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    Home » Man of high Mariners moments, Cameron retires
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    Man of high Mariners moments, Cameron retires

    SPNW StaffBy SPNW StaffFebruary 19, 2012Updated:October 8, 201214 Comments4 Mins Read
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    Former Mariners center fielder Mike Cameron announced his retirement Sunday at the age of 39. / Wiki Commons

    Former Mariners center fielder Mike Cameron told the Washington Nationals he is retiring after a 17-year major league career. The 39-year-old Cameron, a three-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, signed a minor league contract with the Nationals in December, but quit six days in advance of the mandatory reporting date for Washington’s position players.

    For fans wondering how the 2012 season will unfold for the Mariners, 90-plus-game losers in three of the past four seasons, the retirement of a player who has been absent the local scene for eight years is not going to rock the morning.

    What is interesting, especially for those who are fond of the 2001 Seattle season, is Cameron’s retirement leaves only five players still active from the team that won an American League record 116 games.

    Of those five, only one, Ichiro, is guaranteed a major league roster spot in 2012 – this from a 2001 team that used 20 position players and 15 pitchers to tie the 1908 Chicago Cubs for the most regular-season wins ever.

    On the basis of his 12-8 record in 2011, achieved over 25 starts, Freddy Garcia, a Mariner from 1999 through mid-2004, has a shot at securing a job at the back end of the Yankees’ rotation, but the other three active players who got on the field with the 2001 Mariners are iffy propositions.

    Carlos Guillen, the shortstop on that ’01 team, is trying to make the Mariners as a 35-year-old free agent. He is coming off an injury-marred season with the Detroit Tigers and hasn’t played anything close to a full season since 2007.

    Joel Piniero, who went 6-2 for the ’01 Mariners and 7-7 last season for the Angels, will join the Philadelphia Phillies in spring training this week, also as a free agent.

    Jamie Moyer, who didn’t pitch last year following Tommy John surgery, will attend the Colorado Rockies camp. Moyer, 9-9 for the 2010 Phillies, is 49.

    Along with Ichiro, the 2001 AL MVP, Cameron represents the last great era of Mariners baseball. Cameron came to Seattle Feb. 10, 2000, in the trade that sent franchise icon Ken Griffey Jr. to the Cincinnati Reds. The deal: the Reds swapped Cameron, Jake Meyer, Antonio Perez and Brett Tomko to the Mariners for Griffey, Seattle’s career leader in home runs (then 398, ultimately 630).

    Cameron played with the Mariners from 2000 through 2003, appearing in 610 games with a .256 batting average, 87 home runs and one All-Star appearance (2001). The Mariners allowed him to depart in free agency, mainly because of his hitting woes at Safeco Field. He signed with the Mets, and later played with San Diego, Milwaukee, Boston and Florida.

    During Cameron’s Seattle tenure, the Mariners went 91-71 (2000), 116-46 (2001), 93-69 (2002), 93-69 (2003), and made two playoff appearances before collapsing to 63-99 the year after he left. The Mariners are entering in their ninth year of recovery.

    Although Cameron played only four Seattle seasons, he became a popular replacement for Griffey. We offer the following as “Cammy’s” greatest Mariner moments:

    • April 7, 2000: Scaled the center field wall at Safeco Field and robbed New York’s Derek Jeter of a home run in the eighth inning of a 7-5 victory, receiving a standing ovation from the home crowd.
    • Aug. 1, 2000: Smacked a botton-of-the-19th-inning, walk-off homer against former Mariners starter Jeff Fassero, providing a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox at Safeco Field.
    • Aug. 19, 2001: Went 4-for-4 with a grand slam and a franchise-record eight RBIs in a 10-2 victory over New York at Yankee Stadium.
    • Oct. 2, 2001: Broke a 3-3 tie with a three-run homer and robbed Tim Salmon of a grand slam with a catch over the center field wall in a 14-5 victory over the Angels.
    • May 2, 2002: Tied a major league record with four home runs at Chicago, twice teaming with Bret Boone on back-to-back homers in the first inning, another MLB record, in a 15-4 Seattle victory.

    Cameron, publicly anyway, insisted he wanted to remain a Mariner beyond 2003. But considering his a .224 batting average at Safeco Field, the Mariners felt they needed more. Their re-acquisition of Raul Ibanez made Cameron expendable.

