubhouse.”1

Mark Tremell McLemore was born in San Diego on October 4, 1964, to Louis “L.C.” and Mollie Rebecca (Parsons) McLemore. Mark, the youngest of seven, had three brothers (Louis Jr., Kenneth, and Kevin) and three sisters (Betty, Debra, and Cheryl). His father supported the family working two jobs, as a janitor at the University of California at San Diego and as a parking lot attendant at a Ford dealership. His mother was a homemaker and receptionist at UCSD. The family lived in southeast San Diego. “It had a reputation for being a rough place and, no, it wasn’t Beverly Hills,” Mark quipped. “But we were OK there. It was home.”2 L.C. and Mollie nurtured their children and supported all their activities.

McLemore played football one season at Samuel F.B. Morse High School in San Diego, but baseball was his passion. The switch-hitting shortstop batted .419 with 17 stolen bases in his senior year,3 yet might have gone undiscovered were it not for teammate Sam Horn. Major-league scouts flocked to view the 6-foot-5 first baseman, considered by some as the best pure high-school hitter in the 1982 amateur draft.4 The Boston Red Sox selected Horn in the first round (16th overall pick); McLemore was taken in the ninth round by the California Angels and was signed by scout Lou Cohenour.

The 17-year-old reported to Salem, Oregon, and helped lead the team to the championship of the short-season Class-A Northwest League. “He was the key to the whole season,” said manager Joe Maddon. “When we put McLemore at second base it solidified the infield and gave us a good double-play combination.”5 The teenager batted .297 and led the team with a .431 on-base percentage, earning an invitation to compete in the Arizona Fall Instructional League.

Promoted to the Peoria Suns of the Class-A Midwest League in 1983, McLemore missed three weeks early on with a separated shoulder and was mired with a .140 batting average – going 0-for-37 at one point. But by season’s end, the hustling speedster had raised his average 100 points to finish at .240. “He went from someone that the Angels were concerned about to a real prospect,” Suns manager Joe Coleman said.6

Assigned to the high Class-A California League in 1984, McLemore led the division-winning Redwood Pioneers in batting average (.295), runs scored (102), walks (106), and stolen bases (59). The offensive spark plug was also considered the league’s best-fielding second baseman. Some managers reportedly felt McLemore was the league’s Most Valuable Player. His stellar performance earned a promotion to the Angels’ 40-man major-league roster and an invitation to spring training in Mesa, Arizona, in 1985.7

The 20-year-old McLemore impressed Angels skipper Gene Mauch at the big-league camp, collecting 11 hits and 8 RBIs in his first 20 at-bats.8 He was promoted to Midland of the Double-A Texas League in 1985. Reunited with Maddon, his first-year manager at Salem, McLemore batted .271 and again led his team in runs scored (80), walks (66), and stolen bases (31). He plated the winning run in the all-star game and earned game MVP honors.9

Described by minor-league manager Winston Llenas as “a poor man’s Joe Morgan,”10 McLemore seemed to have a bright future in Anaheim, and was considered a potential successor to Bobby Grich. The Cleveland Indians also thought highly of McLemore and asked for the young second baseman in a trade package for Bert Blyleven. “I blanched the minute they asked for McLemore,” recounted Mauch.11 Angels general manager Mike Port nixed the deal.

McLemore returned to Midland in 1986 and batted .316 with a .428 on-base percentage in 63 games. Promoted to the Edmonton Trappers of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in June, he hit .276 in 73 games. For the two clubs combined, he stole 67 bases. In September he joined the Angels and appeared in five games, going 0-for-4 with a walk in six plate appearances. California won the American League West Division title but lost to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. Shortly thereafter, Grich announced his retirement, and McLemore played winter ball in Puerto Rico knowing that second base in 1987 was up for grabs.

McLemore hit .306 in 1987 spring training,12 but won the keystone starting job on the strength of his defense. Mauch praised him, saying, “McLemore can catch balls that haven’t been caught here in years – and makes them look routine. If [he] bats .240, he’ll be a hell of an addition.”13 Batting ninth in the order most of the year, the prodigy tallied his first major-league hit on Opening Day 1987 and his first big-league home run on July 2, a two-run walk-off shot off Milwaukee’s Mark Clear. But McLemore struggled to hit above .230. On August 27 GM Port swung a deal for Pittsburgh second baseman Johnny Ray, consigning the rookie to a bench role. He finished the season with a .236 batting average, 25 stolen bases, and a .310 OBP as the Angels tumbled into the AL West basement.

