Can Dan Wilson again be the missing link for a Mariners’ breakthrough?

SEATTLE – Whether the club fully realized it at the time, the Seattle Mariners had, by fall 1993, already assembled the core cast of characters that would come to define the greatest era of baseball this region has known.

More than three decades later, generations of Mariners fans can still instantly identify each of those characters by a single name.

There was Junior, the precocious superstar, soon to be the face of the sport.

There was Randy, the larger-than-life presence on the mound.

There was Edgar, the best right-handed hitter of his time.

There was Jay, the slugging right fielder and ultimate clubhouse leader.

There was Lou, the irascible and lovable manager.

And there was one missing piece just joining the mix.

That was Dan.

Before they became unforgettable, those Mariners of the 1990s could be equally unpredictable and unnerving. If it felt like the roof was falling in on them at times, well, that’s because the roof was literally collapsing at the Kingdome.

There were big personalities, big egos and a big question whether the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner could put it all together under Lou Piniella.

This isn’t to suggest that the arrival of a little-known backup catcher would catapult the Mariners to their glorious heights in 1995.

Dan Wilson wasn’t a leading man. But he was what the Mariners needed. His calm stability, his understated intensity, came at the most important position and at the most important time in franchise history.

He was the backstop who became the connective tissue in the backbone of the team, the final stitch of thread that helped bring everything together in ’95.

Thirty years later, as Wilson embarks on his first full season as the club’s manager, the Mariners are asking him to be that stabilizing presence again.

Team first

Too good to be true? Dan Wilson, a traditional Midwesterner at heart, has always carried the Mr. Nice Guy label.

“Always,” Annie Wilson said.

Annie has known her husband since they were in third grade, when her family moved to Barrington, Illinois, about an hour’s drive northwest of Chicago.

They became high-school sweethearts, married in 1992 and raised four children together in Seattle.

“We laugh as a family and we tease Dan all the time because he just has no ego,” Annie said. “He has a fiery, competitive spirit, but it’s never about him. It’s about the team. It’s always about winning, but it’s never about him. He doesn’t like the light shining on him, so we always just tease him about that. Like, he’s just so pure and good, and I love seeing him exalted in this position, because I think he does it for all the right reasons. He never aspired to be a manager. He wasn’t looking for that. He was just staying involved because he really wanted to help the organization, and he was grateful.”

Iron sharpens ironDuring his 34-game indoctrination as a big-league manager last summer, Wilson had one familiar influence guiding him in the dugout.

“I do hear Lou’s voice in the back of my head often,” he said.

Piniella’s voice was a constant for Wilson during his playing days, whether he wanted to hear it or not.

Everyone knew Piniella was tough on his pitchers; he didn’t bother to hide that during his 10-year run as the Mariners’ manger.

Behind the scenes, though, Wilson often bore the brunt of Piniella’s ire, particularly early on in the young catcher’s career.

“Dan definitely took his lumps,” said Rich Amaral, the Mariners’ longtime utility player and one of Wilson’s closest friends. “It was hard on him. I mean, as a catcher you call a pitch, and it may be the right pitch but the location might be just a little bit off, and sometimes you get blamed for it. It’s easy to second guess and say it cost us the game … and I know Dan took that personally.”

Buhner was often the first person to console Wilson with a hug. “You know I love you, right?” Buhner would tell him. “I love you, brother.”

“He played under one of the … toughest guys in the world to play for,” Buhner said. “But he also learned a lot from Lou, because Lou was a brilliant manager; I mean, Lou did everything, and Danny doesn’t miss much. He is really good at being able to sponge everything in.”

In fall 1993, Piniella had asked then-Mariners GM Woody Woodward to trade for Wilson, who had made his major-league debut as a September call-up in Cincinnati during Piniella’s final season with the Reds in 1992.

The trade was mostly perceived as a salary-shedding move for the Mariners, who shipped popular pitcher Erik Hanson and promising young second baseman Bret Boone to the Reds for a backup catcher and a relief pitcher, Bobby Ayala. The move was not well received in Seattle. (“The Mariners were pillaged,” one local columnist wrote.)

But Piniella had seen the potential in Wilson, and the manager seemed determined to do whatever it took to squeeze that potential out of his catcher.

“I remember him telling me at one point that he was really paying attention to me because he wanted me to be that big-game player,” Wilson said. “And that was a realization for me at that moment that: ‘I get it; I see the purpose behind it.’ There were difficult times as a player, for sure, but I understood.”

