Barers Of Maple Valley Attend The Hutch Award Luncheon

I attended the annual Fred Hutchison award luncheon for the first time today. The award (commonly known as the Hutch Award) is presented in honor of Fred Hutchison, a Seattle native and former major league player and manager who passed away from cancer. This year's award went to Chicago White Sox infieler Mark Teahen (in video above). Channel 13 Anchor Bill Wixey also spoke of his cancer battle. The keynote speaker was Dave Dravecky, a major league pitcher whose struggle with cancer caused him to lose his pitching arm during the prime of his career. The luncheon was attended by most of the area's sports VIPs. Some of those in attendence were Mariner GM Jack Zduriencik, Mariner Manager Don Wakamatsu,former Mariner pitcher Jamie Moyer, and radio voices Rick Riccz and Dave Niehaus. TV news anchor Steve Raible and afternoon radio personality Mike Gastineau were co-hosts. I asked Dave Niehaus how he could get up for games even when the team is having a bad year. Dave's reply (paraphasing) was that every game has something unique about it.