PEORIA, Ariz. — His face was still flushed red with beads of sweat building on his forehead. The anger and frustration in his voice couldn’t be ignored. The hurt was obvious.
The date was Sept. 30, 2023, less than 30 minutes after the Mariners had officially been eliminated from the playoffs by the Texas Rangers in game No. 161 of the season.
Surrounded by local media, Cal Raleigh stood stoically, trying to offer up answers as to how and why things had gone so wrong in a season where so much was expected.
Raleigh, still clearly irritated about the team’s failures, essentially called out ownership for not doing enough to upgrade the roster, urging for a change in thinking.
“We’ve done a great job of growing some players here within the farm system,” he said. “But sometimes you’ve got to go out and you have to buy.”
Mariners fans, rightfully irritated with ownership’s thrifty ways, latched on to what was said, trumpeting criticism of the owners’ unwillingness to invest financially in the team. Within the clubhouse and in the organization, the focus was on who said it, why it was said and what it would mean moving forward.
Incapable of sugarcoating a rotten outcome, always bluntly honest and universally respected, Raleigh showed he was more than just a catcher or even a team leader that day.
He said what most felt but wouldn’t dare say publicly. His words came from a place most couldn’t speak. He labeled the season a failure when those above him wouldn’t. He blamed himself first and admitted the players’ role in falling short of the stated goals. He was adamant that something needed to change.
Raleigh is more than a C on the jersey. He’s grown into the conscience of the organization.
“What is your why?” is something asked of players. The Mariners foundational catcher offers his why everyday for everyone to see.
If as Vincent Van Gogh said, “Conscience is a man’s compass,” maybe Raleigh can be the one to point a franchise that has lacked his fortitude to reach places it has never been for reasons most can’t understand.
Credit to the Mariners, the organization did what it takes to keep their conscience around for the long-term at a sizable cost. Two days before opening day, they agreed to a 6-year, $105 million contract extension with Raleigh.
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With the 2025 season about 10 days away, Raleigh takes a brief break from his packed day. He thinks back to that day, assessing the words and emotions that came out.
“I don’t regret what I said because I’m never going to apologize for wanting to win,” he said. “I’ve talked to guys about this. The only regret I would have is if teammates took it the wrong way like I was going after them, which was never my intent. I want to win. That’s the priority.”
He met with the media the day after he made those controversial comments to issue a somewhat unnecessary apology, making a similar statement. But his teammates weren’t angry. They had his back, championing what he said, hoping his words might make an impact to those in control.
They didn’t.
The Mariners missed the postseason again in 2024, getting eliminated a few days before the final game of the season. Raleigh didn’t go for a repeat in his end-of-season remarks. There was no reason to do so. His feelings hadn’t changed.
He can hold others accountable because he holds himself to the highest of standards. It’s why he’s logged more innings behind the plate than any catcher in baseball over the last three seasons.
There were plenty of times he should’ve sat. He played the last six weeks of the 2022 season with torn ligaments in the thumb of his glove hand. He played through severe neck discomfort early in 2024, missing only one game after an emergency removal of a broken tooth. He didn’t miss any time when he got his finger caught in the backstop netting in Anaheim, Calif., ripping it wide open.
“You just put all that to the side, you keep your head down and you just go until you can’t go any more, until the tires fall off,” he said. “My dad did a good job of teaching me that there’s always more in the tank.”
In baseball parlance, Cal “posts.”
It’s a blue-collar mentality that makes him relatable to fans of every background. “I want to play,” he said. “Players play. I want to play for as long as I can, and I want to do it the right way. … if you can play, you play. If I was taking days off when I could play, I don’t know if I could look back and be proud of my career. Did I really give everything I could if I took a day off here or there when my guys really needed me?”
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Raleigh never asked to be the conscience of the organization. He didn’t set out to achieve that status. He isn’t interested in titles.
He’s been himself since he signed his first professional contract. This happened naturally.
“That’s just what you do,” he said. “You have a responsibility to not only yourself, but your family, your friends, the people who’ve coached you, your teammates, the organization and the fans, you have a responsibility to give everything you can. It’s a partnership.”
And while what Raleigh has done in his time with the Mariners commands respect, it doesn’t necessarily make him popular with less-committed teammates or even the people that control his future.
And yet, those people in charge have also started to understand him as a player and a person and his value to the organization. They also realized conscience had a cost.
But he also wasn’t trying to set any records. Asked about an extension during spring training, Raleigh said there hadn’t been a serious offer to consider. He wanted something that was fair. He certainly spoke like a player who was legitimately interested in staying.
“I don’t know if there’s an exact number to be said,” Raleigh said of a desired contract. “But the way I look at it is, if you’re going into a partnership with an organization, with a team, I’m going to give them everything I got, like I have the past three, four years, then I want to know that they’re in it with me, too. I’m not trying to set any records. It’s out of my control. If that is something that they want to pursue, then I’m all ears. I love Seattle. I’ve really grown to love it so much, especially after not knowing anything about the Pacific Northwest before I came here.”
Ultimately, he wants to win.
“It’s not all about money,” he said. “Yeah, you want the dollars to be right, you want to be treated fairly with the amount you’re paid. But you also want to love the place that you’re at. And you want to know that the team wants to win, that it’s invested in winning. If they want to invest in me, that’s them telling me, ‘Hey, we believe in you to go out there and lead our team, to be our guy, to push us over the edge.’”
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