Mike Vorel: How Mariners fit 50 seasons into biggest celebration in their history

SEATTLE — Larry Sundblad would have loved to see this.

A West Seattle resident, Vietnam War veteran and longtime employee of the Seattle parks department, Larry bought Mariners season tickets in the team's second season. He maintained those season tickets for decades, from 1978 until he died at 79 in May 2025.

From his seats at the Kingdome and T-Mobile Park, the father of four and grandfather of seven was a constant as players and coaches and uniforms and stadiums came and went. Through wins and losses and decadeslong droughts, he remained a Mariners mainstay. So it’s fitting that, as vice president of marketing and fan engagement, Mandy Sundblad — Larry’s daughter — is overseeing the franchise’s “50 Seasons” celebration this weekend.

“My dad passed away last year, but we still have those tickets for him,” Mandy Sundblad said last month. “My fondest memories are all things Mariners related. I’m very passionate about my product. Glad that this is what I get to market, because I’m invested in it.

“There’s some of those pinch-me moments (in this job). Especially losing my dad last year, it’s like, ‘Dad, are you watching this? This is pretty cool.’ ”

There promises to be plenty of pinch-me moments for Mariners fans this weekend. The team will host its first Alumni Home Run Derby at T-Mobile Park after Friday night’s game against Tampa Bay, headlined by franchise icon Ichiro. On Saturday, an hourlong pregame ceremony will honor the Mariners’ 50 greatest players, before commemorative pins are presented to the first 10,000 fans Sunday.

Camden Finney — the Mariners’ senior manager of experiential marketing — called the three-day, five-decade baseball bonanza “the biggest thing this organization has ever done.”

It isn’t done yet.

But here’s how the Mariners fit 50 seasons (and players) into one soon-to-be memorable weekend.

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Before the 50 greatest Mariners could descend on Seattle, the franchise first had to determine who those 50 players were.

“We didn’t want it to just be one dictator that said, ‘This is the Top 50,’ ” Sundblad said. “We had a three-month voting period during the offseason where fans were able to vote for who they thought should make the Top 50. We had former players weigh in and current and also former staff members from the baseball and business sides. There’s a group of media who have been covering for decades that were able to weigh in. So there were a lot of voices that balanced it out.”

The result was 50 players, with 50 families, from 50 places, all traveling to Seattle simultaneously.

It was Finney’s job to put together that puzzle.

Ever plan a family vacation? Take that madness and multiply it.

“The coordination includes travel and getting their flights booked, their names as it appears on IDs, flight preferences, do they like a window seat, do they like an aisle seat, getting their hotel needs, making sure we have car service booked to and from the airport and having ground transportation covered, their ticketing needs, their wardrobe sizes,” a breathless Finney said. “They will be wearing a special jacket on Saturday, so making sure we have the right sizing for them (was critical). And interview requests for the honorees we’ve already announced.”

Obviously, organization was an obstacle.

One solution? Imagine Randy Johnson and Félix Hernández scribbling their plane seat preferences and wardrobe sizes and sending them to Seattle.

“This is by far the most ambitious thing we’ve ever, ever done,” Finney said. “What I did was create a travel survey to get all their information in one place and capture their travel needs, their airport preferences, seating preferences, TSA numbers, frequent flyer numbers, all that sort of thing. So that helped me pull everything into one place. Then we did a secondary survey where we captured information on wardrobe sizes, ticketing needs, transportation needs.”

Which is why, when interviewed last Friday, Finney faced a leaning tower of logistical details.

“Right now, I’m looking at 50 itineraries that I need to proof and get out before end of day,” she said. “My fear is I forget to book a car for someone. Those are the nightmares you have before a big event. ‘Oh my God, I didn’t book so-and-so’s flight!’ Of course it’s booked. Everything is fine. But I worry, like anyone. You want it to be perfect.”

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In this case, perfection may be impossible. But Mariners employees are taking on extra tasks so 50 plates continue to simultaneously spin. Explained Tyler Thompson, the Mariners’ director of game entertainment and experiential marketing: “We’ve got so many of our legends coming to town that a bunch of us are going to be escorts as well, picking folks up at the airport and getting them to their hotels and the ballpark. We all wear many hats.”

Thompson’s primary hat involves preparing, practicing and executing perhaps the most jam-packed ceremony Seattle has ever seen.

“I feel like, in some ways, it’s 50 times the work and effort of those previous ceremonies where we celebrated one player,” Thompson said. “Because we’re trying to salute 50 different guys as part of this one, and preparing elements that include 50 different guys, and having graphics packages that introduce 50 different guys, and having a meaningful script for 50 different guys.

“It’s not going to be that long. It’s not going to be 50 times longer than the other (ceremonies). But there is a lot of thought and consideration and detail.”

The details make a difference. Consider the “50 Seasons” logo, designed by the Mariners’ internal art department — which features the font from Seattle’s inaugural uniforms, 116 ticks along the edges to honor the 2001 team and the silhouette of Mount Rainier jutting below the words. Consider the collector beer cups depicting Mariners uniforms through the years, which longtime staffer Randy Adamack oversaw to verify the accuracy of all colors and designs. Consider the mountain of “50 Seasons” merchandise, all of which was ordered a year ago to make deadlines. Consider the customized scoreboard that will be unveiled for the home run derby.

Speaking of: The home run derby will also feature special guests, as well as tarps and banners strewn throughout the field and beyond the fence that act as targets to trigger fan prizes. Thompson teased “an all-new special effect that we’ve never had at this ballpark before” as well.

The unknown, of course, is how many homers will be hit. Though commissioner Ken Griffey Jr. (630 career homers) and coaches Jay Buhner (310 homers) and Nelson Cruz (464 homers) are appearing in complementary roles, the actual field appears far less powerful. Former Mariners Ichiro (117 homers), Mike Cameron (278 homers), Ryan Rowland-Smith (a former pitcher, no homers), Ryon Healy (69 homers), Stefen Romero (four homers), Austin Nola (24 homers) and Bucky Jacobsen (nine homers) will attempt to conquer baseball’s biggest pitcher’s park.

The fan favorite is beyond debate.

“If Ichiro is putting on a show,” Sundblad said, “it’s a show.”

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Ironically, the sputtering 2026 Mariners may dampen the soiree, considering they host the streaking Rays. But rest assured, the organization will still put on a show. Because this weekend is for fans like Larry Sundblad, who spent money and time and tears inside those stadiums. It’s for the players who poured their passion into a slept-on seaside city in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a sprawling celebration of Seattle baseball.

It’s made for Mariners fans, by Mariners fans.

“This show’s going to be a little bit different, because I am a lifelong Mariners fan,” said Thompson, a Spokane resident and Eastern Washington University alum. “I know I have a job to be a producer and make sure everybody is on the same track and that we’re hitting every single minute cue, whether it’s a (public address) or a graphic or music or a physical cue on the field.

“But I’m going to be a fan on this day, too. Seeing these guys who I grew up rooting for on my parents’ couch, … I’m going to find moments during this show to take a step back and think, ‘This team that has had such an impact on me for two-plus decades, I’m working here now and helping produce this 50 seasons pregame show.’ It’s a dream come true.”