SEATTLE — Big league baseball teams have all kinds of celebrations, but when Seattle Mariners Co-Clubhouse Manager Joe Van Vleck was first approached by the players about an idea they had for the 2023 season, he knew it would be unique.
It started when J.P. Crawford and Sam Haggarty brought a box into his office.
"They needed something to open the box. And so I gave him a knife to open it," Van Vleck said. "They're trying to figure out how to put it together. And before you know it, they're like, 'Hey, we got to go out to the field practice ."
Van Vleck was left to piece together a giant, gold trident. It was a replica of the Aquaman prop that the players found on Amazon.
"It's so sharp, we had to actually full the edges for safety," Van Vleck laughed.
If a player hits a home run, the new prop is always waiting for him to round the bases back to the dugout where the gold trident can be hoisted for all the fans to see.
It stands six and a half feet tall, weighs nearly 30 pounds, and has become part of one of the most recognizable home run celebrations in the big leagues. The idea first became reality after Jarred Kelenic's 482-foot blast on April 12th.
Ever since, a home run celebration always ends with a memorable on-camera moment.
"People feel empowered when they have this in their hands. It gets everyone really excited," said Van Vleck.
Indeed it does. The trident has stood tall and proud for more than two hundred home runs during the Mariners' regular season.
The players replaced the old 'Swelmet' celebration with the trident, saying they wanted something unique to this young team.
"The team is really rallied around the trident, and it's brought us a lot of good fortune this year," Van Vleck said. "Hopefully we can just keep riding it out."