Mabel Cross became a fan of the Seattle Mariners when she was 56 years old. She knows she was 56 because it was the year the Mariners launched as a team and it was 1977. The Mariners recently were made aware Mabels fandom so to celebrate her 101st birthday, she was invited to throw out the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners home game.
Last year for her 100th birthday, Mabel had planned to go skydiving, but health issues derailed those plans. When her birthday came around this year, her family asked her what she wanted to do and she said, “I’d like to be a pitcher.” So they reached out to the Mariners and the team invited Mabel to T-Mobile Park to throw out the first pitch at one of their games.
Mabel prepared for the big day by doing some cross-training. She walked stairs and practiced throwing the ball with her family members. When game day came, the centenarian jogged out onto the field to the cheers of the crowd wearing a Mariners jersey with “Mabel” on the back along with the number “101.” When asked what keeps her going at her age, Mable says, “It’s never too late to be great!”
Mabel becomes one of the oldest people to throw out a first pitch but the oldest is Evelyn Jones who did it at 108, also at a Mariners game back in 2015.
Here's Mabel throwing out the pitch and doing an interview with KING-TV about how she got ready.
Photo: Getty Images