California moved Ray to left field and reinstalled McLemore at second base to start the 1988 season. A blood clot in his right arm that required surgery sidelined the switch-hitter from late May until early August. By the time he returned to action, Ray had reclaimed the keystone position. McLemore appeared in just 77 games and batted .240 with a .312 on-base percentage.

Port shopped McLemore to multiple clubs in the offseason. In three years, the prospect’s status had plummeted from blue chip to trade chip. Even after McLemore hit .346 in the Cactus League during the spring of 1989,14 the Angels handed the starting job to Ray. The dispirited second sacker was optioned to Edmonton and moped about his demotion. In July Trappers manager Tom Kotchman commented that “Mark McLemore isn’t serving anybody’s purpose the way he’s performing right now.”15

During the previous winter, McLemore had been introduced by his cousin, Chicago Bulls basketball player Cliff Levingston, to Capri De’Marca White of Rockford, Illinois. A romance flourished, and on July 14, 1989, the couple wed in Las Vegas.

Capri went to Edmonton to watch her husband play that summer. “When my pitcher was about to throw a pitch,” McLemore recalled, “I just stood straight up like nothing was happening. She called me over to the fence above our dugout and told me, ‘The way you are playing, you [don’t] look like you’re supposed to be here. You’re not going to be out here embarrassing me or yourself. If you want to play like that, we can just go home and you can do something else.’”16 The rebuke was a wake-up call. McLemore regrouped and returned to Anaheim in September, finishing 1989 with a .243 batting average in 32 games.

Success was elusive, however. Over the next two seasons, McLemore led a nomadic baseball life, playing for four major-league organizations in nine different cities. He finished 1991 with the Rochester Red Wings, Baltimore’s Triple-A team. Free agent McLemore’s baseball career was in peril. But the 27-year-old had a guardian angel in Rochester manager Greg Biagini. The Red Wings skipper had previously worked with McLemore, turning him into a line-drive hitter. Baltimore promoted Biagini to Orioles hitting coach for the 1992 season and inked McLemore to a minor-league contract in February with an invitation to spring training.

The second baseman arrived in Sarasota and met with Orioles manager Johnny Oates. “If he makes our ballclub, he’ll have to play more than one position,” Oates decreed.17 The directive proved pivotal to McLemore’s career. He batted .393 in Grapefruit League play and showed enough versatility to earn a spot on the 25-man major-league roster.18 “Johnny Oates changed me into the player that I am,” McLemore reflected years later. “He showed confidence in my abilities. It was the rebirth of my career.”19 He shared keystone duties with Bill Ripken and hit .270 until tailing off the final month of the season, finishing with a .246 batting average in 101 games.

Baltimore GM Roland Hemond signed free-agent second baseman Harold Reynolds for the 1993 season and released McLemore, who was eligible for salary arbitration. In January the veteran agreed to another minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. Manager Oates called the infielder and told him to bring an outfielder’s glove to Sarasota. In 11 years of pro ball, McLemore had never patrolled the garden. “As near as I can tell,” the San Diego native commented, “catcher, pitcher, and first base are the only positions I don’t need to be ready to play.”20

McLemore earned a roster spot and won the starting right-field job. In 148 games (124 in right field), he posted a .284 batting average, .353 OBP, 81 runs scored, a career-best 72 runs batted in, and 21 stolen bases. His 165 hits tied Cal Ripken Jr. for the team lead. On June 9 the switch-hitter had a perfect 5-for-5 game with 3 runs scored and 3 RBIs. The novice outfielder committed just 4 errors, and his 13 assists were tied for most by a right fielder in the American League.

After his breakout season in 1993, McLemore hoped to land a multiyear contract with Baltimore but was rebuffed. His agent, Tony Attanasio, advised his client to enter free agency, but McLemore chose to return to Baltimore for $1 million plus incentives, more than triple his 1993 salary.21 The Orioles let Reynolds go and Oates moved McLemore back to second base, where he posted a .257 batting average and .354 OBP in a strike-shortened 1994 season.

