SEQUIM – Those baseball players may seem like a summer-centric lot.
But you had to hand it to them when a pair of Seattle Mariners, centerfielder Adam Jones and infielder-outfielder Mike Morse traveled through a snowstorm to the Olympic Peninsula Boys & Girls Clubs’ Sequim unit on Wednesday – and arrived nearly an hour early.
Jones was having the time of his life, in part because children were gazing at him with pure adoration – but also because this was a wholly new meteorological experience.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen snow,” said Jones, 21.
He was born and raised in San Diego, so he hadn’t seen much rain, either, until he became a Mariner.
On the way to Sequim, the Mariners’ bus pulled over to disgorge its players and their entourage for a quick snowball fight.
“It was cold,” Jones said. But it was also cool, he added.
Mariners community programs manager Sean Grindley said he and the players chose to stop in Sequim at 3:15 p.m. rather than drive to Port Angeles as they had originally planned.
“The roads were dicey, and they’re supposed to get worse,” Grindley said. “We wanted to save that hour,” before heading back to Seattle.
Nearly 200 youngsters lined up at the Boys & Girls Club to have the players and their mascot, the Mariner Moose, autograph team posters and whatever sheets of paper the kids could grab.
“Whenever they ask me to do this, I would,” said Jones, looking at the young, upturned faces surrounding him.
“They see us on TV and think we’re so ‘up here,’ but we’re just people.”
Wednesday was one of the more thrilling days at the club, said KinderKids director Mary Budke.
But that wasn’t necessarily due to the appearance by professional athletes.
“They’re more excited about the snow than anything,” Budke said.
So, apparently, were the Mariners, said unit director Cheryl Stough.
After their hourlong visit – “they were just going to run in and run out, but they didn’t want to disappoint anybody,” she said – Jones and Morse dived into the snow just before getting back on the bus.
“As their adieu,” Stough said, “they had a snowball fight and made snow angels.”
