SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Mariners president Chuck Armstrong says he will retire after spending 28 of the past 30 seasons in that position with the ballclub.
The team announced Armstrong’s intentions on Monday afternoon. He will retire effective Jan. 31 and the club says it’s beginning the process of finding a successor and starting that transition.
Armstrong, 71, joined the franchise as team president in 1983 and outside of a two-year stint in the early 1990s has been with the club in that role since. Armstrong says he wants to spend more time with his family and some recent deaths of friends helped “crystallize my decision.”
Armstrong was instrumental in getting Safeco Field built, a move that helped solidify the team in Seattle, but Mariners’ management has come under criticism after going the last 12 seasons without reaching the playoffs.
