Long Live The King: Félix Hernández becomes 11th member of Seattle Mariners Hall Of Fame
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The greatest pitcher in Seattle Mariners history has earned an immortal honor once again. Félix Abraham Hernández García, coming over to the United States of America as a teenager from Valenica, Venezuela has become the eleventh member of the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame after a (happy) tear filled ceremony ahead of the teams August 12th, 2023, game against the Baltimore Orioles. In front of a sold-out T-Mobile Park, with 40,000 of those 45,823 fans in attendance wearing gold shirts with Félix’s silhouette, Hernández was honored for his 15-year career spent solely with the Mariners organization.
“This is not easy for me. Pitching and being there on that mound is way easier than this.”
Former Seattle Mariners pitcher Félix Hernández is introduced during his induction ceremony into the teams Hall of Fame on August 12th, 2023 (Photos by Liv Lyons)
He’s the King for a reason
That opening line at the beginning of this piece may have some folks asking questions, but the numbers simply do not lie. While Seattle has had many pitching greats throughout the years and could add to that list with the members of their current pitching staff, Félix Hernández tops them all and is rightfully nicknamed The King. Félix is the Mariners franchise leader in ERA (3.42), wins (169), innings pitched (2,729.2), strikeouts (2,524), games started (418), and batters faced (11,284). A six-time All-Star, Hernandez is a Cy Young award winner (2010) and tallied 54 WAR over the course of his career. His numbers stack him higher than the most notable Mariners pitchers in franchise history, truly making him The King.
“First of all, Kings Court is the best. That’s one of the things that I love best about this place. The perfect game, the Cy Young. All the games that I pitched here. All of the highlights that I had here, I always remember them.”
Greats like Randy Johnson had incredible moments with the Mariners organization, and the Big Unit has his own share of records with Seattle, but none top what Félix accomplished here during his 15-year tenure at Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park. Despite the revolving door at just about every other position for the Mariners, Félix pitched lights out no matter the cast around him. Outside of Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager for five and six year stretches respectively, nobody stuck around for long in terms of opening day starters alongside Félix. Staying in that realm, Hernández’s streak of opening day starts for Seattle spanned from 2009-2018 and would’ve started back in 2007 but was interrupted when Erik Bedard took the hill on Opening Day back in 2008. The point is, when looking at great careers, statistics and milestones will always get the first nods of recognition, but longevity deserves to be up in that department of how careers are measured.
“I want to thank the entire Seattle Mariners organization, ownership, and staff. I’m blessed by the opportunity to play my entire career here with the Seattle Mariners. You guys took a chance on me in 2002 ... out of Venezuela, just 16 years old and you stood by my side ever since.”
Heavy lies the crown
While we’re highlighting Félix’s accomplishments and great memories during his playing career, the last few seasons weren’t necessarily glamorous. The lasting image of Félix standing in front of The King’s Court after his last start as a Mariner came off the heels of his final season in the Major League’s that, respectfully, looked like a final season. His fifteen starts saw him finish with a 1-8 record on the season with a 6.40 ERA, and while there were some definite solid starts for The King during his last season, it wasn’t smooth sailing as Seattle began their rebuild. The 2019 season was a very interesting one, from Seattle’s red-hot start that had them hitting homers like crazy, to the emotional end of the season when everyone knew that Félix’s time as a Mariner was ending.
To Félix’s credit, six of his outings saw him allow two earned runs or fewer, and Hernandez went six or more innings on five occasions. But, outside of those bright spots where he did his best to keep a misfit roster in the ballgame, Hernández had largely mediocre stat lines and a few rough ones which include the September 8th, 2019, game in Houston where the Astros hung 21 runs on the Mariners, with eleven of them (seven earned) getting charged to Félix. Despite those individual struggles and the ones of the team that season, Seattle showed all the love they had to their King. And even after spending very little time with the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles, never getting real innings with those teams, Hernández always remembered the love and admiration that the city of Seattle showed for him.
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher George Kirby warms up ahead of his outing on August 12th in the background of the Mariners Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Félix Hernández (Photo by Liv Lyons)
A legacy to last a lifetime
The impact that Félix had on the Seattle Mariners organization and the community of Seattle itself can’t go unnoticed. On top of the dominant, all-time great pitcher that he was for the Mariners, Félix made an impact in the community here in Seattle and has left his mark on some of the players throughout the organization itself. In the most recent instance, Félix and the Mariners teamed up with Starbucks to host a youth baseball clinic leading up to Hernández being inducted into the team's Hall of Fame. Another heartwarming tie-in to Félix’s ceremony was when Sophia Robinson, a former Make-A-Wish kid that Hernandez spent time with back in 2016, delivered flowers to The King during his ceremony.
“It’s an honor. It’s a special thing to be in the Hall of Fame, especially here in Seattle, a place that I love, the place that I call home. This weekend is going to be amazing, I can’t wait. ”
“I didn’t realize how big it is, I’m still surprised.”
Whether it be touching the life of Sophia, donating his $20,000 grant from winning American League Outstanding Pitcher in 2014 to Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington, visiting hundreds of children at local hospitals, granting wishes and entertained kids from the Make-A-Wish on numerous occasions, helping Make-A-Wish fundraising events and has donated countless autographed items over the years, or using his grant from the “Going home series” to local little leagues, Hernandez shows that his love for Seattle goes past the ballpark. There are a lot of great players in the game of baseball, but the great humans that play the game deserve to get just that much more recognition for the lives that they impacted off the field.
“It’s a truly honor. The Mariners, T-Mobile Park and to Seattle, you will always be a part of my heart and my home.”
“Those guys did it. It was amazing when I came here to throw the first pitch, I was nervous. I was like a part of the team too.”