This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer's Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SEATTLE -- There were lots of hugs and laughs as Dave Sims strolled through the home clubhouse at T-Mobile Park on Monday afternoon, as the former Mariners broadcaster made his rounds with players, coaches and media colleagues.
Sims is in town for the first time since becoming the voice of the Yankees as their play-by-play commentator, though he’s exclusively on the radiowaves in his new gig compared to splitting time on the TV side in Seattle. He arrived in Seattle on Thursday, skipping New York’s three-game series in Sacramento to spend a few days here early.
“Looking at this ballpark, I used to do this all the time -- get here, not every day, but a lot of days -- get here super early, and it's just so serene,” Sims said during an interview in the booth. “You can say that about a lot of ballparks, but there's a different effect here.”
Though Sims, 72, is indulging in plenty of nostalgia, he’s also pointed about the task at hand this week and calling the matchup that pits two first-place teams that also rank near the top of the American League standings.
“I've heard from a lot of people on social media, 'Welcome home. You'll always be a Seattle guy. You're the voice of my youth. You're the voice of my kids.' A lot of that,” Sims said. “It's been good. I had a good run here.”
Sims spent 18 years in the Mariners’ broadcast booth and authored some of the club’s most iconic calls, especially of recent memory -- including Félix Hernández’s perfect game on Aug. 15, 2012, when he was in the booth with current Mariners manager Dan Wilson.
His favorite, though, was when Cal Raleigh crushed a walk-off homer to send the Mariners to the 2022 postseason. It’s obviously a moment that Raleigh will never forget, and Sims’ call was a big part of that. Raleigh and his family would mimic the voiceover after it went viral.
Sims was the winner of three straight Washington Sportscaster of the Year Awards (2018-20) from the National Sports Media Association.
But Sims’ lasting impact -- which was evident as he reconnected with everyone on Monday -- was with people and the relationships fostered through care and effort.
“The guy knows the game,” Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford said. “When I was hurt a lot last year, you watch the games on TV, obviously you hear a bunch of him. I definitely miss his callings and whatnot, but happy he's back home. I wish nothing but the best for him.”
Crawford, in particular, had a close bond with Sims, which blossomed after Sims paneled “Black Voices in Baseball” to recognize Juneteenth and raise awareness of Black Lives Matter during the height of protests calling for racial equality in June 2020. Crawford was part of that panel.
“It meant everything,” Crawford said.
He also joked about what he was planning to say to Sims when he first saw him.
“Him being mad that we beat the Yankees,” Crawford said.
Sims didn’t necessarily want to leave the Mariners, but the Philadelphia native who makes his permanent home in New York couldn’t pass up the “full-circle” opportunity when the Yankees called. Sims had worked for the club’s flagship, WFAN, from 1989-93, and prior, was a staff writer for the New York Daily News, among many roles he held on the East coast.
Sims took over for John Sterling, who’d been the voice of the Yanks since 1986, and he’s reunited with longtime friend and colleague Suzyn Waldman.
“We've known each other since 1987, and as we talk about, all the time we corresponded,” Sims said. “Like, if the Yankees were home and [the Mariners] weren’t playing, I'm sitting on my scorecard watching them, and listening to she and John. And we would text back and forth.”
The Yankees only make one trip per year to the Pacific Northwest, unless they meet again in October, and it was a special one for a familiar face.