Rick Rizzs has forged his nearly five-decade, Hall of Fame-caliber broadcasting career on positivity and enthusiasm. So it's no surprise that Rizzs' reaction to his gruesome all-terrain-vehicle accident last week is one of gratitude, not self-pity.
In our phone conversation this week — interrupted when the doorbell rang for a delivery of flowers, a fairly common occurrence — a slightly groggy-sounding but characteristically upbeat Rizzs said, over and over, how fortunate he was.
"It could have been a lot worse," he said. "The good Lord was looking over me. ... I was very, very, very lucky, because it could have been bad."
Lucky is a relative term, of course — and so is "bad." When his side-by-side ATV flipped over on Blewitt Pass last Wednesday, Rizzs suffered a fractured vertebrae in his neck, two fractured vertebrae in his back, a fractured rib, and substantial cuts on his head and ear. He passed a concussion test, but the doctor thinks he might have suffered a mild one.
"Other than that, I feel great," Rizzs said, punctuating the remark with his trademark cackle, which is only slightly more subdued than usual.
Rizzs, 69, knows how close he came to a much more dire, perhaps even fatal, outcome.
"The doctor said I was pretty lucky, because if that fractured vertebrae goes in your spine, you're in trouble, and it was a pretty bad wreck," he said. "Thank God my son was there to help me out."
One byproduct of the incident: Rizzs is now eager to preach the virtues of wearing a helmet and seat belt when ATV-ing — neither of which he did on the fateful day, no doubt exacerbating his injuries.
"It's a good lesson for everybody," he said. "I learned the hard way."
As it is, a full recovery is expected by Rizzs, even though he is sore and just now starting to walk in small increments around his house. No surgery will be required, news that Rizzs greeted ecstatically when he was informed by his spine specialist at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, who was the first to tell him how lucky he was.
"I was so glad when he said that," Rizzs said. "Because I don't want to be out for a long period of time. I can't wait to get back because I love what I do for a living. It's tough to sit here."
Rizzs said that Tuesday was the best he has felt since the accident, which has him in an upbeat mood. The pain is starting to subside.
"I didn't need my medication to get out of bed," he said. "I was able to sit up and get out of bed and clean myself up and get ready for my day, which is sitting here with my cat."
Rizzs said lovingly that his cat, Sparky, hasn't left his side since he came home. But Rizzs says the real heroes are his son, Nick, and Greta Niehaus, the daughter of his longtime partner Dave Niehaus, who have tended to Rizzs nearly around the clock. That includes getting Rizzs to his medical appointments and helping navigate such small but vital tasks as walking to the mailbox.
"Nick and Greta have been so great — my angels," he said.
On the day after the All-Star Game, Rizzs and Nick decided to have an excursion to the mountains to unwind before the season resumed. It was a delightful day of sightseeing and tooling around — Rizzs in the side-by-side ATV, Nick on his dirt bike.
"Nick wanted to show me where he went snowmobiling during the winter," Rizzs recalled. "And we're coming down the mountain. I had a little turn, I guess a little too quickly, and spun out and turned over the side-by-side. ... There's a lot of rocks on some trails, and I guess I just hit it right."
Nick tried to get the ATV turned upright but couldn't manage it by himself. Rizzs said Nick somehow obtained a winch and finally was able to get the ATV upright. Nick was going to take his dad down the mountain, but Rizzs convinced his son he was able to do it, and indeed drove the ATV to the bottom. From there, Nick loaded up the equipment and they drove two hours to a hospital in Issaquah, where Rizzs was examined and treated for his injuries.
Mind you, all this is still a blur to Rizzs, most of it cobbled together from his son's account.
"I don't remember anything about the accident," he said. "I don't remember a thing at all. I don't remember the ride back to the hospital. I don't remember too much at the hospital. But I'm doing really well right now."
Rizzs is even talking optimistically about returning to the broadcast booth when the current homestand ends Sunday, but the reality is that it's likely to be considerably longer than that, given the severity of his injuries.
It has been a traumatic year for the Mariners' broadcast crew: Mike Blowers finally returned to the Root television booth on Monday after missing several weeks with illness and a concussion suffered in a fall while jogging.
"Thank goodness he's back, because I was worried about him," Rizzs said. "I just wanted him to be healthy, and then this happened, so I felt bad for Kevin Martinez (the Mariners' executive who oversees the broadcast crews). You're trying to shuffle the cards around to get everybody in the right spot. Everyone's doing such a great job. I'm glad Blow's back, but I miss everybody. I can't wait to be back to see everybody."
The feeling is mutual. Aaron Goldsmith, who has been calling all nine innings on radio while Gary Hill is on a long-scheduled vacation, said he was "shocked" when he heard of Rizzs' injuries.
"I don't know how long it took before I actually believed that it really happened," he said. "Rick is a staple of Mariners baseball and it's very strange to not have him around. Not only for one day, let alone however long this will be. He's missed in the booth and he's certainly missed on the air as well."
Rizzs has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support he's received, including "about a million texts." Mariners chairman John Stanton called to offer his support, as did Jerry Dipoto, Scott Servais, Martinez and former Mariner — and former Rizzs broadcast partner — Jay Buhner, among others. One of the most memorable calls was from Ken Griffey Jr., whom Rizzs had seen the day before at T-Mobile Park during the All-Star Game.
"I can't leave you alone for one day and you go bust yourself up," Griffey told him. "One damn day."
"Don't make me laugh, Junior — it hurts," responded a chuckling Rizzs.
Rizzs, who is in his 38th season calling Mariners games, is regarded as an iron man. He has only had one previous extended absence from the booth, which resulted from a torn biceps tendon incurred during a pickup basketball game in Minneapolis in 2018 that required surgery.
That's what makes this so tough. Rizzs listened to all the games he's missed on radio or watched on television, and converses knowledgeably about the recent outings of Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert.
But it's not the same. Rizzs sorely misses the day-to-day routines of the job — emphasis on "sorely." On Wednesday, he'll undergo another MRI on his neck and back to gauge his progress and hopefully be cleared for more activity.
It's been an especially taxing year for Rizzs, who during the offseason was diagnosed with prostate cancer. But it's another case of Rizzs considering himself lucky in the face of adversity.
"Again, someone is looking out for me," he said. "I get prostate cancer, but it's the best one you can have, Grade 1, which doesn't require chemo or radiation. So I really lucked out on that. And I lucked out on this because I could have been seriously hurt."
Once again, Rizzs let out another groggy version of his cackle.
"I mean, I ain't dead yet," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."
