The Survivor

SEATTLE – Dan Wilson is back in a familiar position.

Another stronger, faster, younger, better-hitting catcher has joined the Seattle Mariners, ready to take over the job Wilson has held for 10 years.

When the team acquired Miguel Olivo in the Freddy Garcia trade last month and appointed him their catcher of the future, Wilson responded with no beef, no argument, no outward frustration.

All he asked of manager Bob Melvin was one question: What happens to my playing time?

Melvin told him that Olivo would get most of the starts, but that Wilson would still play a considerable number of games.

“He said, ‘That’s all I need to know. I just need to know how to prepare myself,’ ” Melvin said. “He made it so easy on me.”

Wilson has prepared himself like this for years, it seems, always going about his work with his supposed replacement in the periphery.

In years past, it was Chad Krueter, John Marzano, Joe Oliver, Brent Mayne and Mackey Sasser. There were the touted draft picks, Jason Varitek and Ryan Christianson.

Lately there were the ultimate challenges, the young prospects who needed nothing but playing time to develop into star major leaguers, or so the reports said.

Ben Davis had his chance and wasted it with a weak batting average and soft work habits. Now, Olivo is here to get all the innings and at-bats needed to develop into the Mariners’ long-attempted upgrade at catcher and, after two weeks of regular playing time, he looks like a bona-fide contender to Wilson’s throne.

Through it all, Wilson has dealt with his uncertain future by working hard, being a good teammate and accepting the challenge to his position as part of the game.

Wilson was a 25-year-old himself when he came to Seattle in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds before the 1994 season. He replaced a Mariners fixture behind the plate, Dave Valle, who had started the previous seven season openers.

Ten years later, Wilson is the veteran whose job is going to a 25-year-old.

“We’d like to see Miguel take over the brunt of the catching and become our everyday catcher next year,” Melvin said. “Hopefully, Danny will come back in a backup-type role.”

Still, it’s no surprise to those who know Wilson best that he’s still here and the others who tried to replace him aren’t.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all because of the person he is, what he stands for and how he plays the game,” pitcher Jamie Moyer said.

Melvin calls Wilson a survivor to have spent 10 years in the toughest position of a tough game.

“He doesn’t let these outside things affect him,” Melvin said. “He plays his game and he knows he can’t control those things, and if he plays well he’s always going to find himself in the lineup.

“When Ben Davis came here, that wasn’t the first time Dan heard that somebody else was going to come in and take his time. He doesn’t give in to that. He doesn’t let what other people say affect him. When somebody tells you that you’re a bad player and you don’t believe it, what’s the difference?

“Dan stays away from letting negative things in. He just plays his game, he works, believes in himself, has confidence in what he does and finds himself behind the plate all the time.”

Wilson neither speaks nor shows any bitterness over the arrival of Olivo, because there is none.

He and Olivo have neighboring lockers in the Mariners’ clubhouse, where they share strategy, laughs and more. On Olivo’s first day in Seattle after being traded, Wilson loaned him a bat.

“We’re all teammates, and that’s what it’s about to Danny,” Moyer said. “It’s about being on the same page and putting forth an effort to win. Danny is easy to get along with. He’s a hard worker and he wants to win. Danny is very knowledgeable and he’s willing to pass on that knowledge.”

After his first year managing the Mariners in 2003, Melvin knew that well. He had seen how Wilson worked unselfishly alongside the pervious challenger to his job, Davis.

Davis, obtained by the Mariners before the 2002 season in a trade with the Padres, was seen then as the catcher of the Mariners’ future. He split playing time with Wilson for two seasons, unhappy that he wasn’t getting more of the innings even though he hit poorly.

The Mariners, frustrated that Davis’ poor work habits were stunting his development, decided last offseason to dangle the starting job at him and see how he reacted. Melvin went public with the plan, hoping it would motivate Davis.

But before he did that, Melvin made a phone call to Wilson, hoping his veteran catcher understood.

“I told him, ‘Look, I’m trying to challenge this guy. He’s a guy we’re looking to be our guy down the road. I just wanted to make sure I communicated that to you,’ ” Melvin said.

Wilson’s response: “I don’t have a problem with that.”

Davis, like several others, eliminated himself.

He hit so poorly at spring training this year that Wilson became the opening-day starter for the 10th time in 11 years. Then Davis batted just .075 in the first month before the Mariners sent him to Class AAA Tacoma. On June 27, he went to the Chicago White Sox along with Garcia in the trade that brought Olivo to Seattle.

Meanwhile, Wilson started the season strong. He batted .315 in April, becoming one of the few successes in a first month that was an offensive disaster for the team.

Wilson, a career .263 hitter, cooled down in May and June, further confirming the Mariners’ need for more offense at the catching position.

Olivo became a key component of the Garcia grade and, after a bout with kidney stones that landed him on the disabled list, he is getting most of the playing time and Wilson is sitting.

With no outward resentment, Wilson prepares himself as if he’s still an everyday player.

“Miguel is here, but I’m not going to let that change the way I prepare for a game or the things I do between games,” Wilson said. “That’s important in baseball, to always be prepared no matter what the situation is. You never know when your opportunity is going to come up.”

In a game that can spit out anyone who doesn’t have toughness to accompany his talent, Wilson doesn’t fold physically or mentally.

“Mentally you have to be tough to be a catcher,” Moyer said. “He’s a very competitive competitor. On the field, it’s not blatantly outward but it’s not hidden inside. He takes his at-bats hard, he takes winning well and he takes losing hard.

“He puts a lot on his shoulders. I know he has no control over pitchers but he wants them to throw a good pitch, and a lot of that has to do with calling the right pitch, knowing the comfort of each pitcher, knowing what each pitcher can throw or can’t throw in a given at-bat, a given sequence, on a given day.

