PEORIA, Ariz. — A couple days before the start of spring training last month, Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford and his wife, Kathleen, sat down for a nice meal with rookie second baseman Ryan Bliss and his fiancée, Katelynn.
Crawford was pleasantly surprised when Bliss presented him with a fancy bottle of Don Julio tequila. “Oh,” Crawford remembered thinking, “this is going to be a fun day.”
As he looked closer at the gift, though, Crawford was more surprised by what was inscribed on the bottle:
JP CRAWFORD
OFFICIANT
1.10.2026
Of course, Crawford quickly accepted the invitation to perform the wedding ceremony for Ryan and Katelynn, to be held next January in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
“I was really honored … and I can’t wait,” Crawford said. “I’ve already been doing my research on what to say.”
Bliss had proposed to Katelynn in October during a scenic hike in the Phoenix area. It didn’t take long for them to settle on the one person they wanted standing at the altar with them.
It was only a year ago that Crawford and Bliss started to get to know each other during Bliss’ first spring training with the Mariners.
They had connected naturally, a bond made easier as they shared space in the middle of the infield and, more notably, shared space in a small fraternity of Black ballplayers in pro baseball.
“There’s not too many of us in these clubhouses, so when you get a chance, you know, you have to capitalize on it,” Crawford said. “I took it upon myself to get close to him and show him the way and how to do things here. We got really close after that.”
Crawford wanted Bliss to feel welcomed with the Mariners, who had acquired the young second baseman from Arizona in the July 2023 trade involving closer Paul Sewald. Crawford bought Bliss a new custom suit and a new belt and helped him get acclimated to a new organization.
“For him to go out of his way to do that, he doesn’t have to do any of it. And it just means so much,” Bliss said. “Last year, coming into camp with a new org, I didn’t know anybody really. And to see him and have his face there and have somebody like that that you can talk to — it’s off the field (conversations) as much as it is on the field. He’s a Gold Glover up the middle, a guy who plays the game hard every day, and it’s just comforting to have him there.
“He took care of me and I’m forever grateful.”
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On opening day last year, Black players represented just 6% of players on MLB rosters, according to a study from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida.
That figure is the lowest recorded since the study began in 1991, when 18% of MLB players were Black.
“We know the numbers are dwindling,” said Mike Cameron, the Mariners’ Gold Glove center fielder from 2000-03.
Cameron, 52, returned to the Mariners a couple years ago as a special assignment coordinator working closely with minor-league players. Part of his motivation to get back in the game in a coaching role, he said, was to help mentor other Black players coming up through the system.
“When I was playing and coming up in the minor leagues, there were a lot of guys,” Cameron said. “Even when I got to the big leagues, it meant a lot to me to see four, five, six guys on the team (who were also Black), and they would make sure that you were on-point with everything. I learned a lot from guys like Tim Raines (with the White Sox) and Greg Vaughn and Barry Larkin and Jeffrey Hammonds (in Cincinnati). They were very inspirational for me.”
Because of the declining number of Black ballplayers over the past three decades, there are fewer retired Black players to come back and serve as mentors for the next generation. Cameron said he feels a responsibility to do so.
“This is a part of my culture. It’s a part of me and my legacy to uphold, and hopefully to continue the legacy of the traditional American Black player, to get a chance to play in the game that they love,” said Cameron, whose son Daz played for the Athletics last year and is in camp with the Baltimore Orioles this spring.
He continued: “We know how difficult it is, how much difficulty there has been over the last few years. We’ve started all these initiatives and did so many different things to try get guys involved in it more. We’re trying to bring it to life so guys can get a chance to see someone that looks like them on TV. It’s important.”
The popularity of football and basketball over the years has turned many young athletes away from baseball. The escalating costs of youth baseball has also made the sport less accessible for many families.
MLB has been encouraged by its progress in promoting the game to young Black athletes through various diversity programs.
From 2012 and 2021, 17.4% of first-round picks were Black players, according to The Associated Press. In 2022, that number reached 30%, and four of the first five selections were Black players for the first time. And in 2023, Black players made up 10 of the first 50 draft selections.
In 2021, MLB pledged $150 million over 10 years to support the Players Alliance, a nonprofit organization of current and former players whose mission is to increase Black participation in the sport at all levels.
“We want young people — period — playing the game, particularly young people of color,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said then.
Mariners Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. has worked as an adviser to Manfred on diversity programs, and Griffey conceived the idea of the Swingman Classic to showcase players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The event debuted during the MLB All-Star Week festivities in Seattle in 2023, and is scheduled to be played for the third time during the All-Star Week in Atlanta this summer.
“It was one of those things that needed to be done,” Griffey said in 2023. “I just want for these kids to have an opportunity to believe in themselves and go out and play.”
•••
When Crawford arrived in Seattle in 2019 after a trade from Philadelphia, it was Dee Strange-Gordon who offered support and encouragement to the young shortstop trying to find his way as a big-leaguer.
That left a lasting impression on Crawford.
“I want to model everything I do after Dee. He’s the greatest teammate I’ve ever had,” Crawford said.
During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, the Mariners had 11 Black players participate in their summer camp training, by far the most of any MLB team. Since then, though, Crawford has largely been the only full-time Black player on the Mariners’ roster.
This year, four Black players are on the Mariners spring-training roster, including Crawford, Bliss, Samad Taylor and Harry Ford, a top prospect.
Over the past few years, Crawford has grown into one of the most respected leaders in the Mariners clubhouse, an unofficial captain. Like Cameron, he said he feels a particular sense of responsibility to lift up young Black players trying to find their way.
“Any time there’s a chance where we have one of us in here, you automatically go together. It’s like an unwritten rule,” he said.
And as Strange-Gordon did for him, Crawford wants to do everything he can to support Bliss, who in his brief time with the Mariners last season hit .222 with a .687 OPS in 63 at-bats.
Bliss spent most of the 2024 season in Triple-A Tacoma, hitting .269 with 12 homers, 25 doubles, 50 steals and an .833 OPS in 93 games.
The 25-year-old has had a strong start in spring training and is pushing for a regular role as Seattle’s second baseman, and he has one strong supporter in his corner.
“He’s my pick to click this year,” Crawford said. “He’s looking comfortable. He can be a game-changer. Anytime he’s on the field, he’s going to do something crazy. He can steal you bag; he’s going to make a nice play. He can change the game in a lot of ways and you need that on your team.”