Safeco Field/Seattle Mariners

Safeco Field is a retractable roof baseball stadium located in Seattle, Washington. Home stadium of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball club, seating 47,116 fans. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July 1999; from their 1977 inception until June 1999, the club's home park was the Kingdome.


Safeco Field is a 'retro-modern' style ballpark that incorporates many of the features of ballparks built in the 1950s and earlier with modern amenities. In contrast with the Kingdome and the other multi-purpose stadiums built primarily during the 1960s and 1970s, Safeco Field featured a brick façade, an asymmetrical field dimension, a natural grass field, and spectator sightlines more suited for baseball, and is surrounded by city streets and/or buildings.



The stadium has four main gates open to all ticket holders during Mariners games, located at the southwest, northwest, northeast, and southeast corners. These are identified as Home Plate, Left Field, Center Field, and Right Field, respectively. There are five main levels to the stadium: Field (or Street), Main Concourse (100 level), Club Level (200 level), Suite Level, and Upper Concourse (300 level). As the field is approximately at street level, entry into any of the main gates requires visitors to ascend a flight of stairs, escalator, or elevator to access the main concourse, with the exception of Right Field, which opens onto the main concourse. Stairs, escalators, elevators, and ramps located around the ballpark provide access to all levels.


Mariners Private Suite

Imagine if you could walk out of your living room and into a premium seat for a Mariners game at Safeco Field; that's how you'll feel in a Mariners Private Suite. Mariners Private Suites are roomy and stylish, with a great view of the action.

Retractable Roof
Safeco Field has a unique retractable roof that only acts as an "umbrella" for the stands and field rather than forming a complete climate-controlled enclosure, as is the case with all other retractable roofs in MLB. Seattle's relatively mild climate means the park rarely needs to be heated or cooled, but frequent precipitation necessitated a roof.


In the open position, the roof rests over the BNSF Railway tracks that bound the stadium to the east, with part of it hanging over the stands in right field. The roof consists of three major sections that extend into the closed position in a telescoping manner, with the two outer sections resting under the larger center section. Each section is structurally independent and powered by electric motors that move the respective sections along the tracks. It is controlled from a central control room located under the center field scoreboard. Depending on wind and weather conditions, the roof takes approximately 10 minutes to close or open.

Scoreboards
Safeco Field features a manual scoreboard, a color LED video screen, a main monochromatic matrix board, and several monochromatic information boards. The main scoreboard in center field contains the LED video screen and large monochromatic matrix board. The matrix board shows each team's lineup, batter's statistics, line score, and count.


Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro moved to the United States in 2001 after playing nine years for the Orix Blue Wave in Japan's Pacific League. When the Blue Wave posted him after the 2000 season, Ichiro's rights were won by the Seattle Mariners and he signed a contract with them. He became the first Japanese-born everyday position player in the major leagues.




In 2001, Ichiro finished first in both batting average and stolen bases, the first player to accomplish this feat since Jackie Robinson. He set several MLB records in 2004, including a single-season Major League record with 262 hits. He has won a Gold Glove award in each of his first eight years in the majors as an outfielder. Salary 2009: $18,000,000. Ichiro is the first MLB player to join Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (The Golden Players Club). He was also selected the 2007 All Star Game MVP, going three for three and hitting the event's first ever inside-the-park home run.

Ichiro is noted for his work ethic in arriving early for his team's games, and for his calisthenic stretching exercises to stay limber even during the middle of the game. Continuing the custom he began in Japan, he uses his given name on the back of his uniform instead of his family name, becoming the first player in Major League Baseball to do so since Vida Blue.

June 21st 2009 GAME: Seattle 3, Arizona 2



The MITT
Artist: Gerard Tsutakawa
Location: Left Field Gate
Nine-foot tall bronze baseball glove that has become an icon for Safeco Field.

Seattle artist Gerry Tsutakawa created a cast bronze sculpture of the abstract form of a catcher's mitt or old-fashioned baseball glove. Standing nine feet tall and about 12-feet wide, The MITT has become an icon of Safeco Field and a place for fans to meet before or after the game. Near the center of the glove an aperture appears as an abstract symbol representing a ball nestled in the leather, or a hole where a fastball burned through. The sculpture is placed outside the gates to allow fans to touch, lean on or crawl through the work, giving the public a feeling of ownership of the piece.


Mariner Moose
In 1990, a contest for children 14 and under was held to select a mascot for the team under then-owner Jeff Smulyan. Out of 2500 entries received, the club chose the "Mariner Moose," originally submitted by Ammon Spiller of Ferndale, Washington. The Moose made his debut on April 13, 1990. In 1990, a contest for children 14 and under was held to select a mascot for the team under then-owner Jeff Smulyan. Out of 2500 entries received, the club chose the "Mariner Moose," originally submitted by Ammon Spiller of Ferndale, Washington. The Moose made his debut on April 13, 1990.