To appreciate Seattle’s Kingdome, one either had to be a desperate sports fan or not know any better. I was a bit of both, having moved to Washington State in ’76 at age 8.
Grey. Monolithic. Ugly. And those were apt descriptions for the dome’s exterior. Inside wasn’t much better. It always seemed to be kinda hazy in there, a oddly lit cave; athletes played on carpet-covered concrete. The “Kingdogs” were gross, and we mostly stuck to peanuts tossed by a celebrity vendor dubbed “Rick the Peanut Man.” My dad – and more so, my step-father – guzzled Big Gulp-sized cups of “Kingbeer” hopefully delivered by another celebrity, “Bill The Beer Man.” The whole experience was weird; I thought so at the time, even – but I was a young sports fan. Plus, it was the only game in town.
I was there for the Mariners’ inaugural season; attendance-wise, my salad days roughly spanned 1980-1984; went to at least 20 games a season then. No attendee with a brain harbored any real hopes of victory, and many were there to root for the other team.
The Kingdome’s saving grace, really, was merely existing during a time when MLB was still primarily marketed to blue collar families… especially in places like Seattle, which was still a blue-collar town. There were few million-dollar salaries, most players were pretty accessible, and wonderful promotions such as the ill-advised “Bat Day” still reigned.
Mariners Photo Day, 1980. You were assigned a player by your last name, alphabetically. I did not get Bannister, Honeycutt, Dave Henderson, Bochte, Horton or even Mendoza. I got Dan Meyer, a solid-hitting left fielder who was sometimes jeered for a very curious batter’s box routine involving adjusting his neck. Perhaps a nervous tic. Who knows. All I know is those glasses of mine were gone, very shortly.
- Steve Stav, along with cohost Mitch Hurst, is the proprietor of an enlightening Facebook page called The Big Music, which focuses on the music, movies and culture of Generation X. A podcast with the same name and hosts is in the planning stage.
