Mariners Want Religion Out of Clubhouse

The Seattle Mariners, the only team in professional baseball that has never had a winning season, have started a campaign to get religion out of the clubhouse.

“We have too many (players) who think that if we lose, that’s the way the Lord meant it to be,” said team General Manager Dick Balderson, who was interviewed while in Boston for the World Series. “Changes have to be made, with the idea that when they come to the park they will be thinking baseball.”

Reliever Matt Young agrees.

“The thing that has bothered me for nearly four years is accepting anything as God’s will,” Young said. “When you do something wrong and say that’s the way it was meant to be, that’s using religion as a crutch.

“If a guy gets a hit and beats me, I don’t say it’s the Lord’s will, and I’ve heard that too many times, not just from pitchers.”

Alvin Davis, the team’s first baseman and assistant chapel leader, said he wouldn’t comment on Balderson’s observation that some Mariners’ players may be using religion as a crutch, but he admitted that Sunday chapel sometimes interfered with their work.

“It did and I accept responsibility,” Davis said. “The rules say be on time and we weren’t on time for stretching. That happened a couple of times.”

Manager Dick Williams, who took over the club in May when Chuck Cottier was fired, said religion was discussed by the Mariners’ management during the season.

“Religion has its place, it should be a private thing,” Williams said. “Chapel services can go on, but not on our time.”

Despite the hiring of Williams, who has managed four teams in the World Series, the Mariners finished last in the American League West this year.