The Mariners have a new look to “honor their Negro leagues predecessors,” with the team wearing the “black-and-white uniforms of the Seattle Steelheads” for Sunday home games this season, according to Adam Jude of the SEATTLE TIMES. The Mariners are the first MLB team to “feature a Negro leagues uniform as part of the club’s standard uniform rotation.” The Steelheads-inspired look will “replace the cream-colored Sunday uniforms” the Mariners wore for home games starting in 2015. The Steelheads played one season in Seattle, at Sick’s Stadium in 1946, as part of the West Coast Negro Baseball League. The Mariners also “created the Steelheads Community Fund with a $500,000 commitment in support of local Black-led baseball and softball organizations and community initiatives” (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/31).
PAYING TRIBUTE: Jude in a separate piece noted the Mariners will “pay tribute to the franchise’s iconic 2001 team and honor the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with a new statue at T-Mobile Park.” The statue will feature former MLBers Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore “raising the American flag during a defining moment of the Mariners’ 2001 season.” The Mariners won an AL-record 116 games in 2001, but the team had a “subdued celebration after clinching the AL West title” on Sept. 19, 2001, following MLB’s seven-day suspension of games. The statue will be “unveiled during a Sept. 3 game” against the A’s and “displayed in the Center Field Plaza at T-Mobile Park.” Plans for the statue were announced Sunday during the Mariners’ FanFest event at T-Mobile Park (SEATTLE TIMES, 2/1).