At 96, my mom vows she’ll go to the World Series if the Mariners make it

Just once in your life, you want to see the Mariners go to the World Series. If they win the whole (bleeping) thing, as Cal Raleigh so aptly put it Tuesday night, even better.

No matter their age, Mariners fans share that feeling, thinking surely someday they’ll end the drought of being the only MLB team to have never played in a World Series.

It’s always seemed so far away, so far out of reach, but someday could finally be here. And when you’re 96 years old like Maxine DeLapp, it’s about damn time.

“The one thing I always hoped for before I die is to finally see our team go to the World Series,” Maxine said.

If you’re 26 or 36, even 56 or 66, you likely have more time left to witness what you never thought possible. But at 96? “I realize I’m lucky to be here,” she said. “I don’t know how much longer I have.”

Maxine lives off of the 6th hole at Fairwood Golf and Country Club in Renton and watches the Mariners with her husband, Dick, from an easy chair in their bedroom or another one downstairs.

“There’s not a game I can think of that we’ve missed,” she said. “If we go out, we’ve gotta get back before the game’s over.”

Maxine’s interest in baseball started when her son played in Redmond Little League in the 1960s. Back then, her first husband would throw batting practice to their son at Marymoor Park, and she would routinely pursue the balls in the outfield, running that funny run of hers after each one.

She didn’t tell me this, I saw it all happen. Maxine’s not only one of the Mariners’ oldest fans, she’s my mom.

I grew up in a baseball family. My parents took my sister and me to the 1967 All-Star Game in Anaheim. In 2010 when the All-Star Game returned to Anaheim, I took her there so we could reminisce together.

Mom’s not some bandwagon Mariners fan, she’s been there from the very start, a Seattle Mariners Women’s Club charter member in 1977. She and dad had a partial season ticket for several years, and mom’s been a fan ever since, in person or at home. She’s very knowledgable and passionate about the team. Opinionated too.

“The problem is, the teams you know we should beat we have trouble with,” she said. “The other thing that gets me is one day we’ll have all kinds of hits, then the next day we won’t have any.”

When you ask her about the players, she’ll tell you exactly how she feels about them. Mom was sad when Eugenio Suarez was traded “because he had such a nice personality” and was thrilled when he returned.

She loves Cal Raleigh’s humility, saying: “he’s never given me the feeling that he thinks he’s better than anyone else.”

Closer Andres Munoz makes her nervous, and “who’s our reliever with the long straggly hair?” she asked.

“Carlos Vargas?” I replied.

“Yes,” she said. “He’s one I like. There’s something about each player I like. I just hope they come through. I don’t get down on them when they have a bad day, I just think that next time they’ll do better.”

Julio Rodriguez?

“You know what I’ve noticed with him, Jim?” she asked. “He takes his right hand and hits his right leg three times every time he comes to the plate. You watch. I don’t know if it’s some superstition he has or if it’s just a habit.

“I do like Julio. I’m glad he’s come around. At the beginning of the year, I was disappointed in him.”

Mom calls Randy Arozarena “Razzmatazz” because she has trouble pronouncing his last name and finally just gave up trying. Yeah, she likes him too.

But Mitch Garver? Not so much. “Sometimes I wonder, oh my God, what’s he doing in there?” she said.

And she goes back and forth with Luis Castillo.

“He’s been doing well lately, but there was quite a span there when he wasn’t doing much of anything,” Mom said.

She doesn’t have any issues with manager Dan Wilson, thinking “he’s been in baseball long enough to know what he’s doing, and of course I liked him as a player.”

When I worked at 710 ESPN Seattle, we went to spring training every year to do a week of sports radio shows. Mom would come by the Mariners’ spring training complex to listen and got the chance to meet Felix Hernandez (“that was really special”), Robinson Cano (“I was sorry when he left”) and manager Scott Servais.

“He’s a good human being, he cared about the players,” Mom said. “I really enjoyed talking to him. He made you feel like you were a part of the team. I was sad when he was let go. And the thing is, you develop feelings for these people whether you’ve met them or not.”

Mom wants this short-term relationship with first baseman Josh Naylor to become a much longer one, hoping the Mariners sign him to a multi-year contract.

“He is instrumental with how well we’ve done,” she said. “No matter how much he asks for, he’s one player above all the others I hope the Mariners keep.”

Mom made these comments a few hours before Naylor came through in the clutch again, belting a three-run, game-winning double against the Rockies as the Mariners clinched a playoff berth Tuesday night.

Her love affair with the Mariners extends to the ROOT Sports broadcasts. She watches every pre-game and post-game show. I’ve learned not to call her until she hears from Wilson after the game.

“That young man, Brad, he’s my favorite,” Mom said, referring to Brad Adam, who’s 55, but when you’re 96, he qualifies as a young man. “And I always like it when Angie (Mentink) comes on, and I’m getting used to the Australian (Ryan Rowland-Smith). I like him too.”

Mom’s not as mobile as she used to be, but if the Mariners make it to the World Series?

“I don’t care how much it costs, I’ve got enough money, I’m going to the World Series games,” she said. “I might have to fight with Dick to go, but that’s just the way it is.

“I don’t have that many interests anymore aside from my kids and grandkids. Baseball’s the one thing I thoroughly enjoy. Jim, I’ve waited a long time, I’m hoping and praying this might be their year. The years are flying by. Honey, they’ve gotta do it sometime. They better get busy and finish it up.”

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. He writes a Substack blog at jimmoorethego2guy.substack.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.

This story was originally published September 24, 2025 at 10:50 AM.