That winter, the 30-year-old elected free agency and again sought a multiyear contract. Negotiations with the Orioles fell apart, forcing McLemore to look elsewhere for employment. Doug Melvin, former assistant to Hemond in Baltimore, had become the new GM in Texas and hired Oates to pilot the Rangers after the latter had been fired by Orioles owner Peter Angelos. On December 14 McLemore signed a two-year deal with Texas. “We signed him because of his versatility,” Oates declared.22

McLemore began the 1995 season as the Rangers’ starting left fielder. By the end of the year, he was the team’s primary second baseman. “It really doesn’t matter where you play him [in the field] or where he hits [in the batting order], he’s going to get the job done for you,” Oates said.23 Texas battled Seattle and California for the AL West championship down to the final week of the season. On September 27 the scrappy infielder partially tore the rotator cuff on his throwing shoulder diving for a game-ending popup.24 The season-ending injury left him with a .261 batting average and .346 OBP in 129 games.

McLemore had shoulder surgery in October and arrived early at spring training in 1996 but then missed the first two weeks of game action due to a strained rib cage muscle.25 Despite the setback, the 10-year veteran put together a terrific major-league season. Batting eighth in a loaded lineup that featured future Hall of Fame catcher Iván Rodríguez and 1998 American League MVP Juan González, McLemore hit .290 with 84 runs scored, 87 walks, and a team-leading 27 stolen bases. His .389 OBP and 4.3 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) were career highs. He provided solid defense at second base, earning the nickname Doctor of Defense from Texas broadcaster Mark Holtz. The Rangers won the AL West crown to qualify for postseason play for the first time in franchise history but lost to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.

McLemore entered free agency as one of the premier second basemen in the American League; only Chuck Knoblauch and future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar posted higher WAR numbers in 1996. The Yankees and Cleveland reportedly offered McLemore three-year contracts. Melvin initially proposed two years but reluctantly agreed to three years at $6.5 million. “I’m glad we were able to work things out,” McLemore said of his deal with the Rangers. “I’m moving my family here, so this is definitely where we wanted to be.”26

He and Capri relocated from Arizona to Southlake, Texas, with their three young children (daughter De’Marca Shea and sons Darien Tremell and Derek Anthony) and immersed themselves in the community. The McLemores bought Thanksgiving dinners for the Fort Worth Housing Authority and provided school supplies and purchased Rangers tickets for disadvantaged youth. Their philanthropy earned McLemore the ballclub’s Jim Sundberg Community Achievement Award in 1997.27

Elevated to the leadoff spot in the lineup, the Texas transplant got off to a slow start in 1997. He was batting .174 on May 14 when he was placed on the disabled list with a partial ligament tear in his left hand. McLemore returned on June 12 and hit .303 through August 18 until knee problems ended his season. He finished with a .261 batting average in 89 games. The defending AL West champion Rangers slumped to a 77-85 record and were dethroned by the Seattle Mariners.

McLemore started the 1998 season on fire, batting .405 in his first 21 games. He notched the only two-homer game of his major-league career on April 18 and maintained a .300 average through June 28. As the summer wore on, though, McLemore wore down. He batted just .197 over the second half, battling his troublesome knee condition, but played through pain to help Texas reclaim the AL West crown. He finished the regular season with a .247 batting average, .369 OBP, and a team-leading 89 walks in 126 games. In the ALDS, the Rangers were swept by the Yankees.

McLemore succumbed to a fourth knee operation after the season. His range factor per nine innings at second base had diminished from 5.53 in 1996 to under 5.00 the next two years.28 Amid concerns about his durability, the 5-foot-11 veteran arrived at Port Charlotte spring training 10 pounds lighter and feeling “better than I was at any time last year.”29 McLemore appeared in 135 games at second in 1999. His range factor rebounded to 5.39. He also returned to the outfield for 11 games. At the plate, the switch-hitter posted a .274 batting average, .363 OBP, a career-high 105 runs scored, 83 walks, and 16 stolen bases. Texas won the AL West for the third time in four years but was again swept by New York in the ALDS. In three playoff series with the Rangers, McLemore was 4-for-35.

