Brady's Spin: Cal Raleigh's Impact on Baseball Goes Far Beyond the Box Score and Record Books

It's been mesmerizing to watch Cal Raleigh's historic season for the Seattle Mariners unfold in 2025. As a Mariners fan, I'm ecstatic about a 38-home run first half, and I'm ecstatic that Raleigh is doing all he can to lift the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

I'm in awe of it all, frankly, and I know many of you are too.

But really, Raleigh's impact goes far beyond the box score and the record books. It even goes beyond the 2025 Mariners, and that is the most inspiring thing of all.

I discussed this further on the most recent edition of our Refuse To Lose podcast:

Look, I remember what it was like to play in the backyard and emulate Ken Griffey Jr.'s swing. That's what Cal Raleigh's doing for some kid right now. I remember what it was like to be Randy Johnson on my own backyard mound. I remember what it was like to be Griffey from the left side in one at-bat playing wiffle ball and A-Rod from the right-hand side in the other in 1996 and 1997 and 1998. I remember that. That's what Cal Raleigh is doing.

I can still, to this day, remember the '95 Mariners. From Rich Amaral to Doug Strange to Andy Benes, it doesn't matter, to Chad Kruetter, if they played for the '95 M's, I remember them. If they played for the 2001 M's, I remember them. From Stan Javier to Al Martin to Charles Gipson, to Mike Cameron, to Jay Buhner, it doesn't matter. I remember them because those teams and those players made an impact on me that will never be erased. And that's what Cal Raleigh is doing.

Somewhere, right now, some young fan in the Pacific Northwest is watching baseball because of Raleigh. Somewhere, some fan is becoming a Mariners fan specifically because of Raleigh.

And while we all want the Mariners to make the playoffs, and we all want to see Raleigh win the MVP Award, that's the best legacy of all.

You can listen to the full podcast in the podcast player below: