September 19, 2001: Seattle Mariners clinch division title and pay tribute to America

The Angels and Mariners partake in an emotional pregame ceremony at Safeco Field on September 18, 2001, the first game back following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Seattle clinched the AL West the following night. (Courtesy of the Seattle Mariners)

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, the major-league season resumed on Monday, September 18. The Mariners faced the Angels in Seattle, their so-called magic number down to two. Any pair of Seattle wins and/or Oakland losses would clinch the American League West Division title. On this day when baseball resumed, Freddy García threw a shutout to beat the Angels 4-0, and Oakland won in Texas. Seattle’s magic number was one.

Seattle manager Lou Piniella chose 38-year-old Jamie Moyer to start on September 19. The soft-tossing left-hander had a 17-5 won-lost record and was 8-0 in his last 10 starts. Anaheim skipper Mike Scioscia countered with Scott Schoeneweis. The southpaw had a 10-9 record with a 5.10 ERA.

As a paid attendance of 45,459 packed Safeco Field, the 51st sellout of the season,1 a patriotic fervor filled the air. Teams wore caps and jerseys adorned with an American flag patch. For a nation in need of healing, the game culminated in one of the greatest moments in franchise history.

Moyer set down Anaheim in order in the top of the first. On Schoeneweis’s first pitch in the bottom of the inning, right fielder Ichiro Suzuki laid down a bunt toward third base. Schoeneweis made a perfect play to nip Suzuki by half a step. Perhaps a bit rattled, he walked Carlos Guillén, Bret Boone, and designated hitter Edgar Martínez in succession to load the bases. The left-hander fell behind 3-and-0 to John Olerud, but recovered and coaxed an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Moyer retired the Angels in the top of the second. Mike Cameron drew the fourth free pass from Schoeneweis to open the bottom of the frame. Schoeneweis retired Jay Buhner and Dan Wilson but knew that Cameron was a base-stealing threat. The southpaw made four pickoff throws to first but fell behind in the count to switch-hitting Mark McLemore. On a 2-and-0 pitch, McLemore pulled a fastball down the left-field line to score Cameron from first base and put Seattle up 1-0. Suzuki lined out to end the inning.

The wily Moyer continued his dominance and set Anaheim down in order in the top of the third. Guillén opened the Seattle half with a single and moved to second on Boone’s groundout to first. But Schoeneweis caught Martínez looking with a fastball on the low inside corner of the plate, his only strikeout of the game, and retired Olerud for the third out.

Meanwhile, a buzz was beginning to percolate up from the scoreboard-watching crowd in Safeco Field. During the Martínez at-bat, Texas led Oakland 10-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning in Arlington. A loss by the Athletics would clinch the AL West title for the Mariners. 

David Eckstein began the fourth inning with a flare to right, the first hit off Moyer. Garret Anderson popped out to McLemore at third on an 0-and-1 fastball. At 86 MPH, it was the hardest pitch Moyer threw all evening. Troy Glaus walked on four pitches, but Moyer escaped to keep the score 1-0.

Cameron grounded out leading off the Seattle fourth. During the play, Oakland recorded the last out in Texas. The title-clinching news was relayed to the Mariners dugout. Piniella congratulated his coaches and shook hands with each player on the bench. Teammates embraced. After Buhner and Wilson were retired to end the inning, the club revealed the final score of the Oakland-Texas game to the fans at Safeco Field. The faithful gave the Mariners a standing ovation as “2001 AL WEST CHAMPIONS!” flashed on the scoreboard.

Moyer set the Angels down in order in the top of the fifth, and McLemore flied out to deep right field to open the Mariners’ half. Suzuki was safe on an error by shortstop Eckstein and moved to second on a passed ball. Guillén lined a single to put runners at the corners with one out.

Boone worked Schoeneweis for a full count before hitting a possible double-play grounder to short. Guillén was forced at second, but on a bang-bang play, the hustling Boone was ruled safe at first. Had he been called out, the inning would have been over. Instead, Suzuki scored, Boone collected his 129th RBI of the season,2 and the Mariners had a man on first, two outs, and a 2-0 lead.

Martínez strode to the plate. Chants of “Eddd-Garrr” echoed within the ballpark. After falling behind in the count, Schoeneweis tried to bury a 3-and-1 fastball low and inside, the same location at which he had caught Martínez looking in his previous at-bat. This time, the Mariners’ cleanup hitter was ready for it.

“Swung on and belted by Edgar!” Mariners’ broadcaster Dave Niehaus exclaimed to the radio audience in his signature home-run call. “Fly away!” The ball landed high above the Angels bullpen onto the stairway leading to the left-field bleachers. The mighty blast was the designated hitter’s 22nd home run and 108th and 109th RBIs of the year. Olerud flied out to end the inning, but Seattle had extended its lead to 4-0.

