Walla Walla radio legend Beven Roth, an obvious sports nut, began a tradition of bringing a bag of onions to Mariners announcers Dave Niehaus and his, then sidekick, Ken Wilson.
In 1980, as the team was beginning to make a name for itself and get fans into the Kingdome, the team's home at the time, there was a Walla Walla Sweet Onion Night.
The late Jim Buchan wrote a column about it.
Thanks go to brother Steve for digging this up.
1 comment:
Thank you for the post Mike, this really brings back memories. he story of Bevan Roth bringing a full sack of fresh Walla Walla Sweets to the Mariners broadcasting crew perfectly captures the community spirit of regional baseball. It shows how a local radio station (like KEXI at the time) could bridge the gap between a tight-knit Eastern Washington community and the big-league broadcast booth. It says so much about the warmth of Dave Niehaus that when asked about it many years later at a charity luncheon, he instantly and fondly remembered Bevan Roth and that exact bag of onions. It highlights the genuine relationships the voice of the Mariners built with small-town broadcasters and fans across the state. Long before the modern summer collegiate baseball team adopted the name Walla Walla Sweets in 2010, those famous onions were already cementing themselves as a classic symbol of Washington culture, so much so that a crisp sack of onions was considered a premier, prized gift to share with the major league crew.
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