It turns out the Florida Marlins and the Seattle Mariners have some things in common .
The Marlins' first series in Seattle should stir memories for several of their premier employees.
Larry Beinfest, president of baseball operations, spent 10 years with the Mariners after breaking into baseball there in 1989. Marlins TV voice Rich Waltz served as a pregame host and fill-in announcer on Mariners TV and radio broadcasts for eight years before coming to South Florida
Marlins Media Relations Director Matt Roebuck and top scouts Dan Jennings and Roger Jongewaard also spent significant time with the Mariners.
But the strongest connection might belong to Marlins hitting coach Jim Presley, who played third base for the Mariners from 1984-89, averaged 19 homers and made the All-Star team in 1986.
Speaking of Larry Beinfest, Larry Stone of The Seattle Times penned an article about Beinfest's history in professional baseball. Here is a tidbit :
In contrast, few outside his own family even noticed that Beinfest had joined the Seattle organization as an assistant in scouting and player development. Beinfest got the job mainly because he had worked selling ads for a Los Angeles radio station owned by Jeff Smulyan, the new Mariners owner. It was a ground-level position that included typing up minor-league game reports, digging up bios of players that general manager Woody Woodward was researching, and making copies.
Read the article, it is pretty interesting.