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Turn Ahead the Clock was a
promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB). It was originated by the
Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
marketing team in the
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
season. During the season, all but eight teams elected to wear the promotional
uniform A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, ...
s that were in a " future" style. The uniforms were widely criticized and the promotion proved unsuccessful.


Origin

Kevin Martinez, the marketing director for the Mariners in 1998, came up with the idea to have futuristic jerseys from the 2027 season as an alternative to " Turn Back the Clock" promotions. The marketing team transformed the Kingdome to give it a futuristic atmosphere. According to Martinez, was instrumental in the design of the jerseys and came up with the idea to change the Mariners' colors from navy, teal, and white to crimson, black, and silver.
Majestic Athletic Majestic Athletic is an American textile company headquartered in Easton, Pennsylvania, with manufacturing facilities in Easton, Pennsylvania. Majestic currently designs, manufactures and markets licensed casual wear, such as t-shirts, hoodies, p ...
worked with the Mariners' marketing team to create the uniform; the jersey front featured an oversized
compass rose A compass rose, sometimes called a wind rose, rose of the winds or compass star, is a figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their i ...
. Martinez himself described the jerseys as "gaudy." The opponent for the promotion game on July 18 was the Kansas City Royals, who according to Martinez, were "fantastic to work with". Originally, the Mariners played with the jerseys un-tucked and turned their
baseball cap A baseball cap is a type of soft hat with a rounded crown and a stiff bill projecting in front. The front of the hat typically displays a design or a logo (historically, usually only a sports team, namely a baseball team, or names of relevant c ...
s backwards. Griffey painted his teammates baseball cleats with silver
spray paint Aerosol paint (commonly spray paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unli ...
, and also convinced teammates to cut off the sleeves of their uniforms. The Royals wore yellow gold vests with royal blue sleeves, and white pants trimmed in blue and gold. During the game, the
umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
, who were wearing silver shirts as a part of the promotion, ruled that the un-tucked shirts gave batters an advantage because they could more easily be
hit by a pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided ...
(a ball touching the batter's clothing is considered a hit-by-pitch) so the umpires ruled that the players had to tuck them in. The Mariners promotion was considered successful, unlike the major league wide promotion in 1999. The futurism also extended to pregame festivities: the ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by actor
James Doohan James Montgomery Doohan (; March 3, 1920 – July 20, 2005) was a Canadian actor, author and soldier, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series '' Star Trek''. Doohan's characterization of the Scottis ...
( Mr. Scott from '' Star Trek''), who arrived at the pitcher's mound in a DeLorean and was given the ball by a robot created at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
. Seattle shortstop
Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...
broke a 4–4 tie in the seventh inning with a three-run homer and the M's


1999 season promotion

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
sold the promotion concept to
Century 21 Real Estate Century 21 Real Estate LLC is an American real estate agent franchise company founded in 1971. The system consists of approximately 14,000 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 86 countries and territories worldwide with ov ...
. The
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
, Chicago Cubs,
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
, Texas Rangers,
Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...
, Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, and
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
did not participate in the promotion. The teams that did participate wore special sleeveless jerseys with oversized front logos and players' surnames being printed on the side of the number, instead of its traditional place above the number. (This style was also used for the that year's All-Star Game batting practice uniforms.) Uniform changes ranged from the subtle (the
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
changing the "birds on the bat" from living beings to robotic depictions) to the outlandish: the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
changed their names to the "Mercury Mets" (complete with caps featuring the ☿ symbol) while hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 27, 1999. In games, which were "set" in the year 2021, stadiums would use futuristic graphics on their
scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...
s as a part of the promotion. During a
Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL pennan ...
/
Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...
game, fielding positions were renamed.
Shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...
was renamed "intermediate station" and
left field In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
was renamed "left sector". Some ballpark advertisements also joined in, with
Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...
becoming "Northwest Spacelines" (this can be seen when Mariners outfielder
Butch Huskey Robert Leon "Butch" Huskey (born November 10, 1971), is an American former professional baseball player who played in the major leagues primarily as an outfielder in 1993 and from 1995 to 2000. Early life Huskey was raised in Lawton, Oklahoma al ...
crashed into the outfield wall during a game).


Criticism

Paul Lukas, writer for
ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...
, described the promotion as "a concept that was goofy yet charming for one night became a bad joke when transmogrified into an extended vehicle for
corporate sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
."
Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
Greg Hansell Gregory Michael Hansell (born March 12, 1971) is a former baseball pitcher. Career Hansell played for four different major league ballclubs during his career: the Los Angeles Dodgers (1995), Minnesota Twins (1996), Milwaukee Brewers (1997), and P ...
was quoted as saying, "It looks like Halloween came early."


20th Anniversary

The Seattle Mariners wore the 1998 "Turn Ahead the Clock" uniforms (as did their opponents, the Royals, who took part in the promotion in 1998) at
Safeco Field T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the western ...
on June 30,
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
, to commemorate the promotion's 20th anniversary.


See also

* Turn Back the Clock (baseball), started in 1990 *
City Connect City Connect is a brand name of alternate uniforms made by Nike, Inc. for Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The jerseys feature different color schemes, fonts, and graphical elements compared with the teams' typical home and away uniforms. Fourt ...
, started in 2021


References


External links


Archived MLB.com "Turn Ahead the Clock" page
{{Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball culture Seattle Mariners 1999 Major League Baseball season