Seattle Mariners held a moment of silence for Hiroshi Yamauchi, the team's majority owner, before their game against the Kansas City Royals yesterday.
The former Nintendo President, who guided the company into the age of video games, died last week at the age of 85.
In 1992 he was attributed with saving the baseball team by picking up a majority share of the organisation when its previous owner was looking to sell it to a Florida group.
Yamauchi transferred his stake in the Mariners to Nintendo of America in 2004 and Howard Lincoln, CEO of the Mariners and a member of Nintendo of America’s board of directors, has since said the company intends to remain the majority owner.
The Mariners lost the game 6-5 in extra innings.
[source mercedsunstar.com]
Comments 17
I never knew this. I learn something new everyday
This was very nice of them... Too bad they lost the game though :/
Classy move by the Mariner's organization and the stadium.
Interesting fact: He never actually attended a game, not even when the Mariners went to play in Japan.
Very nice of them to acknowledge him... even if he apparently had no real interest in their sport. Shame they lost.
@Kodeen: Yup, I'm from Seattle and a Mariners fan and at least when Yamauchi was the majority owner they had a few good seasons. Ever since he transferred his stake to Nintendo they have been awful.
Anyway, the moment of silence is very nice. Too bad not to many people were there to witness it though because hardly anyone goes to the Mariners games anymore. If people want to really want to know what a lot of the Seattle Mariners fans think of the current Nintendo ownership group then you should read some of the comments on the Seattle Times: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/public/display.php?source_id=2021878915&source_name=mbase
Interesting never knew that
@Ryno thx for the interesting links!
@Ryno: Wow its interesting how the people aren't too thrilled about Nintendo owning the team. Still I wonder what the people would say if Nintendo did sell them to someone and they wanted to move the team to another city.
OWN LEE NINTENDO FANS NO THIS
THIS IS OLD NEWS YOU HAVE TO BE A TRUE NINTENDO FANS
@Tasuki: Remember the Sacramento Kings saga? Those guys who wanted to bring the Kings would more than likely be the high bidders for the Mariners. Plenty enough money in Seattle with Nintendo, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, and Boeing around here to let another team slip out of here through the back door like the Sonics deal.
@Ryno: Yep @Senario got what I was thinking. I am sure that if someone wanted to buy the Mariners and move them say to Sacramento I am sure Mariners fans would rather Nintendo keep ownership. I am sure like you said with all those companies and the lose of the Supersonics still fresh in alot of Seattle sports fans minds that wont happen I was just merely getting at how fickle sport fans can be.
And BTW I was hoping that the Kings would have gone to Seattle.
The last line made me laugh. xD
Really nice they did this. Win one for Yamauchi!
@Ryno Thanks for sharing that, it was interesting.
The Mariners will not move even if Nintendo sold the team. They have a stadium and play in a large market with lots of corporate dollars. Plus MLB's revenue sharing allows even the worst of teams turn a profit.
As little interest as I have for sports, I gotta respect the team for this.
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