McLemore earned $2.25 million in the final year of his three-year contract and fifth season with Texas. A free agent again, he hoped for a two-year extension from his hometown team. But the club offered the 35-year-old one year at a take-it-or-leave-it pay cut. “I will take a pay cut from somebody else, but I won’t take one from you guys,” McLemore contended. “I did my job well and I even helped you do your job.”30 “Mark meant a lot to this ballclub, both on and off the field,” Melvin acknowledged. “I just wasn’t willing to go two years.”31 When the Rangers declined to offer McLemore salary arbitration, forfeiting negotiation rights until May, the veteran knew his time in the Lone Star State was up.

On December 20, 1999, McLemore signed a two-year contract plus incentives with the Mariners. He was one of several free agents brought in by new GM Pat Gillick, joining first baseman John Olerud, outfielder Stan Javier, starting pitcher Aaron Sele, and relievers Kazuhiro Sasaki and Arthur Rhodes.

McLemore addressed the local sportswriters at the Mariners’ spring-training complex in Peoria, Arizona. “I’m an everyday player who plays different positions, not a utility player who plays twice a week,” he stated emphatically.32 Manager Lou Piniella opened the season with McLemore in left field, David Bell at second base, and Carlos Guillén at third. When Guillén got off to a slow start, Piniella moved Bell to third and brought McLemore in to play second. The move became permanent in mid-May when Gillick signed Rickey Henderson, who had been released by the New York Mets, to play left field. McLemore appeared in 138 games and batted .245, with 81 walks and a .353 on-base percentage. He stole 30 bases, one behind team leader Henderson.

Seattle finished a half-game behind the Oakland Athletics in the AL West but claimed the 2000 AL wild card. The Mariners swept the Chicago White Sox in the first round of the playoffs, then lost to the Yankees in six games in the ALCS. McLemore collected five hits in 25 postseason at-bats.

The Mariners signed free agent Bret Boone to play second base in 2001. McLemore was upset at losing his keystone position, but Piniella assured the veteran that he would get ample playing time. As the Mariners’ season evolved, the switch-hitter replicated the versatility of a Swiss Army Knife.

Piniella began the year by rotating McLemore between left field and third base, a position he hadn’t played since 1993. As the season progressed, Piniella inserted McLemore frequently at shortstop, where he had last appeared in 1990. By season’s end, the jack-of-all-trades had played 68 games in the outfield, 36 at third base, 35 at shortstop, and 9 at second base.

Offensively, the 36-year-old McLemore had one of his finest seasons in 2001, batting .286 with a .384 OBP and a career-best .406 slugging average. His 9 triples led the team, and his 39 stolen bases were second behind a teammate, AL Rookie of the Year and MVP Ichiro Suzuki. In a May 30 game, McLemore swiped four bases, tying a club record. On August 11 his walk-off single capped a three-run rally lifting the Mariners to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox. “[McLemore] forced his way into the lineup,” Piniella admitted.33 He was also the team’s best pinch-hitter, posting a .500 average and 6 RBIs in 12 at-bats.

According to Boone, McLemore was an adept sign-stealer. “If he was on second base, he’d study the catcher and crack the other team’s signals at a glance,” Boone wrote in his autobiography. “With his help, I sat on some pitches I would have taken or missed.”34 Indeed, Boone posted the best offensive numbers of his career during the three years he and McLemore were teammates.

On September 19 the Mariners clinched the 2001 AL West championship in Seattle. Because of the tragedy of the 9/11 terrorist attack eight days earlier, the on-field celebration was subdued. McLemore held an American flag high and spontaneously led the team around Safeco Field in tribute to the country and to the fans. “That was the highlight of my career. My biggest moment, my proudest moment, as an American,” McLemore reflected decades later.35

In the 2001 ALDS, McLemore’s two-out single plated Seattle’s first two runs in the Game Five 3-1 victory over Cleveland. In the ALCS, his bases-loaded triple broke open Game Three for the Mariners in their lone win over the Yankees. His final postseason line showed 5 hits in 32 at-bats. McLemore expressed frustration at losing to New York in the playoffs for the fifth time. “You don’t play to set records,” the veteran lamented, referencing the 116-win season. “You play to win the World Series. When you don’t, it’s very disappointing.”36 After the season he was voted the 2001 Mariners Unsung Hero by the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

