A Song To David Niehaus David Niehaus was an American sportscaster. He was the lead play-by-play announcer for the American League's Seattle Mariners from their inaugural season in 1977 until his death after the 2010 season. In 2008, the National Baseball Hall of Fameawarded Niehaus with the Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor for American baseball broadcasters. Among fans nationwide and his peers, Niehaus was considered to be one of the fines sportscasters in history. Niehaus suffered a myocardial infarction (heart attack) on November 10, 2010, and died at age 75 while preparing to barbecue some ribs on his deck. Heart problems had forced Niehaus to undergo two angioplasties in 1996, causing him to give up smoking and change his diet. He is survived by his wife, three children, and six grandchildren. In a formal statement, Mariners Chairman Howard Lincoln and President Chuck Armstrong said "Dave has truly been the heart and soul of this franchise since its inception in 1977... He truly was the fans connection to every game." At news of Dave's death, tributes came from Jay Buhner, Ken Griffey, Jr., Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, other Mariners broadcasters, and fans. "I used to sit with my dad in the garage That sawdust that pine sol and the moss Around every spring when the winter thawed We’d huddle around the radio twist the broken knob 710 AM no KJR Dave Niehaus' voice would echo throughout the yard couldn’t have been older than 10 but to me and my friends the voice on the other end might as well have been God’s" These are the opening lines of a song that so perfectly captures the feeling of the hundreds of thousands of Mariners fans around the world. As a tribute to Niehaus, local rapper Macklemore recorded a track shortly after his death called "My Oh My" that describes, in detail, Dave Niehaus' influence on both him, personally, and the entire city of Seattle. (From Seattle Mariners)