As the United States resumed its baseball season with a few changes following COVID-19 restrictions, the traditional pitch has now been changed to a virtual pitch. Unlike other teams, Seattle Mariners chose to jump start the season with a little twist.
The Seattle Mariners tapped Microsoft CEo Satya Nadella to make the virtual pitch with some surprise guests. The team shared a video of the virtual pitch in Twitter on September 20 in which Nadella pitched to ex-Mariners player Dave Valle who later called in Halo's Master Chief along with other Spartans to give the CEO the ball.
Throwing out today’s virtual first pitch is @Microsoft C.E.O. @satyanadella, joined by @DaveValleMLB and a few special guests. pic.twitter.com/487cBBqyYf — Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) September 20, 2020
Halo retweeted the video and one Twitter user replied to Seattle Mariners that he was surprised to see the CEO pitching a ball while another commented: "Never in my life would I have thought MS would embrace Halo outside of Xbox. This was amazing!"
Somehow I don't believe Satya really has that kind of arm. Was that really him throwing that ball, or is there some trickery going on? pic.twitter.com/FMxskFXlT8 — SenjutsuSage (@SenninSage) September 20, 2020
As Tech Times reported, Nadella is one of the world's most-loved CEO who led Microsoft pioneering on various products. He joined the company in 1992 and worked for Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise Group before becoming the CEO after leading the company's cloud infrastructure to dominate the market.
Unfortunately, Halo's Master Chief did not pitch, which could have made the footage more exciting seems, but it is still refreshing to see the characters in their costumes.
While the video might surprise some people, it is not really surprising for the baseball team to feature video game characters in this momentous event. For those who are not familiar, Seattle Mariners indeed has a long history with video game companies.
Seattle Mariners - Nintendo partnership
Unknown to younger fans, Nintendo America was the team's major shareholder between 1992 and 2016. This means that Nintendo effectively owned it before the gaming company decided to sell most of its shares, but kept 10% Seattle Mariners ownership.
While Nintendo Yamauchi had little interest in baseball, he was approached to buy the majority of shares in Seattle Mariners in 1992 using his own money. Nintendo said in a statement that it was company's way to show its "appreciation to the US for helping Nintendo do business in the country, and to contribute to the local residents and area."
This made the Seattle the first team in the major leagues to have foreign ownership.
However, on August 22 2016, Business insider reported that Nintendo America announced that it finalized the sale of majority of its stake in a deal worth $661 million. First Avenue Entertainment LLLP manages and operates the Seattle Mariners baseball team.
In April 2016, Nintendo first announced its decision although it was not revealed how much was being sold to "other members of the current ownership group."
This followed the death of former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata who passed away in July 2015. Nintendo's new chief Tatsumi Kimishima re-evaluated a number of its investments, including the Mariner's stakes.
Also, the initial sales of Nintendo's video game home console, the Wii U, were incredibly underwhelming, so the Mariners' shares may had provided the company with additional capital to create more products.
After the sale, former wireless industry exec John Stanton served as the team's new CEO, replacing Howard Lincoln who is former chairman of Nintendo of America. Meanwhile, Lincoln remained on the board to oversee Nintendo's 10% shares in the professional baseball team.
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Written by CJ Robles