    Since Cameron, the Mariners have employed numerous center fielders, including Randy Winn, Jeremy Reed, Ichiro, Adam Jones, Shin-Soo Choo and Franklin Gutierrez.

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    14 Comments

    1. Jamo57 on February 19, 2012 8:48 pm

      Mike was great.   I’ll always remember that catch above the wall at the beginning of the 2000 season.  Showed Seattle there was life after Junior.   Well at least for a couple of years anyway.  

       

    2. Jamo57 on February 19, 2012 8:48 pm

      Mike was great.   I’ll always remember that catch above the wall at the beginning of the 2000 season.  Showed Seattle there was life after Junior.   Well at least for a couple of years anyway.  

       

    3. Linder on February 19, 2012 11:41 pm

      Another great Cameron moment came when Lou walked out to talk to Cameron on 1st during the Chicago series in 2000. Supposedly said something about buying Cisco but he was giving him tips about stealing. Lots of great lines in the is article about that game: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20001004&slug=4046093

      • SteveRudman on February 21, 2012 6:55 pm

        Way to go on the archive dive.

    4. Linder on February 19, 2012 11:41 pm

      Another great Cameron moment came when Lou walked out to talk to Cameron on 1st during the Chicago series in 2000. Supposedly said something about buying Cisco but he was giving him tips about stealing. Lots of great lines in the is article about that game: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20001004&slug=4046093

      • SteveRudman on February 21, 2012 6:55 pm

        Way to go on the archive dive.

    5. RadioGuy on February 20, 2012 8:14 am

      I can remember the great skepticism when Cameron came in from the Reds to replace Griffey.  Even though he was never the batter Junior was (who was?), Cammy was at least as good a fielder (and didn’t dog it after balls the way Griffey would sometimes), was a good baserunner and a MUCH nicer guy with the fans and in the clubhouse.

      I’d like to see Mike Cameron back with the M’s in some capacity, even in the broadcast booth (he couldn’t possibly be as boring a commentator as the cadre of ex-M’s they have now).

    6. RadioGuy on February 20, 2012 8:14 am

      I can remember the great skepticism when Cameron came in from the Reds to replace Griffey.  Even though he was never the batter Junior was (who was?), Cammy was at least as good a fielder (and didn’t dog it after balls the way Griffey would sometimes), was a good baserunner and a MUCH nicer guy with the fans and in the clubhouse.

      I’d like to see Mike Cameron back with the M’s in some capacity, even in the broadcast booth (he couldn’t possibly be as boring a commentator as the cadre of ex-M’s they have now).

    7. Gordon on February 21, 2012 9:17 am

      All the best to Mike Cameron in his future.  We loved him here is Seattle, but we all died a little with each strike out at the plate.  But he was a very good player and an even better person.  All the best!

    8. Gordon on February 21, 2012 9:17 am

      All the best to Mike Cameron in his future.  We loved him here is Seattle, but we all died a little with each strike out at the plate.  But he was a very good player and an even better person.  All the best!

    9. SteveRudman on February 21, 2012 6:54 pm

      Thank you all for responding to this post. Cameron was a pleasure to watch and another great piece of Mariners lore. It would be fun to have him in the broadcast booth, as RadioGuy points out.

    10. SteveRudman on February 21, 2012 6:54 pm

      Thank you all for responding to this post. Cameron was a pleasure to watch and another great piece of Mariners lore. It would be fun to have him in the broadcast booth, as RadioGuy points out.

    11. Thomas A Gamble on February 27, 2012 6:16 pm

      The guy is about the most loved average player I have ever seen.  Always a contender for the Golden Sombrero, his fielding was overrated.  He constantly took a wrong first step.  This is partly due to his being a nice guy, and partly due to his speed, and partly due to the fact that everyone wanted to cut a break to the guy with the hard job of replacing a legend.  Given what got him kicked off of the Marlins, I am not too confident about what the future holds for Cammy.

    12. Thomas A Gamble on February 27, 2012 6:16 pm

      The guy is about the most loved average player I have ever seen.  Always a contender for the Golden Sombrero, his fielding was overrated.  He constantly took a wrong first step.  This is partly due to his being a nice guy, and partly due to his speed, and partly due to the fact that everyone wanted to cut a break to the guy with the hard job of replacing a legend.  Given what got him kicked off of the Marlins, I am not too confident about what the future holds for Cammy.

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