I was seven years old when the Mariners last made the playoffs, so as you can imagine, I don’t have a ton of memories from that season. I remember going to Opening Day, watching Ichiro pick up his first career hit. I remember seeing 35-year-old knuckleballer Steve Sparks shut down the Mariners on a Monday evening in August, scattering five hits across nine innings. And I remember going to All Star FanFest.
In the years since, I’ve been to FanFest probably 10 other times. It became a tradition with some family friends: We’d take a look at the autograph schedule and plan on which day to go, and we’d get there early and excitedly wait in line.