With the Seahawks out of the playoffs, it’s time to look forward to baseball season. And, hark, there’s already a good omen for some Sodo Mojo in 2016: The Mariners have dropped their train night promotion.
That is, for the first time in 16 seasons, the first 20,000 fans on a given night will not receive a free train engine, boxcar, or caboose featuring a prominent Mariner.
This is a good thing.
As I’ve previously reported, there is nothing wrong with the trains themselves, and it was a popular enough promotion to make MyNorthwest’s “10 can’t miss Mariners nights at Safeco Field” list last year (along with fedora night and beard-hat night). The problem, though, was that the train was a vex the player it featured.
As we reported last summer, between 2005 and 2015,six active players were honored with a train promotion night, with the rest devoted to popular retirees and causes like the “Mariners Go Green! Fan Train” (2011).
Those six players were J.J. Putz, Justin Smoak, Tom Wilhelmsen, Adrian Beltre, Felix Hernandez and, last year, Dustin Ackley.
All those players with the exception of Felix—whose been put on the train twice—have had notably abominable seasons the year they appeared on the train. All three batters finished their seasons hitting under .240; Putz and Wilhelmsen, both closing pitchers, lost their positions later in the year after too many blown saves.
When Ackley’s train night came up last June, things were already ugly, with a batting average south of .200. By the end of July he was off the team, traded to the New York Yankees for a couple of prospects. He was batting .215 when he left Seattle. Remarkably, once on the Yankees and away from the train, he caught fire, batting .283 in September, and earning a slot as the Yankees’ starting second baseman down the playoff stretch.
Such is the curse of the train.
Asked what spurred the Mariners to yank the train promotion, a spokeswoman said the team is “always evaluating the offerings, whether it’s long-time promotions or ideas for new ones, and this year we decided to skip the train car.”
But don’t get too excited, Mariners fans.
She adds: “It could come back on the lineup in future years. We’ll see.”
Daniel Person is news editor at Seattle Weekly. He can be reached at 467-4381, or by email at dperson@seattleweekly.com. He’s inactive on twitter at @danoperson.
