Hot-seat happenings for Mariners

The stark reality of the Mariners' "hot-seat" environment is that each Seattle losing streak will raise anew the issue of job security at the top.

This is dormant territory for the Seattle organization, which hasn't made an in-season managerial (or general managerial) move in nearly 20 years.

The last Mariners manager to get fired during a season was Dick Williams on June 6, 1988, when the Mariners were mired in last place at 23-33. Williams was replaced for the remainder of the season by first-base coach Jim Snyder, who in turn was let go after guiding the team to a 40-65 record the remainder of the year.

Williams had replaced Chuck Cottier, fired on May 9, 1986, with the Mariners at 9-19 and recently victimized by Roger Clemens' first 20-strikeout game.

The Mariners' general manager during both of those firings was Dick Balderson, who provided interesting insight during a visit to Safeco Field last year in his current role as an Atlanta Braves scout and special assistant to GM John Schuerholz.

Hired in October of '85 to replace Hal Keller as Seattle's GM, Balderson was barely a month into his first season on the job when Cottier was fired. He said he had little or no input in that decision.

"[Owner] George Argyros fired him," Balderson said. "I was not in the firing process, and I was not in the hiring process. I was the only general manager in the history of the game never involved in that."

Balderson has never tried to hide his keen dislike of Argyros, particularly his meddling in baseball decisions. Balderson had to fight Argyros to sign off on Balderson's best trade: Ken Phelps for Jay Buhner.

"He overreacted, like he did on every other issue involving baseball," Balderson said, speaking of the Cottier firing. "I think he made a quick decision. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or got mad at his wife one day and said, 'Fire the manager,' and that's what they did."

Speculation was heavy that the Mariners were going to hire Billy Martin, who was in between Yankees jobs at the time. Several newspapers reported Balderson and team president Chuck Armstrong talked Argyros out of hiring Martin, convincing him Martin would decimate the farm system while seeking short-term success.

"I think George wanted him in spirit," Balderson recalled. "He did talk to him. I have no clue whether an offer was made, or whether that was just rhetoric on George's part. George wanted a name. He was trying to make the splash. And he did."

Williams, who had led three different teams to the World Series and won two titles with Oakland, couldn't bring the same success to the Mariners. Their first winning season in franchise history didn't come until 1991 under Snyder's successor, Jim Lefebvre (an accomplishment that earned Lefebvre a postseason firing, replaced by Bill Plummer).

Players rebelled against Williams' acerbic personality, particularly pitching star Mark Langston. Williams was fired just two days after Langston severely criticized him for leaving the lefty in too long during a game against Kansas City. After his firing, Williams would fire back with an oft-quoted remark about "our so-called ace pitcher, who doesn't have a gut in his body."

Williams has not managed since, and had his Hall of Fame chances diminished when he was arrested in 2000 in Fort Myers, Fla., on an indecent exposure charge.

"Dick was always good to me," Balderson said. "I think he felt sorry for me to a certain extent for putting up with George every day. I didn't have the experience or expertise to stand up. Dick was tough. He was an old-school guy who demanded certain things, had very strong opinions of certain players — what to tolerate and what not to tolerate.

"Being a young GM at the time, I spoke when I was supposed to, but I didn't tell him how to manage the club. I think that would have been wrong."

Balderson's recollection is he didn't have much to do with Williams' firing, either. That's entirely likely, considering Balderson himself was fired less than two months later, on July 27, 1988, and replaced by Woody Woodward.

Balderson, who had been the Royals' director of scouting and player development when the Mariners hired him, readily admits his inexperience buried him in Seattle.

"I was overmatched with my lack of experience in that role, coming from where I did, from an organization that did things entirely different," he said.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com.

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