The box of tissues was strategically placed on the podium within reach of Rick Rizzs’ right hand. It took just 34 seconds for him to reach for it for the first time during his formal retirement announcement Wednesday morning.
“I was gonna try not to use this,” Rizzs said, nudging the box away.
There were a few tears, to be sure. Some from Rizzs himself. Others from the Seattle Mariners luminaries in attendance to celebrate a storied career spanning Rizzs’ 51 years as a professional baseball broadcaster, 40 of them in Seattle.
Much like his radio broadcasts, the retirement news conference was filled with the earnest joy, passion and humility that has endeared Rizzs to generations of Mariners fans.
“I’ve had an incredible ride,” Rizzs, 72, said. “… I’ve had the most marvelous journey one human being can ever ask for – 51 years of living my dream.”
The Mariners announced Rizzs’ retirement plans on Tuesday, with the 2026 season his last as the Voice of the Mariners on radio. He’ll continue to call home games this year but will have a reduced schedule for the team’s road trips.
“His legacy is much more than being the voice of the team,” Mariners chairman John Stanton said in introducing Rizzs. “His legacy is the relationships he’s formed with the fans, with players … and he’s a part of our front office. We deeply, deeply appreciate everything he’s done.”
Catcher Cal Raleigh and manager Dan Wilson attended the news conference, and Rizzs gave them a special shout-out – while also raising the stakes for his final season.
“I’m not putting any pressure on you, Dan, because everybody in that clubhouse believes it, because we were so close last year,” Rizzs said. “We’re going to get there and we’re going to win the World Series.”
Rizzs choked up when he acknowledged Marilyn Niehaus, wife of the Mariners’ late Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, Rizzs’ broadcast partner for 25 years.
“I worked with the greatest announcer in the history of the game of baseball, David Niehaus,” Rizzs said. “He taught me so much about broadcasting. And we had some lean years here, as you know, until the boys in 1995 got together and saved baseball here.”
Rizzs said it was Dave Niehaus who initially landed him the job with the Mariners in 1983.
And Rizzs, of course, had a colorful story of how he almost blew that job interview.
At the time, Rizzs was the broadcaster for the Yankees’ Triple-A team in Columbus, Ohio. The day before he was supposed to fly to Los Angeles for an interview with then-Mariners owner George Argyros, Rizzs participated in a charity event for the local Girls Scouts, who were launching their famous cookie sale by hosting a cookie-eating contest.
Rizzs agreed to participate in the contest.
“And I ate 33 cookies in three minutes,” he remembered with a laugh. “Dumbest thing I ever did besides trying to follow a legend in Detroit (in 1991). That’s another story.”
By the next morning, before his scheduled flight, the cookies made Rizzs feel like he was “having a heart attack.” He called the team doctor, who recommended he go to the hospital, where he went through a series of tests. The good news: no heart attack. The bad news: He missed his flight and his job interview.
“I thought my big-league dream was going to be shattered,” he said.
He was, however, able to reschedule the interview for the following day in L.A. After he explained the reason for his delay, Rizzs remembered Argyros reaching across his desk to shake Rizzs’ hand.
“Welcome aboard,” Argyros told him. “Anybody willing to sacrifice his life for the Girl Scouts is my kind of guy.”
Growing up on Chicago’s South Side, Rizzs was captivated by the play-by-play calls from Jack Brickhouse, the Cubs’ Hall of Fame broadcaster. When he was 12 years old, Rizzs wrote Brickhouse a letter and was thrilled when Brickhouse wrote back.
“That was like my Holy Grail,” he said.
On several occasions, Rizzs thanked the rest of the Mariners broadcast team in attendance – Aaron Goldsmith, Gary Hill Jr., Angie Mentink, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Shannon Drayer.
“And we’re gonna have more (memories) this year,” Rizzs said. “Aaron’s gonna capture it. Gary’s gonna capture it. We’re gonna capture it (with) Shannon, Angie, Ryan. And I can’t wait to see this season unfold. I really can’t wait. I’m going to enjoy every drop of this season.”