Today is the last day of work for Ron Spellecy, the Mariners longtime Director of Team Travel. The 2017 season is Ron’s 20th with the club, as only the fourth traveling secretary in the team’s 40-year history (David Szen 1977–78; Lee Pelekoudas 1979–87; Craig Detwiler 1988–97).
Ron ably, and with a smile, coordinated the multitude of challenges that planning for, moving, housing and babysitting a Major League roster, staff, traveling party and front office staff entails.
His tenure included a new ballpark in Seattle, the 2001 All-Star Game, a trip to Japan cancelled on the day we were supposed to leave, a successful trip to Japan to open the regular season, a bus fire, 2 separate planes experiencing galley fires (on the same trip), the 2000 and 2001 post-seasons and the myriad of challenges surrounding the events of Sept.