The Seattle Mariners baseball Franchise begins work on their 2016 season. Here is a look back on how it all started.

Beginning with the relocation if the Seattle pilots in 1970 to Milwaukee...currently the Milwaukee Brewers...paved the way for the establishment of the current Mariners.

The team was established in 1977. In 77 until 1992, the teams colors were royal blue and gold. Keeping with tradition, the team wears these colors currently during Sunday home games. 

It was not until 1993 that the team began to wear their now well known color scheme. Officially, these colors are Navy Blue, northwest green, metallic silver, and white. 

The team's nickname " The Ms" originated from 87-92 uniform changes that included the prominence of the letter M used in their primary logo. As for the Mariners team name...this was decided because of the priminance of marine culture in the city. It was picked in a 1976 name the team contest.

In 1977, Seattle opened up their new stadium, the Kingdome. Here they would remain until 1999 when Safeco would open. 

The Kingdome was an MLB gem when it reigned though. The stadium was built in confidence that baseball would return to the area after the Pilots left. The stadium at the time was quite revolutionary. It officially broke ground in 1972 and when completed cost 67 million dollars. 

Despite the new team and beautiful venue, the team struggled to really put a winning team together. History was quite bleak with the team not having a winning record from 77-90. In fact, in 27 out of 39 seasons of baseball in the team has had a losing record. The Mariners are also just one of two teams (Washington Nationals) to not play in the world series.

There have been some memorable Mariners seasons though including west titles in 95, 97, and 01. Of these, 95 presented the most iconic memory of Mariner history. In a game against the NY Yankees Edgar Martinez hit the game winning hit that drove in Ken Griffey Jr. In the 11th inning. Itbwill forever live in Mariner lore.

Speaking of Ken Griffey Jr... Safeco is known for the house that Griffey built. Safeco boast a unique retractable roof and can hold 47,574 fans. It was built for...just a bit more than the Kingdome... a whopping 517.6 mil. 

Odd and unique facts:

- team owned by Nintendo of America * one of only 3 teams owned by corporation

-mascot is Mariner moose

-2011 introduced Safeco's Kings Court. A section of devoted fans of pitcher Felix Hernandez. 

-2007 introduced Rally Fries. Broadcaster Mike Blowers coined the term after a foul ball caused a fan to drop his fries. The broadcaster sent some down to the fan and the team came back to win the game. From that point the broadcast team would look for fans in the stands dressed up and send them rally fries during the 5th or 6th inning. 

Much history has been made, yet much remains for the Mariners. 2016 will be the Mariners 40th and will begin under a new regime. Hopefully this is the regime that will bring the team, city, and fans the championship they all deserve. 

Article picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dph1110/472782025/in/photolist-HM8Ce-8UFwG...

Uniform pic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/melling2293/6740325101/in/photolist-nf8f1Z...

Kingdome pic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/haroldhollingsworth/4253492629/in/photolis...

Rally fries pic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ozmafan/5863033807/in/photolist-6nXZAy-6nT...