Mariners open Legacy Plaza with 2001 flag-raising statue
The Seattle Mariners opened Legacy Plaza at T-Mobile Park on Thursday, unveiling a statue of Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore raising the American flag after the 2001 team clinched the AL West. The plaza marks 25 years since that iconic moment and the club’s record 116-win season.
Key Takeaways
- The Mariners opened Legacy Plaza with a private Thursday ceremony centered on a Cameron-McLemore flag statue.
- The tribute recalls Sept. 19, 2001, when the team clinched the AL West days after baseball returned from the Sept. 11 pause.
- A display of 116 bats and 2,269 fan-customized balls raised more than $300,000 for youth fields in Washington.
- The original 2001 flag will remain framed on exhibition in the plaza alongside first-responder remembrance.
For fans following ballpark openings and related coverage through Streaming & TV Alerts, the plaza adds a permanent landmark inside T-Mobile Park. It is the Mariners’ fifth statue after Dave Niehaus, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Ichiro Suzuki, but Thursday’s tone mixed celebration with remembrance.
What did the Mariners unveil at Legacy Plaza?
According to MLB.com, the centerpiece is a statue of Cameron and McLemore with the flag—an image from the packed Safeco Field night after the record-breaking 2001 Mariners locked up the American League West.
Cameron’s jersey is depicted untucked, matching a career signature he said honors his father. Behind the statue sit 116 bats plus 2,269 commemorative balls fans personalized. Club officials said the art installation raised over $300,000 for Mariners Legacy Field projects that build and restore youth fields across Washington.
Why does the 2001 flag-raising moment still matter?
The 25-year anniversary of the 116-win Mariners coincides with the 25-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, which paused baseball nationwide. Seattle resumed play on Sept. 18, 2001, and clinched the division the next day.
There was no clubhouse champagne spray. Players stayed on the field with fans still in their seats. Carl Hamilton, a Marine veteran and the team’s video coordinator, brought a flag to the postgame handshake line. Stan Javier raised it first before it reached McLemore and Cameron, creating the lasting image now cast in bronze.
“There wasn’t one time I thought that 25 years later, we’d be standing here in front of a statue,” McLemore said, adding he was proud to represent the country with the world watching.
How did Thursday’s ceremony honor first responders?
Representatives from local fire and police departments and other first-responder groups attended, surrounded by at least 12 American flags—including the one Cameron and McLemore carried in 2001, now framed for exhibition in the plaza.
Ahead of Thursday night’s homestand opener against the Athletics, Cameron and McLemore were set to be joined by local first responders—including firefighters who helped battle wildfires in Spokane last summer—to throw out the first pitch.
Cameron remembered 2001 as “the biggest block party at 7 o’clock here, every single night,” saying he knew the Mariners were “really, really, really good” even if he did not grasp the full magnitude then. Legacy Plaza now freezes that season’s defining civic moment for a new generation of fans.