After watching him hit just .203 over the course of 78 games with two different clubs in the 2011 season, it was painfully obvious that it was time for former All-star Mike Cameron to hang ‘em up. Over the weekend, he did just that.
He had signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training for the Washington Nationals back in December, but Cameron ended what would have been his 18th major league season before it ever started when he announced his retirement on Sunday.
Cameron joined the Mariners as a part of a package deal that sent Ken Griffey Jr. to Cincinnati. With incredibly huge shoes to fill in Seattle’s center field, Cameron surpassed all expectations en route to creating his own legacy in the M’s outfield.
The three-time gold glove award winner was a big time member of the greatest professional baseball team the northwest has ever seen. As the starting center fielder for the 2001 Seattle Mariners, Cameron hit .267 with a then-career high 25 homeruns. He also stole 34 bases and was caught just five times while scoring 99 runs, a total he would never reach any other time in his career.
He also won a gold glove in ’01, made the only All-Star appearance in his career that year, and made a name for himself by making high-flying acrobatic plays alongside rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki. The two combined to make Safeco Field’s outfield grass look surprisingly difficult to find.
He’d go on to play a total of four years in Seattle and win two gold gloves (’01, ’03) as a Mariner. But he’ll be remembered far more for how he carried himself off the field than for what he ever did on it.
I’ll never forget being a youngster in a mall in Bellevue, Washington when I saw Mike Cameron, dressed in khaki slacks, a white tucked in dress shirt, and a slick leather jacket, coming down from the second floor in a glass elevator. And I’ll never forget how willing he was to make sure that I left that mall with an autograph from one of my favorite Mariners of all time.
Without hesitation, Cameron smiled from ear to ear as he signed his name for me.
He was one of only 13 players in MLB history to hit four homeruns in a single game (I remember laying on the carpet at my parents’ house watching the at-bat when he hit his 4th, and I remember going to the Mariners’ next home game when the Safeco Field giveaway was a poster commemorating the event – a poster I still have, by the way.)
The memories I have from that 2001 season are still so vivid in my mind. Mike Cameron, who hit .249 over his career and struck out far too often, will be forgotten by the game. But he won’t be forgotten by me.
Congratulations on 17 seasons, Mike, and thank you for the four that you spent in Seattle.
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