Voice of the Mariners dies of heart attact: Dave Niehaus

Dave Niehaus, a Hall of Fame inductee for broadcasting, died Wednesday of a heart attack.

He had been the voice of the Mariners from their first game, on April 6, 1977, through the end of the 2010 season.

Niehaus got into broadcasting as a student at Indiana. He worked for the Armed Forces Network in Los Angeles and New York before anchoring himself in the L.A. market in the late 1960s and early ’70s, calling games for the California Angels and UCLA football. In 1976 at the baseball winter meetings, Niehaus was encouraged to interview for the lead play-by-play job with the expansion Mariners.

Over his 34 seasons with the Mariners, Niehaus missed only 101 of the 5,385 games played by the Major League Baseball team.

Niehaus didn’t put his words on paper, yet he was a extraordinary writer. Catchphrases and metaphors, vividly descriptive sentences and pointed commentaries found their way through Dave’s microphone to our ears.

Niehaus, who received the Ford Frick Award at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2008, was 75. He leaves behind his wife Marilyn, children Andy, Matt and Greta, and six grandchildren.

More than 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack each year and approximately 1/3 of them will die from the heart attack. A blockage in the heart’s arteries may reduce or completely cut off the blood supply to a portion of the heart. This can cause a blood clot to form and totally stop blood flow in a coronary artery, resulting in a heart attack (also called an acute myocardial infarction or MI).

Warning signs of a heart attack can include:

Chest discomfort
Discomfort in other areas of the upper body
Shortness of breath
Cold sweat
Nausea