Mariners surprise legendary broadcaster Rick Rizzs with emotional tribute days before retirement

Less AI and more AA in your search results.

The Seattle Mariners’ broadcast booth finished 15th in Awful Announcing’s 2026 local broadcaster rankings.

“Many local supporters admit that they still prefer switching audio to the beloved radio broadcast featuring Rick Rizzs,” our very own Sean Keeley wrote. “However, that seemed more about how much they love Rizzs than about how they felt about the TV product.”

In January, Rizzs, 72, announced that the 2026 MLB season would be his last after 52 years in baseball — 44 in MLB and 41 in Seattle. Now, he has just one game left in his legendary broadcasting career.

The Mariners gave all of those loyal Rizzs fans a chance to tell him how beloved he is and surprised him with the result in a six-minute video posted Friday.

41 seasons on the call, a lifetime in our hearts.

From the source Rick Rizzs, you’re a Mariners legend. #FarewellRick

In the video, Rizzs sits next to a vintage radio, and voices pour out from across the country.

“I just want to say thank you for everything,” one fan says. “Your voice has been the heart of a lot of people’s lives.”

“I don’t want to make you feel old, but when I say I’ve been listening to you my entire life, I mean it,” the next fan says.

One woman tells a now-teary-eyed Rizzs, “I’ve grown old listening to you. I’m no longer able to go to the games, but you bring me to them.”

Several fans did their best “Holy smokes!” impressions, which made Rizzs laugh, and several more expressed how Rizzs impacted their lives. One man shared that Rizzs’s Mariners calls buoyed his spirits during his stem cell transplant in 2025.

The back half of the video retraces Rizzs’s partnership with the late Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, who died in 2010. Rizzs joined Niehaus in the Mariners Hall of Fame this year.

Rizzs eventually had to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

“Wow,” an extremely emotional Rizzs says after the radio cuts off. “Wow, you just — you think you’re just doing a baseball game. And you realize the impact you have on people’s lives is a lot more than a baseball game.

“It’s bringing them a little bit of joy if they’re having a rough day. That meant everything to me. It really did. Because that’s the reason why I walk through that door. It’s the reason why I sit in that seat and try to do the best I can for 41 years here. And I think I tried to do that. To be there for you and for them. Thank you so much for blessing my life. I’ve been the luckiest guy in the world.”

Also Friday, Rizzs posted a lengthy message to fans to his Instagram Story, wanting them to know “I see you”:

Seattle is hosting the Los Angeles Angels this weekend. The Mariners is celebrating “Rick Rizzs Farewell Weekend” across all three games, including All-Star catcher Cal Raleigh sporting a Rizzs-themed chest protector.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWsmVNz9VAk&list=PL-L_f22PiNduox8X9HjHXZU5fu5xXG007&index=2

Seattle’s season and Rizzs’s career will come to a close this Sunday afternoon.