SeaTown Sports Brew — The OG Dumper Catches One for Seattle
A UW football fan catches J.P. Crawford's HR. Plus: Cole Young's clutch hit, Seahawks sale rumors debunked, and Sounders FC's historic streak.
The Leadoff: The OG Dumper
Rob Picketts did his homework.
The night before Wednesday afternoon’s Mariners v. Twins game, he checked the pitching matchup, saw the Twins were starting a righty, and bought a ticket in right field at Target Field — four rows up in a mostly empty section. Picketts told his daughter-in-law at dinner that he was going to sit there and catch a Cal Raleigh home run ball.
On Wednesday, I was watching the game at home when I saw someone in a purple UW hoodie catch J.P Crawford’s home run ball. I posted the screenshot to X. On Thursday morning, Rob’s stepson Zach saw the post, recognized his stepdad, and the rest sorted itself out.
Picketts was sort of right, by the way, on the home run prediction.
When Crawford’s ball came off the bat, Rob tracked it. “I don’t have the best depth perception, so I saw it coming my way and thought, this has a chance to go out,” he told me. “Then I realized the height of it and thought, uh oh, it’s going to hit me and I had better catch it and not look stupid.”
He caught it. His finger went numb for an inning. After he caught the ball, his phone blew up from a bunch of his buddies in Seattle. He told me that he previously had caught a foul ball off the bat of Carlos Febles of the Kansas City Royals at Safeco Field.
Rob’s a lifelong Husky and had season tickets for several years. He went to games as a kid with his dad, a UW grad. Last October, he was in Ann Arbor watching UW play Michigan. He might make it to Lincoln this fall. The purple and gold don’t come off just because he relocated to Minnesota after 50-plus years in Seattle.
The ball is going on his desk. Or maybe on top of his humidor. He hasn’t decided.
He does have a message for JP: “Thanks for hitting a ball I could catch. 375 feet away.” His wife wanted me to pass something along to Cal Raleigh — Rob got the nickname “Dumper” from his softball team 30 years ago. It stuck. His buddies have since upgraded it to “OG Dumper.”
Winners and Losers
Winner: Cole Young. The rubber game in Minnesota was Young’s. He delivered the go-ahead two-run single in the ninth, capping a 5-1 road trip and pushing the Mariners to 16-16.
Loser: Matt Brash’s right side. Two pitches Wednesday, a quick conversation with the trainer and Dan Wilson, and he walked off the mound. Brash says he’s not “super concerned.” Players always say that, so time will tell if it’s actually not that serious of an injury.
Winner: Fortress Lumen. The Sounders are at 20 straight unbeaten at home across all competitions, the longest stretch in club history. Their last home loss was to PSG in last summer’s Club World Cup.
Loser: Anyone trying to predict who buys the Seahawks. On Thursday, Front Office Sports reported that Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Apple’s Tim Cook were exploring bids to buy the Seahawks:
Both camps immediately refuted the story:
Looks like we’ll have to keep on speculating…
Fast Break
On-Deck
Mariners host Kansas City this weekend for a three-game series (Friday - Sunday)
Randy Johnson jersey retirement — Saturday, May 2 at T-Mobile Park. Worth getting there early for.
Mariners host Atlanta early next week at T-Mobile for a three-game series (Monday - Wednesday).