Moyer faced the top of the Angels’ batting order for the third time. Darin Erstad led off the sixth with a single to right and Anderson ripped a pitch past Olerud down the first-base line. With one out and runners at first and third, the fearsome Glaus came to the plate. On a 3-and-1 pitch, Glaus scorched a line drive toward the left-field corner. McLemore needed all of his 5-foot-11 frame to snag the screaming liner and save at least one run, possibly two, from scoring.

Moyer then walked Tim Salmon to load the bases. Designated hitter José Fernández was the next batter. A grand slam would tie the score. With the count full, the crafty left-hander got Fernández to chase a changeup out of the strike zone. It was Moyer’s fourth strikeout of the game, all swinging at pitches clocked at 74, 71, 75, and 74 MPH.

Lou Pote replaced Schoeneweis for the Angels in the bottom of the sixth. Cameron singled and stole his 32nd base of the season. Buhner singled to plate Cameron with the Mariners’ fifth run. Piniella pinch-ran Charles Gipson for the popular veteran, but Pote escaped further damage to end the inning.

Gipson replaced Buhner in left field in the top of the seventh. The Mariners relief pitchers needed to get some work. José Paniagua replaced Moyer after 89 pitches3 to start the seventh inning. The right-hander retired catcher Bengie Molina, but gave up back-to-back singles. Arthur Rhodes relieved Paniagua and needed just five pitches to keep the shutout intact.

Al Levine faced Suzuki leading off the bottom of the inning. Rhythmic chants of “I-CHI-RO” sprang from the crowd. The 27-year-old rookie from Japan smashed a drive to right-center that one-hopped over the wall for a ground-rule double. The hit was his major-league-leading 221st of the season.4 Suzuki was stranded at second, however, and Seattle’s lead remained 5-0.

Jeff Nelson retired the Angels in the top of the eighth. Anaheim closer Troy Percival faced Seattle in the bottom of the inning. The power-pitcher walked Olerud but struck out Cameron, Gipson, and Wilson with fastballs that topped out at 100 MPH.

Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki struck out Molina and retired Adam Kennedy on a groundout to open the ninth. Mariners fans stood up to cheer. “These fans are dying to salute this ballclub,” said Niehaus. Sasaki induced a popup to Boone by José Nieves to secure the team’s 106th win of the season.

“We talked about, before the game, how we were going to celebrate,” reflected McLemore. “It needed to be subdued.”5 Piniella, his coaches, and players filed onto the field to congratulate one another. An American flag borrowed from the US Army emerged from the dugout. Stan Javier grasped the staff and began waving it between home plate and first base.6

The Mariners gathered behind the pitcher’s mound. Public-address announcer Tom Hutyler asked the crowd for a moment of silence. Joined by Mariners chaplain Chuck Snyder, they knelt in prayer beneath the Stars and Stripes.7

The team stood up. McLemore held the banner high and initiated an impromptu procession around the basepaths. “I have no idea how I ended up with it,” the veteran said afterward.8 As “Proud to Be an American” by Lee Greenwood boomed from the ballpark speakers, the players doffed their caps to the throng of fans cheering in the stands. Returning to home plate, Cameron and Piniella helped McLemore hoist the flag up high.

Players retreated to the clubhouse for a subdued champagne victory toast. “We wanted to remember the people that suffered,” Piniella concluded. “It was a tremendous tragedy, and we didn’t want our win to overshadow any of that. We wanted to pray for the country, and salute our fans, because they’ve been so great all year. It was the right thing to do.”9

Sources

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

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA200109190.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2001/B09190SEA2001.htm

Seattle Public Library, Seattle www.spl.org

Seattle Mariners 2002 Information Guide (Seattle Mariners, 2002)

The Essential Games of the Seattle Mariners (Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., 2010)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qViVrOv-r0&t=8577s

Sweet 116: The 2001 Mariners History-Making Season, DVD (Seattle Mariners, 2001).

Notes

1 The seating capacity at Safeco Field in 2001 was 47,116. Free tickets account for the difference between capacity and tickets sold.

2 Boone broke the American League record of 127 RBIs by a second baseman set by Charlie Gehringer in 1934. He amassed a league-leading 141 RBIs by season’s end.

3 Larry LaRue, “Clincher Special for M’s,” Tacoma News Tribune, September 20, 2001: C5.

4 Suzuki set a major-league record for hits in a season by a rookie with 242, eclipsing the 223 by Lloyd Waner in 1927.

5 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=152761467017493.

6 John Hickey, “The West Is History,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 20, 2001: E1.

7 Bob Sherwin, “M’s Say a Prayer, Wave the Flag to Celebrate,” Seattle Times, September 20, 2001: C7.

8 David Andriesen, “Team Rallies Around Flag to Celebrate,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 20, 2001: E8.

9 Larry Stone, “M’s Continue to Do Things Right, Even After Division Is Won,” Seattle Times, September 20, 2001: C6.