“There’s a knack to that, and Danny’s good at it.”

The way Wilson looks at this game, the pressure isn’t any greater on him now just because another player is taking over his job.

“This game is a challenge every day,” Wilson said. “Everyone has ups and down. In baseball, the ups can be really up and the downs can be really down. That’s what makes it tough do deal with sometimes.”

Wilson doesn’t deal with the tough times alone. When he needs strength, both professionally and personally, he knows where to go.

“The first place would be my faith,” he said. “There’s a lot of comfort there, in my Christian faith, and that brings me peace. Second is my family.”

Wilson and his wife, Annie, have four children: daughters Sofia and Josephine, and sons Elijah and Abraham.

“There’s always something going on at home,” he said. “It’s a great diversion.”

Providing his family a well-grounded home life, especially spiritually, is important to Wilson because that’s what his family gave to him.

“Faith was pretty important when I was growing up,” he said. “It was something that was instilled in me at a young age. I want my kids to have that, too.”

Wilson smiles at the memory of growing up in the Chicago suburb of Barrington, Ill., in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Life is good there,” he said. “It’s a great community, fairly affluent, great school system, great athletic programs. I feel like I was a pretty big benefactor of that. There was nothing to overcome. It was an ideal situation.”

Raised by parents who provided what he needed, Wilson spent much of his time trying to keep up with two older brothers – Toby and Matt Wilson – who were heavily involved in sports.

“It was always hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer, football in the fall,” he said. “Having older brothers, I was always trying to keep up with them. I was always trying to play up to their level.”

Both brothers played hockey in college, and Dan could have.

He was a three-time All-State selection as a hockey goalie at Barrington High School, but he also was a two-time All-State pitcher in baseball and he played quarterback on the football team.

Long before high school, Wilson showed a special flair for baseball.

As a 12-year-old, he starred on the 1981 Barrington Little League team that won the Illinois state championship, then the regional tournament and advanced to the Little League World Series.

He hit a game-winning three-run homer to avoid elimination in the state tournament, then pitched a two-hit complete game and hit two home runs in the state title game.

Wilson says he doesn’t remember those heroics specifically. What he remembers fondly is that playing baseball, even in the stress of postseason tournaments, was pure joy.

“You look back at Little League and there really isn’t pressure,” he said. “I remember as we continued to win, we were always kind of shocked that we had another tournament to play. It was a momentum thing and we didn’t feel pressure.

“It was a great experience. We had an amazing team and we had a great group of athletes who stuck together as the years went on.”

After he graduated from high school, Wilson majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, where he played baseball and became a first-team All-American in 1990.

In June that year, one of his biggest dreams came true. The team he idolized as a kid, the Cincinnati Reds, drafted him in the first round.

How does a kid growing up in the Chicago area become a Reds fan? Watching Cubs telecasts, ironically.

WGN televised the Cubs, and every home game was played in the daytime at Wrigley Field.

“I’d play Whiffle Ball in the morning, come in and watch some baseball on TV, then go back out and play some more,” Wilson said. “I was born in 1969, and when I started to enjoy baseball, all I remember hearing about was the Big Red Machine.”

Being a catcher, Johnny Bench became Wilson’s favorite player. He remembers being 8 years old when he attended a Reds-Cubs game at Wrigley wearing a Cincinnati jersey with “Bench” on the back.

Thirteen years later, when the Reds selected Wilson with the seventh overall pick in the 1990 June draft, he said it was the best day of his life.

“I was hoping to get drafted, and to have it be by the Reds was something pretty cool,” he said. “It was a dream come true.”

When he reported to the Reds’ Class A team in Charleston, S.C., for his first pro season, Wilson soon realized that it would take a lot of hard work to succeed.

He also learned how difficult it is to become a big leaguer, and that he never was sure he would get there.

“I remember taking the attitude in the minor leagues that I would give it my best shot and hope it would turn into something,” Wilson said. “I wanted to take the steps slowly. Until you get called up, I don’t think you ever know that the big leagues are imminent.”

The rise through the minor leagues was fairly quick. Wilson reached Cincinnati in 2 years, when he made the club out of spring training in 1993.

“For me it was fairly quick, and I was thankful for that,” he said. “But as you progress and go up each step, you realize the players are better and the game is crisper.”

He played for Lou Piniella when he managed the Reds and, after Piniella became the Mariners’ manager in 1993, Wilson was in Seattle within a year.

The Mariners, looking for a younger model to replace veteran catcher Dave Valle, got Wilson and relief pitcher Bobby Ayala from the Reds in exchange for pitcher Erik Hanson and infielder Bret Boone.

Ten years later, Wilson’s days as the Mariners’ starting catcher seem over. Olivo is getting most of the playing time, and Wilson knows the future will bring change.

“I do think about it some,” he said. “In the midst of the season, it’s not something that’s at the forefront of my mind, but probably this offseason I’ll think about it more.”

Wilson admits he isn’t totally satisfied with what he has accomplished, even though he has made a sizable mark on the Mariners.

His .295 batting average in 2002 was the highest ever by a Mariners catcher. He had caught 1,190 games by the All-Star break, far surpassing the 798 that Valle caught in 10 seasons. Wilson is one of seven catchers in major league history to hit an inside-the-park home run.

All that, and he has remained a fixture in the Mariners’ lineup for more than 10 seasons.

“There are things you always feel you can improve on,” Wilson said. “I’m not a goal-setter in the sense that I want to hit a certain number of home runs or anything like that. When I got to the major leagues, I just wanted to take advantage of every opportunity that I had and give 100 percent every day. That was my only goal, and it continues to be my only goal.

“I figured if I kept a good attitude and played hard every day, good things would happen for me. Obviously, a World Series ring would be outstanding. But for the most part I feel like it’s been a great ride in Seattle.”