Despite the tough love – or maybe because of it – Wilson and Piniella grew close. Piniella came to trust Wilson wholeheartedly; a certain look from his catcher would tell Piniella he’d need to make a pitching change.

“Not everyone could play that position for Lou,” Martinez said. “It took Dan’s personality and stability to be able to handle that.”

After Wilson retired, the Mariners held a pregame ceremony on the field to honor him early in the 2006 season. Piniella made a surprise appearance and choked up while making a speech. A decade later, Piniella said he told Mariners executives they should hire Wilson as manager.

“He’s a smart guy, and in his way, he was one of the leaders of the team,” Piniella told the Athletic last August. “Real quiet leader, but a leader. Good guy.”

Wilson was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2012. And when Piniella was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2014, Wilson gave a speech to honor his manager.

“There’s a proverb that says, ‘Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,’” Wilson said recently, relaying the theme of his speech. “He had such respect from his players. I always say, he wanted to win more than anybody in that stadium. He just had that strong desire, and he made all of us bring our best every single day. And that is something that I hope I can do – pass that on to our guys now.”

Dan the family manThe VHS tape of baby Sofia arrived during the MLB All-Star break in 1995. Annie and Dan had rented a cabin in Wisconsin to get away for a few days, and Annie remembered they had to find a video store to watch the tape.

They soon started the adoption process through All God’s Children International, just as Dan and the Mariners were enjoying their breakthrough as the first Mariners team to reach the postseason.

That winter, Annie found out she was pregnant.

“Crazy year, right?” she said.

By the following May, the Wilsons completed the adoption process and brought home 18-month-old Sofia. In August, Josephine was born.

“All of a sudden, we basically had twins,” she said.

In 1998, their first son, Elijah, was born. A few years later, Wilsons went back to All God’s Children to adopt a second son, Abraham.

The large family fit right in with the growing family feel around the Mariners.

“At one point, I think we had over 50 kids on the team,” Annie said.

The Wilsons were close with the Griffey, Martinez, Buhner and Amaral families. All the kids grew up together, treated each other like cousins. Many of the families lived in Seattle year-round, too, and through the Mariners they became engaged in the community.

Annie, an elementary school teacher, said she was inspired by her mom, a nurse, to give back to others, and she and Dan have been active in charity programs, from Seattle’s First Place School, a private nonprofit K-6 school for children facing homelessness, to Seattle Children’s hospital. The couple served as co-chairs of the 2012-13 United Way of King County annual giving campaign.

“One of the principles we have tried to live by is, ‘To whom much is given, much is required,’ ” Annie said. “We have been so blessed by this community in so many ways. We feel it is not only an obligation but a joy to give back in any way we can.”

‘Perfect’ for the job

In 1994, during Wilson’s first season with the Mariners, Amaral was his roommate on the road, and their families would become especially close.

The Amaral family also has four kids, three of whom have been married in recent years – and Annie and Dan have traveled to each wedding, including one this winter in Italy.

Amaral, who played eight seasons in Seattle, is a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. He’s watching the Mariners again with renewed interest because of Dan.

“He’s perfect for the job,” Amaral said. “You look at his baseball background, his baseball IQ, how he communicates, his integrity – he just checks all the boxes.”

Welcome back

Edgar was the first person from the Mariners whom Dan met.

This was in early November 1993, and at the time Dan was playing winter ball in Edgar’s native Puerto Rico. Annie had learned that her husband had been traded to Seattle before he did, and Dan found out about the trade when he called home one evening.

Soon after that, the Mariners arranged for Dan and Edgar to meet for lunch. They hit it off right away. Last August, the first call Dan made after he accepted the Mariners’ managerial job was to Edgar.

Dan asked him to come back as the Mariners’ hitting coach. It’s a demanding role, and one Edgar had done before, from 2015-18.

Edgar said he would sleep on it. The next morning, he called Dan back and accepted. He did so, he later explained, largely because of Dan.

“I had a good feeling that this is going to work out,” Edgar said, “and I want to be part of it.”

They all want to be part of it again. There was a nostalgic feeling around Mariners camp this spring. More than usual.

Junior, as part owner of the club, pops in and out of camp. Randy, ever the presence, made a rare appearance at camp in early March, holding court with a new generation of Mariners pitchers.

Buhner was back, too, and he’s as fired up as anyone for his good friend Dan.

Dan and Edgar are mainstays, then and again.

“I knew that Dan could create the stability and the positive message – all the good things you need,” Edgar said. “He put in the hard work, and those 30-plus days (last season), that’s a sign that he can build a really good thing here.”