Commentary: After emotional Mariners exit in 2019, Felix Hernandez says, ‘I’m over that’
SEATTLE – On Thursday morning, Felix Hernandez climbed the labyrinthic inner stairwells and then one last steep ladder to get to the upper berth of the Space Needle. He emerged, a bit ashen, onto the platform. A spectacular panoramic view of the city awaited him, but it turns out King Felix is not a big fan of heights.
“I’m more nervous than (during) my perfect game,” he announced to the assembled media and dignitaries that included Mariners president of business operations Catie Griggs. “I’m definitely shaking right now.”
The official purpose for the excursion was to raise the All-Star flag as the symbolic start of MLB All-Star Week in Seattle, leading to Tuesday’s game at T-Mobile Park.
But to me, there is just as much symbolism in Hernandez donning his familiar No. 34 jersey. It continues a welcome return of Hernandez to the Mariners family, a reconciliation that began in October when he stunned and delighted the sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Mariners’ first playoff game in 21 years. At Hernandez’s behest, the team kept his presence a secret until he walked to the mound – his mound, for a glorious decade-plus – and received a rapturous welcome.
Before that, however, it had been three full years of virtual estrangement from the Mariners for Hernandez, dating to his emotional final appearance on Sept. 25, 2019, in a start against Oakland. Unable to fight back tears on that day when manager Scott Servais pulled him from the game in the sixth inning, Hernandez’s final act had been to walk to the King’s Court afterward to shake hands and pose for pictures with fans one final time.
Just 33 at the time, Hernandez fully intended to keep pitching, but his end with the Mariners had been far from smooth. Certainly not the triumphant exit that one of the franchise’s icons would have warranted in a perfect world.
Instead, it was an imperfect departure marred by some hard feelings on his part as his effectiveness cratered and his previously impeccable standing on the team wavered. Relegated to the bullpen for a time the previous year, and declining to the point where he went 1-16 with a 6.38 earned-run average over his final 26 Mariners outings (25 starts), Hernandez left the team having never tasted the postseason in his 15 seasons. Much of that time, King Felix was by far the best thing the ballclub had to offer, but his decline at the end proved irreversible, and hard to reconcile for both sides.
He signed with Atlanta in 2020 and appeared to have earned a rotation spot in spring training, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit with a vengeance, Hernandez opted out of the season. He went to camp with Baltimore in 2021 but had a 7.94 ERA in Grapefruit League games with fastball velocity in the mid-80-mph range.
“I was in pain with my elbow, so I decided to go home,” he explained Thursday.
Home for Hernandez these days is Miami, where he coaches the 14-and-under travel team for which his son, Jeremy, plays center field. Other than that, Felix said, “I’m just living life.”
Hernandez, 37, appears fit and trim – perhaps fitter and trimmer than in his last few years with Seattle. When he posted workout videos this year, some wondered if he was plotting a comeback, but Hernandez assured me, “I’m retired. It’s not official; I have to sign some papers. But yes, I’m retired.”
As for his relationship with the Mariners, any lingering bitterness that might have existed is long gone, he said emphatically.
“I’m over that. I’m good with Seattle. No hard feelings about what happened. I love this place, and I love this organization.”
The feeling is mutual. Hernandez will take his rightful place in the Mariners Hall of Fame in August, another sign that his revered place in the organization is secure.
“There’s a whole generation of kids and families that view themselves as part of the Felix Generation,” Mariners chairperson John Stanton said Wednesday. “Felix provided such great leadership for so many years. And his perfect game – I have to confess, I love that his perfect-game record stood for a dozen years.”
“I think Felix is special, and I’m really looking forward to Aug. 12 when we get to bring him into the Mariners Hall of Fame. I think every player, when they retire, goes through a period – it’s like the line in ‘Moneyball’: You play the game as long as you can; nobody ever knows when they have to retire, but everyone is told when they have to hang ’em up.”
The flip side of his two failed stints with other organizations is that Hernandez, like Edgar Martinez, will have played his entire career for Seattle. Few players have had the visceral connection with Mariners fans that he did. On Thursday, Hernandez referred to Seattle as “my hometown,” and when asked at a brief news conference atop the Space Needle for his greatest memory in Seattle he replied without hesitation, “King’s Court. That was the best part of baseball. King’s Court. I mean, I love this place. King’s Court, all the fans, the Seattle Mariners for sure. I’m glad to be back here.”
The perfect game on Aug. 15, 2012, to which Stanton alluded – the date is tattooed on Felix’s right arm – is another hallmark of Hernandez’s career. For 11 years, it stood as the last perfect game thrown in the major leagues – until the Yankees’ Domingo German hurled a perfecto vs. Oakland in late June.
Hernandez revealed that one of the first calls German made after the game was to him.
“He was so happy,” Hernandez said.
After more than a decade, Hernandez no longer has the distinction of throwing MLB’s most recent perfect game. And that doesn’t bother him.
“Not at all. My name is still there. No. 23 (the 23rd perfect game in history). Felix Hernandez.”
This week, Hernandez will be a whirlwind of activity. He has been designated an official “All-Star Ambassador” with Ken Griffey Jr., Julio Rodriguez and Martinez. He will serve as the pitching coach for National League manager Raul Ibanez in Saturday’s Futures Game at T-Mobile Park. And when that ends, he’ll take some hacks Saturday night in the Celebrity Softball Game. Hernandez had one indelible offensive moment in his career in 2008 when he hit a grand slam off two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana at Shea Stadium in New York. But he fretted Thursday, “Hopefully, I don’t strike out. I was talking to my son about that. If I strike out, I’ll just walk away.”
More than three years after he disconsolately walked away from Seattle, Felix Hernandez is back, a vibrant part of the Mariners organization once more. And that makes this another Happy Felix Day.