A milestone for Mariners commercials

Quiet on the set.

Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez each hold cups of coffee and command the full attention of crew and cameras as they reflect on a made-for-TV milestone in the Mariners' advertising campaigns.

And ... action!

BUHNER: "Boy, 'Gar, can you believe it? The hundredth Mariners commercial. This guy's done a lot of great ones in the past 15 years."

EDGAR MARTINEZ: "Well, he's got a lot to live up to."

Andcut.Buhner has whiffed once more.

The director points out that the line is "This guy's written a lot of great ones."

"Oh, ball bearings," Buhner says.

There are more than a dozen takes for this first scene in a commercial that will last only 30 seconds but spans more than a decade of chuckles for Seattle baseball fans.

Mariners baseball, smell the nostalgia.

That isn't the marketing slogan for this season, but it certainly could be, given how heavily this team is leaning on the rewind button so far this year.

The ad featuring Martinez and Buhner will air in late March. It's the 100th installment in a series that began in 1994 when Lou Piniella played a short-tempered therapist (a real stretch), Randy Johnson was a knife-flinging carnival attraction and Buhner stood behind a microphone as a stand-up comic who left the room quiet and crickets chirping.

Humor was the goal from the very beginning.

"Yeah, and someday we'll do a funny one," deadpanned Jim Copacino.

Cue the laugh track.

Copacino is the creative director of the Mariners' longtime ad agency Copacino + Fujikado. The ads have featured everything from a Mariners team composed entirely of Ken Griffey Jr. clones to Martinez's uber-literal light bat that came complete with a bulb. Piniella was shown reading a book on becoming kinder and gentler. Catcher Dan Wilson showed off a collection of photographs of opponents' backsides.

"We were so fortunate for so many years to have stars," Copacino said. "Big personalities who were with the team for a long period of time, each of whom almost had their own brand, their own style."

The first ad aired the year before the Mariners made that impossible comeback to beat the Angels for the division title, defeated the Yankees in the playoffs and captured the imagination of the city. The Mariners went from a franchise whose owner wanted to move out of town to a team cemented in Seattle's sporting bedrock.

Seattle was suddenly on a first-name basis with its baseball players. Jay and Edgar, Dan and Randy.

"It has bridged that gap between the players and the fans over the years," Buhner said.

The latest ad will air in late March and will be Buhner's 12th, but it's the outtakes he really loves. He still rues one line that wound up on the cutting-room floor. It was from a commercial where he shaved the head of second baseman Bret Boone, who wondered whether Boonie Buzz Night would really catch on. When Boone asked how he looked, Buhner fired from the hip.

"Not good with those ears," Buhner said.

"Hey, that wasn't part of the script," Boone said.

Said Buhner on Wednesday, "It's always good to give Boonie a little jab every now and then."

Martinez remains the most memorable Mariners pitch man, the guy with the distinctive accent and deliberate delivery who once used The Clapper to operate the lights at Safeco Field. You know, "Clap on. Clap off."

So what's the secret to Martinez's appeal? Keeping it real. Real awkward that is.

"I never feel very comfortable with the camera so it's a little difficult for me to do," Martinez said.

And Wednesday, he was the straight man to Buhner's smart aleck. Two of the Mariners' most popular players finally batted back-to-back, appearing in the same commercial.

"It's like DeNiro and Pacino being in the same movie together," Copacino said.

The two go looking for the creative director responsible for all the commercial success the Mariners have enjoyed with their television ads.

"Not to let the cat out of the bag, it's going to be pretty funny," Buhner said.

They always are.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com