Seattle Mariners Snapshot
These Mariners chart a course for baseball's World Series every season. The Baseball Club of Seattle owns and operates the Seattle Mariners professional baseball franchise, which joined Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1977. A perennial playoff contender for several years starting in the mid-1990s, the Mariners have struggled through an extended post-season drought in recent seasons. The team playes host at retractable-roofed Safeco Field. Video game console maker Nintendo owns about 50% of the team; other investors include team chairman and CEO Howard Lincoln (former chairman of Nintendo's US operations).