Dave Niehaus

David Arnold Niehaus

• School Indiana University
• High School Princeton High School
• Born February 19, 1935 in Princeton, IN USA
• Died November 10, 2010 in Bellevue, WA USA

Biographical Information

Tribute to Dave Niehaus on Safeco Field's right-centerfield wall.

Dave Niehaus was a broadcaster for the Seattle Mariners from the club's inception in 1977 until 2010. Prior to that, he broadcast games for the California Angels from 1969 to 1976 and various baseball games for Armed Forces Radio while he was in the Army in the late 1950s. Away from the diamond, he called UCLA football games.

In the first game at Safeco Field on July 15, 1999, Niehaus threw out the ceremonial first pitch. He did not learn of this until moments before; he was handed a baseball and told to go to the mound as M's public address announcer Tom Hutyler announced the goings on to the crowd. The next year, he was selected as the second inductee to be enshrined in the Mariners Hall of Fame (Alvin Davis became the first on June 24, 1997). A pregame ceremony was held before the Mariners game on May 7, 2000. Furthermore, he was announced the winner of the Ford C. Frick award on February 19, 2008, his 73rd birthday, gaining entry into the national Baseball Hall of Fame

Niehaus died of a heart attack in 2010 at age 75. He suffered the attack at home while preparing to barbecue some ribs on his deck with a recipe he had just gotten. The Mariners wore a commemorative patch on their left sleeve of their uniforms and have a likeness of that patch displayed on the outfield wall.