“We weren’t just a team. We were a family,” McLemore reflected on the historic season decades later. “Everybody knew what they needed to do in order to help that team win games. I remember how the fans embraced us. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. It was a magical time for me in my career.”37

McLemore signed a two-year, $6.3 million contract to stay in Seattle and began 2002 as the regular left fielder. He contributed several standout performances that season. On April 22 he slugged the only grand slam of his career, driving in five runs in a 16-5 rout of Anaheim. On May 16 he was a perfect 5-for-5, a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, in a 15-2 trouncing of Toronto. On July 30 his walk-off, pinch-hit bunt single secured a 6-5 victory over Detroit. For the second straight year, McLemore appeared in every position on the diamond except pitcher, catcher, and first base.

As the Mariners battled the A’s and Angels for the AL West Division lead, McLemore battled back spasms and hamstring issues but insisted on playing. On August 30 at Safeco Field, he hyperextended his throwing elbow diving for a catch on the warning track in left field. The injury required surgery and ended McLemore’s season with a .270 batting average, .380 OBP, and a career-best 7 home runs in 104 games. Seattle won 93 games but finished third in the division.

Piniella left Seattle to manage the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2003, and the Mariners obtained left fielder Randy Winn as compensation. New manager Bob Melvin penned McLemore’s name in the starting lineup at shortstop. As the season progressed, the popular veteran also saw action at second base, third base, and left field. The Mariners finished three games behind Oakland, missing the postseason despite an excellent 93-69 record. McLemore’s batting average and on-base percentage dipped to .233 and .318 respectively, and he became a free agent after the season.

Baltimore signed McLemore to a minor-league contract with a spring-training invitation. He tore the cartilage in his right knee on March 19 and was released by the Orioles in April. The Oakland A’s quickly signed the 39-year-old veteran. After six weeks on the disabled list, which included a rehab stint in Sacramento, McLemore made his A’s debut. In 77 games, he batted .248 with a .355 on-base percentage. The final home run of his career came on September 17 in Seattle against Gil Meche. McLemore hoped for one more shot at a World Series appearance, but the A’s finished one game short of qualifying for postseason play.

McLemore announced his retirement on December 14, 2004.38 He finished his major-league career with a .259 batting average, .349 on-base percentage, 1,602 hits, and 272 stolen bases. Despite his postseason setbacks, he left the game a winner. From his first season in Baltimore in 1992 through his last one in 2004, the teams he played for averaged 91 wins over their 162-game seasons.

After one season with ESPN, McLemore joined the Texas Rangers’ cable-television broadcast team. For 18 years, he served as an analyst on the pregame and postgame shows on Fox Sports Southwest and Bally Sports Southwest. In 2019 he was inducted into the Morse High School Hall of Fame and Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2024 McLemore was honored by the Players Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make baseball more equitable and accessible in minority communities.39 As of 2025, the McLemores continued to reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area and contribute in many ways to community life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author thanks Mark McLemore for his phone interview on January 23, 2025, and email correspondence dated February 14, 2025.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and resources of the Seattle Public Library, as well as Baseball Guides (St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1985 through 2004), Seattle Mariners Information Guides 2000-2024, and Texas Rangers Media Guide 2024.

NOTES

1 Tim Casey, “McLemore Enjoying Ride into Career Sunset,” Sacramento Bee, September 21, 2004: C4.

2 Bob Finnigan, “Mac Looks Back – Return to San Diego Summons Memories of Father,” Seattle Times, June 24, 2003: C1.

3 Rusty Hampton, “Player Profiles,” Salem (Oregon) Statesman-Journal, June 23, 1982: 3D.

4 Peter Gammons, “Sox Rate Draft a Hit,” Boston Globe, June 8, 1982: 33.

5 Hampton, “Maddon Salutes Salem’s Support,” Salem Statesman-Journal, September 9, 1982: 1E.

6 Rich Rupprecht, “You Have to Like His Hustle,” Santa Rosa (California) Press Democrat, May 21, 1984: 2D.

7 Rich Rupprecht, “Angels Keep Close Tabs on Several Pioneer Prospects,” Santa Rosa Press Democrat, December 5, 1984: 1D.

