Day Eighteen: Mark McLemore

In 2001, from Opening Day on, and I know this is a fact because I was at Opening Day that year with my dad and his friend Jeff, Ichiro Suzuki strode into the batter's box to the dulcet tones of The SlipNSlide AllStars "Take it to the House." Right away, from day one, Ichiro was "bustin' loose, got more punch than a bowl of juice." I like to think that Ichiro requested The AllStars as his walk-up music and I picture him very earnestly (but also very very cooly) singing along with "Take it to the House." Who knows how that song was selected, or why, but it is forever the soundtrack to the single greatest season I have ever witnessed (Ichiro in the AL and Bonds in the NL. 2001 is it. Fight me if you disagree.) But even as I remember the hook to "Take it to the House," and think fondly of the summer it represents, I am filled with a pang of melancholy for what could have been. For the missed opportunity. Not for the Mariners inability to get to the World Series. No, that was a foregone conclusion in early September. My regret is that we could have had a different song as our forever 2001 soundtrack loop. A much better song. And that song represents the best player that the Mariners had in 2001 that many people likely forget was basically the glue that held the whole operation together. Mark McLemore.

Mark McLemore had some very nice seasons with the Texas Rangers in the mid/late 90s. He was by trade a middle-infielder (usually a second baseman), who hit for average (I'm sorry stat guys, I still like to talk about shit in this way), and stole bases. I pretty much only liked guys like Mark McLemore when I was a kid. My first favorite player was Tim Raines. So I had known who Mark McLemore was when he arrived in Seattle for the 2000 season. And he didn't let us down. He anchored second base on a regular basis and played gritty defense while stealing bases and hitting out of what Lou used to call "second leadoff" at the nine hole. McLemore was a huge clubhouse factor for that young 2000 team as well. It was his double that scored Rickey to take the lead in game one of the ALCS as well. (Ah! What could have been!). Pretty much Mark McLemore was a hit for the season of 2000. We all loved him. What more could we ask from this journeyman?

And then as 2001 rolled around he lost his starting position with the arrival of Bret Boone. Where and when was McLemore going to play? I for one really wanted him in the lineup and good ol Lou agreed. McLemore began regularly playing left field and hitting ninth. But he was hitting so well that Lou couldn't really take him out of the lineup. That 2001 team was so fucking deep. Even Charles Gipson was amazing that year. So when someone else needed a start in left, McLemore would go to third. Or short. Or second. He played more than five games at all three of those positions as well as over 60 games in left. He was Ben Zobrist before Ben Zobrist was out of high school. And he was a whole lot better than Ben Zobrist. He was everywhere. Making great plays, stealing bags, scoring runs. Getting timely hits (because that is ALL that every Mariner did during the fiery summer of 2001). I remember my favorite game I went to in 2001 was with my sister Poppy. We were sitting on the 300 level pretty much directly behind homeplate and the M's were playing the White Sox. It was a beautiful summer evening. The perfect Safeco feel. The Mariners fell behind but it didn't matter. There was a sense of inevitability during July and August that year. Like it didn't matter in a different way than we were used to it not mattering. You could say, "oh well!" and mean it in a positive way rather than a submission to failure. And of course the M's scrapped back and sent the game to extras and in the tenth McLemore strides into the box and immediately sends a screaming linedrive over the center fielder's head for a game winning double. It was such a great feeling. And Mark McLemore was at the center of it. I think there are a ton of people who feel that way about McLemore. A lot of shiftless millennials who just adore the hardnosed (sometimes scary) intensity of Mark McLemore and would probably list him as one of their favorite Mariners of all time. And that is for the good. And let's remember it that way. Not the fact that there is literally a guy named "MACK" who might be playing anywhere any given night, but will likely "RETURN" to the line-up somehow to help the team, and the fucking morons who decided that Ichiro Suzuki ought to walk up to "Take it to the House" never ever, not once, played Mark Morrison when Mark McLemore strode into the box. Oh for shame.