SEATTLE -- The Mariners gave a hat tip to four decades of baseball prior to Monday's home opener, with Ruppert Jones, Harold Reynolds, Mark McLemore and Willie Bloomquist simultaneously throwing out the first pitch before the current club took on the Astros at Safeco Field.
The four first-pitch tossers were a link to the team's history as the club celebrates its 40th anniversary season with the beginning of Year 41.
Jones, now 62, started in center field in the Mariners' first three Opening Day games from 1977-79. Reynolds played second for Seattle from 1983-92. McLemore was part of the 116-win club in 2001, and Bloomquist played for his hometown club from 2002-08 and again from 2014-15.