SEATTLE — For all but nine seasons of the Seattle Mariners' history, broadcaster Rick Rizzs has been one of the defining voices of the team.

"Goodbye, baseball," "Holy smokes," "A laser beam strike from Ichiro," are just few of many calls that have helped define the organization.

Alongside the late Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, Rizzs' voice has narrated Mariners games for multiple generations.

Rizzs has spent his career up in the broadcast booth, down in the dugout or in the clubhouse. In a rare but much-deserved situation Wednesday, Rizzs took the spotlight.

On Tuesday, it was announced 2026 would be Rizzs' last season calling games for Seattle. Rizzs spoke to the media in a news conference Wednesday at T-Mobile Park that was led off with opening statements from the team's chairman, CEO and majority owner John Stanton.

"As much as a great broadcaster as Rick is, he's (an even) better human being," Stanton said at the news conference. "It's wonderful to hear from him about his Toys for Tots charity every year, the foundation that he helped start and the important causes, big and small. He's been the voice of the Mariners for hundreds, probably thousands of events. And he's not leaving, but he will be missed in his everyday role. His legacy is much more than being a voice of the team. His legacy is the relationship he's formed with the fans, with the players ... and with the coaches." 

Rizzs was brought in as an announcer alongside Niehaus in 1983. He was with the team until '91, spent three seasons in the Detroit Tigers' broadcast booth from '92-94 and returned to the Pacific Northwest in '95, where he's been since.

On a day that was supposed to be about him, honoring the four-plus decades he's put in at the broadcast booth, Rizzs characteristically took the time to recognize others.

Rizzs spent time highlighting his broadcast partners who were in attendance at the conference, including Angie Mentink, Aaron Goldsmith, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Gary Hill Jr.; he took time to recognize manager Dan Wilson and catcher Cal Raleigh, who were also in attendance and spoke to Niehaus' widow, Marilyn Niehaus.

"I don't know how you didn't win the MVP," Rizzs said to Raleigh. " ... I got to talk to a few writers, man. That man deserved to be the American League Most Valuable Player. Sixty home runs, more than any catcher, more than any switch-hitter, more than any Mariner. No passed balls over the course of the whole year. I love you, kid. And we're gonna get to the World Series this year and we're gonna win it."

In the brief time of the near-half-an-hour news conference where Rizzs did talk about himself, he spoke about writing a letter to his hero and legendary Chicago Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse when he was 12-years-old and how he received a letter back.

That letter was foundational to a career that has spanned five decades, beginning in various minor league stops and finally bringing him to Seattle.

Rizzs later had a chance to meet his hero in person when he was in spring training with the M's, where he told Brickhouse about what the letter meant to him.

Rizzs later told a story of when he found an old transistor radio in the city's oldest neighborhood of Pioneer Square. Through that radio, Rizzs fulfilled another dream.

"I bought a transistor radio and I found a nine-volt battery, put it in," Rizzs said. "I brought it up to the booth and Dave goes 'what are you doing?' I said 'David, all my life, I wanted to be the voice coming out of an old transistor radio.' So I put the little transistor radio there. We had headphones, we were on (KVI 570 AM). ... I tuned it in to 570 said 'Hi, everybody welcome to the Kingdome. It's the Mariners against the Boston Red Sox. Rick Rizzs here with Dave Niehaus, producer/engineer Kevin Cremin.' ... Finally, after eight years in the minor leagues and being a 12-year-old kid, I was finally that voice coming out of a transistor radio. It just meant everything to me."

Now, many years later, Rizzs represents to Mariners fans, young and old, what Brickhouse meant to him.

"As a broadcaster — and Aaron knows this and Gary knows it — as a broadcaster you get to know the fans (and) they get to know you," Rizzs said. "That's the beautiful part of this. I felt like I knew Jack Brickhouse long before I met him. We're in your homes every day, or in your car every day or out on the beach or in the backyard or in the sandlot. That's the beauty of radio, you can take us wherever you want to go. So, they feel a connection. So when it comes time to meet them, say 'hello,' give a smile, shake their hand, spend some time with them. In spring training, I like to take little walks and visit with the fans. You gotta meet a fan one at a time. ... That connection just keeps growing and growing and growing."

Wednesday would have been the perfect time for Rizzs to take a victory lap around the bases on what has been a Hall of Fame-worthy career. But there will be at least 162 games for him to do so. Instead of speaking of himself, he talked about the fans, his coworkers, the players, the coaches and the team at large. And in the final year of Rizzs' career, there may have been no better representation of him than that.

"It's been so much fun," Rizzs said. "But I missed a lot. I love what I do. I love baseball and I love broadcasting. But, let's face it, everyone in the game — players, managers — we make sacrifices because we're not home. As you know, I lost my son two years ago and I want to spend more time with my grandkids. ... At 72, you start to think 'What do I want to do with the rest of my life? What is the next chapter gonna look like?' I love coming to the ballpark every day. ... I just want to enjoy the next chapter, whatever that is." 

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