By Blaidd Drwg
There have been plently of eulogies for Dave Niehaus’ passing. He was a great announcer (although clearly slipping over the last couple of years), one of the last remaining great ones and his death is truly a loss to the baseball world.
Rob Neyer chimed in on his meeting of Niehaus, and it is moving:
In the Big Baseball World, I’m a nothing and Dave Niehaus is an Institution. Frankly, every time I walked into the booth and saw him, I halfway assumed he would have completely forgotten me. How many people must Niehaus have met over the years? How many other broadcasters and writers and glad-handers and just plain baseball fans have wanted their little moments with the man who had seen nearly every game in Mariners history?
And every time I stepped into his office, Dave Niehaus seemed genuinely glad to give me a few of his precious moments, happy to invite me to sit down next to him and talk about baseball or his trip to Cooperstown or whatever was ailing his Mariners.
I wish I had just a few more of those moments. I didn’t visit the booth in 2010. I didn’t want to impose. And I didn’t imagine, for even a second, that I would never have another chance. I sort of thought Dave Niehaus would live forever.
Tonight I’m feeling sorry for myself. I’m feeling sorry for his family. And I’m feeling sorry for the many thousands of Pacific Northwest baseball fans who have spent huge and hugely important chunks of their lives with Dave Niehaus. All of us will go on next spring, because that’s what we do. It’s just not yet apparent how, exactly.
Neyer is right – we will go on, and I am sure that there will be a moving tribute to Dave Niehaus on opening day, one last chance to say goodbye to a great one.
FlatbreadGarden 