The Best and Worst Uniforms of All Time: The Seattle Mariners

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Our last entry of the series. Ah, memories. It seems like it was only last Tuesday when we began this thing . . .

The Best: Call me crazy, but I loved the old trident M on the caps. It looked better with the star behind it than the original look , but like so many other expansion teams, be it the Angels, the Brewers or the Expos, a unique logo — as opposed to a near-generic letter — is the absolute best way to make up for not having a century of history behind you. Or rather, it is your history, Seattle, and it’s not something that you should hide from simply because it wasn’t around before World War II.

Ultimately, though, that’s just a cap. The jerseys of that era were kind of blah. And really, since then, the jerseys have been kind of blah.  I guess if they could somehow incorporate the star-trident-M with something like this they’d be optimizing things, but I still believe that the Mariners’ best uniforms are in their future, not their past.

The Worst: The era of the big yellow S on the caps may have been one of the laziest designs in baseball history. “Well, we’re in Seattle. Let’s put an ‘S’ on there, OK boys?  No, no need to make it look good or fancy or anything. Just a yellow S. We have more important things to do today.”

Assessment: The Mariners have at times been the worst team in baseball, and for one year at least, they were the best team in baseball.  Never, however, have their uniforms reached heights or depths of any significance whatsoever. Kind of sad really.

Orioles sign OF Aaron Hicks, put Cedric Mullins on 10-day IL with groin strain

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
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BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles signed outfielder Aaron Hicks less than 24 hours after Cedric Mullins went down with a strained right groin.

Mullins went on the 10-day injured list, but the Orioles are hoping Hicks can help defensively in the spacious outfield at Camden Yards. Hicks was released last week by the New York Yankees with more than 2 1/2 seasons left on his contract.

“We had noticed that he was a free agent even before the injury,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “When the injury occurred and it became pretty clear this was going to be an IL, it seemed like a good fit even more so at that time.”

The Orioles are responsible for paying Hicks just $483,871, a prorated share of the $720,000 minimum salary. The Yankees owe him the rest of his $10.5 million salary this year, plus $9.5 million in each of the next two seasons and a $1 million buyout of a 2026 team option.

The 33-year-old Hicks hit just .188 in 28 games for the Yankees this year.

“We have stuff that we look at from a scouting and evaluation perspective,” Elias said. “It’s very different from just looking at the back of a baseball card, and we hope that we get a bounceback from anyone we bring here.”

Hicks batted .216 last season.

“Hopefully that’s a good thing for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Baltimore deal. “A lot of time here and a lot of good things happened for him here. I know the last couple of years have been a struggle. But hopefully it’s a good opportunity for him and certainly wish him well. Not too well being in our division and a team we’re chasing, but hopefully it’s a really good fit for him.”

Mullins left a loss to Cleveland after he pulled up while running out an infield grounder. Outfielder Colton Cowser – the fifth pick in the draft two years ago – is hitting .331 at Triple-A Norfolk, but he went on the IL in the past couple weeks.

“Certainly he was building a case towards promotion consideration prior to his injury and prior to Cedric’s injury,” Elias said. “We’ll just see where we’re at.”

Hicks was active for the game but not in the starting lineup. Austin Hays, normally Baltimore’s left field, was in Mullins’ usual spot in center.

When the wall in left at Camden Yards was pushed significantly back before last season, it made left field a bigger challenge defensively.

“In this park … you really need two center fielders,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Aaron’s got a lot of center-field experience. Played left field here before also. Brings the defensive aspect and then the switch-hitting.”