8 Ross Newhan, “Twinge in Elbow Forces Forsch Out,” Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1985: Part III: 19.

9 “Diablos, Angel Team Up to Spirit West Past East,” El Paso Times, July 10, 1985: 10.

10 Mike Penner, “With McLemore, Polidor and Miller, This Has to Be the Year, Doesn’t It?” Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1986: Part III, 13. Joe Morgan was a 10-time All-Star second baseman who retired after the 1984 season. Although lacking Morgan’s home-run power, McLemore probably drew this comparison from Llenas because of his propensity to score runs, draw walks, and steal bases. Morgan was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

11 Moss Klein, “Sparky May Need Some Divine Intervention,” The Sporting News, April 20, 1987: 30.

12 John Weyler, “This Spring, McLemore Is Making the Most of Second Time Around,” Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1988: Part III, 11.

13 Mike Penner, “Who’s On 2nd?” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1987: Part III, 12.

14 Tom Singer, “Ray Out, McLemore Back with Angels,” The Sporting News, April 24, 1989: 16.

15 Email from Mark McLemore to the author, February 14, 2025.

16 Mark Whicker, “Three Strikes Didn’t Knock Out McLemore,” Columbia (South Carolina) State, August 14, 1993: 3C.

17 Peter Schmuck, “Bell, Mercedes No-shows on First Day,” Baltimore Sun, February 28, 1992: 6C.

18 Peter Schmuck, “McLemore Gets His Chance,” Baltimore Sun, April 4, 1992: 2C.

19 Laura Vecsey, “McLemore’s Value Isn’t in His Numbers,” Baltimore Sun, March 14, 2004: 10E.

20 John Eisenberg, “If the Glove Fits, McLemore Plays It,” Baltimore Sun, March 8, 1993: 1C.

21 Jim Henneman, “O’s, McLemore Agree to Terms; Sabo Stops By,” Baltimore Sun, December 19, 1993: 1C.

22 Simon Gonzalez, “Trade Savings Help Rangers Sign Players,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 14, 1994: C7.

23 Roger B. Brown, “McLemore’s Hard Work Puts Him on Hot Streak, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 11, 1996: D4.

24 T.R. Sullivan, “Second Base Becomes Question for Rangers,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 3, 1995: C5.

25 T.R. Sullivan, “McLemore Stays Sidelined,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 14, 1996: C8.

26 Johnny Paul, “Rangers Re-Sign Free Agent,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 12, 1996: D1.

27 Bob Hersom, “McLemore’s Niche Is Niceness,” Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, February 9, 1999: 19.

28 Range Factor is a function of putouts plus assists per 9 innings played.

29 Johnny Paul, “McLemore Flexes New-Found Health,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 6, 1999: 7C; Evan Grant, “American League Baseball,” The Sporting News, March 15, 1999: 71

30 Email from Mark McLemore to the author, February 14, 2025.

31 T.R. Sullivan, “Munoz Signs, but Rangers Say Goodbye to Six Others,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 8, 1999: 3D.

32 Blaine Newnham, “McLemore’s Spark Might Be a Leading Factor for M’s,” Seattle Times, March 7, 2000: D1.

33 David Andriesen, “M’s Pay Price for Mac’s Utility,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 7, 2001: D1.

34 Bret Boone and Kevin Cook, Home Game, Big League Stories from My Life in Baseball’s First Family (New York: Crown Archetype, 2016), 171.

35 Seattle Mariners Facebook Page, January 28, 2021: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=237910967894787, and September 11, 2021: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=152761467017493.

36 Art Thiel, Out of Left Field: How the Mariners Made Baseball Fly in Seattle (Seattle: Sasquatch Books, 2003), 238.

37 “Mariners Clubhouse Chat / Mark McLemore, Jamie Moyer & Arthur Rhodes,” January 28, 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voNLtBN4DKA&t=862s

38 Josh Suchon, “A’s Acquire Infielder,” Oakland Tribune, December 16, 2004: Sports 7.

39 See Playersalliance.org. Players Alliance Game Changers Celebration, July 14, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjtbOX_xivs.