Last week, former Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager was elected into the "Hall of Pretty Good" with more than 97 percent of the vote.

And yes, I know that the "Hall of Pretty Good" is really nothing more than a fun acknowledgement of a players career on the internet, but for me, it goes much deeper than that when it comes to Kyle Seager.

I'll be honest. There's a few things at play for me here, and I bet others in my age bracket (37) have some similar thoughts.

In full transparency: I just turned 37 years old. I've been in the media for more than a decade, but I've only truly been covering the Mariners for the last three years. Covering the Mariners is my dream job, and writing and talking about them is the thing I've always wanted to do.

However, the first eight years of my career weren't spent doing that. I was able to maintain my fandom from afar, and I didn't need to be impartial and balanced when it came to the Mariners.

For me, Kyle Seager was the last player that I truly latched onto as a fan. His career began when I was in my early 20s and ended when I was 31 or 32. He was a link to a different era of fandom for me, and that connection will always resonate. 

Even though I'm still a Mariners fan, a diehard one, it's just different now in some respects. I try to be more balanced and understanding. The conversations are more nuanced than emotional. The reactions more tempered. I love the Mariners and I want them to win, but it's less about "favorite players," and more about understanding people.

I love what I do, but I think we all miss a time when we were younger and things were simpler, at least to a degree. Kyle Seager is my last link to that time - at least in baseball terms.

And I talked about this on the most recent 'Refuse to Lose Territory' podcast:

"Kyle Seager was a really good player. Two 30-home run seasons. He ended his career, what, with 35 and 101 (RBIs), I think, for the Mariners. In 2021, he retired at the top of his game, power-wise. He was an All-Star. He was a Gold Glover. He was fun to watch.

And at a time when the Mariners weren't very good, Kyle Seager was very loyal. And that, to me, I think goes a long way.

Because if you're of my age, you grew up with players leaving the Mariners, right? For whatever reasons, right? Sometimes it was the Mariners' fault, sometimes the player wanted out. But you grew up with Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. leaving, and you always kind of remember that.

And then when you get to, you saw Ichiro here for a while and then ultimately get traded, so you were used to being jaded.

But then when you see Felix (Hernandez) stay for his career, again, mainly. Right at the very end, I think he was with the Braves and Orioles in spring training, but never played a major league game for another team other than the Mariners.

And when you see Kyle Seager never play for anybody but the Mariners, that kind of thing warms your heart as a Mariners fan. It just does.

You can call it sappy, you can call it corny, whatever. Kyle Seager never playing for another team, that's something that matters, I think, because people of my age weren't necessarily used to that."

Seager finished his career with 242 career home runs in 11 seasons. He was named to the M's Top 50 Greatest Players list earlier this summer. One day, he'll be a member of the team's Hall of Fame.