The past two days, when nobody else was on the field during the mid-afternoon at Safeco Field, Ken Roll walked from the Mariners’ clubhouse and threw pitches from the mound.
Roll, an athletic trainer and physical therapist who has worked with the Mariners the past 27 years, retired from that
job Wednesday. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game, and to prepare for that he made sure he practiced each of the past two days.
“That’s the first time I’ve thrown a ball in I don’t know how long,” said Roll, who turns 68 next week.
Roll, who’ll continue to work as
a physical therapist in Redmond, said the best thing about working with the Mariners was the relationships that have remained strong for decades.
“People move around a lot in this game, but it’s like a big family,” he said. “It’s the major-league family. It’s a select group of people who care about one another, and it’s all based around the most phenomenal game in sports, I think.”
Most fans wouldn’t know Roll because of his behind-the-scenes duties, although he’s part of one of the more famous photographs in Mariners history. When Ken Griffey Jr. slid across home plate to score the winning run in the 1995 Division Series against the Yankees, Roll was in the background celebrating in the dugout.
“Ken (Roll) jumped around so much he was knocking people out of the way,” head trainer Rick Griffin said. “Then there was the time we were standing on the field at spring training while the players were playing catch. You never think a guy’s going to miss a ball, but one morning somebody threw one over the head of one of the players, and everybody screamed, ‘Look out!’
“Ken ducked his head and lost his balance, and he stutter-stepped six or seven times before he slammed into the ground. At first it wasn’t funny because he hit really hard, but then he stood up and said, ‘Man down!’ We all made fun of him and people were re-enacting it. The next day when we went onto the field, somebody had taped the outline of a body where he had fallen down.”
Roll took it all in stride, and with a smile.
“He’s an extremely compassionate and caring man,” said James Clifford, the Mariners’ coordinator of sports science and performance. “He’s leaving after 27 years, and he brought me a bottle of wine. That’s the kind of guy he is.”
Of note
Catcher Miguel Olivo, with 19 home runs and 62 runs batted in, became the first catcher in Mariners history to lead the team in homers and RBI. Just three catchers since 1961 had led their teams in both homers and RBI — John Romano of Cleveland in 1962, Lance Parrish of Detroit in 1983 and 1984 and Victor Martinez of Cleveland in 2007. … Among Mariners with offseason travel plans, Mike Carp may have one of the more interesting trips. He’s going to Holland to spend time with outfielder Greg Halman in Halman’s native country.
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