Rookie Cards of My Youth Part 2

As I turned double digits and the 1990's rolled around, the Mariners actually got pretty good.  We had this really tall guy who had the gloriously phallic nickname "The Big Unit," and who went on the destroy a bird and scare the living bejeezus out of most batters facing him.  He was pretty good at throwing the ball, especially his slider.  It had it's own name even.

We had the kid of a pretty good player from the Big Red Machine, and he turned out to be pretty good in his own right.  Ken Griffey Junior was probably the best Mariner of all time, and his career in Seattle was honestly magical.  It really hurt me when he skipped town to go to Cincinnati and later to the White Sox.  He's the only reason that I ever wore a baseball hate backwards, and his infectious joy for the game (in addition to his immense talent) was something that really pulled me in.

We had other guys, like a younger, more innocent but still amazing Alex Rodriguez.  We had holdovers like Buhner, glue guys like Paul Sorrento, Tino Martinez, and Dan Wilson.  We even had this soft toss thrower who honestly reminded me of a slightly younger version of my father.  Who knew that he would pitch in the majors until he was nearly 50 years old?  I know we never won a world series, or even made it to a world series, but they were my heroes anyway.