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Julio Rodriguez became the 5th Seattle Mariner to win the Jackie Robinson Rookie if the Year Award for the American league when voting results were released.
Julio Rodriguez became the 5th Seattle Mariner to win the Jackie Robinson Rookie if the Year Award for the American league when voting results were released.
When I was growing up, my baseball team stressed me out. Most summer evenings caught me lying in bed, listening to the Seattle Mariners on the radio, tossing a corporate-branded stress ball up and down. If I got it just right, the ball would barely graze the ceiling before dropping straight down into my waiting hand. Up-throw, down-catch. Up-throw, down-catch. So passed the halcyon days of my youth.
My supply of stress balls came from my father, who, thanks to his business trips and conferences, had a seemingly infinite stock of branded corporate crap. I never really figured out what it was he did, and I wasn’t particularly curious. All I know was that he went off to cities I didn’t care about and brought home random goodies. If I wanted a foam stress ball, I could pick between Microsoft or Lucent or AT&T or whatever. I’d proceed to wear it out over the course of a few months of fidgeting, but the time any one was ruined, two more would have taken its place in the stash.