Fans share stories - and tears - for Dave Niehaus

Speakers shared stories - and shed tears - for the beloved sportscaster whose voice personified the Seattle team.

"It will never be the same without his voice - it just won't," said Nancy Zane of Sumner.

An army of Mariners fans who converged on Safeco Field agreed with that one, simple statement. On a gray afternoon, they came to celebrate the life of Dave Niehaus.

One month after his death, it remains difficult to say goodbye - especially for Dave's longtime broadcast partner and friend, Rick Rizzs.

"Dave was a great teacher ... and I was lucky," Rizzs said.

He was so choked up, he could no longer speak at times. Mariner nation understood, and shed a few tears themselves. Former players stepped up to offer a few shoulders to lean on.

Dave Niehaus was so well liked, so respected, so much a part of Mariners baseball, with his trademark phrases "My oh my!" and "It's grand salami time."

"You didn't have to see to know what was going on wherever Dave Niehaus broadcast baseball. He made baseball come alive," said Marlaina Lieberg of the Washington Council of the Blind.

Niehaus called the team's first pitch in 1977, and was in the broadcast booth for 5,284 regular season games.

"Dave was the father of the Mariners because he adopted this team from day one," said Rizzs. "Nobody loved the mariners more than he did."

It was an epic career - but it was his family who mattered most to Dave Niehaus.

"The baseball schedule can be challenging for a husband and a father, but dad made it work," said Dave's son, Andy Niehaus. "He couldn't be there for every little league game or every trip to the park or pizza joint, but he always made up for it in so many other little ways."

Dave had a booming voice with a poetic narrative that made many fans want to listen. For the first time in team history, spring training will go on - without Dave Niehaus.

"The game goes on, and that's what he'd want," said Paul Doyon of Federal Way. "We'll just have to wait and see and see how it plays out."

Mariners' players will wear a tribute patch on their right sleeves the coming season, in memory of Dave Niehaus.

And for the first time in team history, a statue will be erected at Safeco Field - in the likeness of Dave Niehaus.

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Watch the full tribute: