Dave Niehaus Dies At 75

In the decades since the Mariners inaugural 1977 season, the team had hundreds of players, 17 managers, multiple owners.

But there was only one Dave Niehaus.

The Mariners broadcaster since the beginning and the only original employee of the organization who remained, Niehaus died Wednesday of a heart attack at his suburban Bellevue home. He was 75.

"From now on, there will be just two eras of Mariner baseball," Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said, "the Dave Niehaus era and everything else."

Wednesday night, a photo of Niehaus could be seen on the big screen from outside an empty Safeco Field. It read, "Dave Niehaus, 1935-2010." His empty chair and headpones sat in the broadcast booth overlooking a silent Safeco Field.

"Words can't describe what I am feeling right now," Mariners legend Jay Buhner said, echoing statement by top Mariners officials. "This is the saddest day of my life. It is like I am losing a Dad, someone that was a father-figure to me."

Dave Niehaus Dies At 75