How can baseball embrace technology and new traditions while honoring its legacy and listening to its fans? Those were the questions at the heart of the Seattle Mariners CEO’s conversation this week with Taylor Soper, GeekWire managing editor, at the GeekWire Rooftop BBQ and Mariners Day at First Mode in Seattle.
Stanton brings his experience as a longtime business and tech leader to his role with the Mariners. He also chairs Major League Baseball’s competition committee, the group leading some of the biggest changes in the history of the sport, including the pitch clock that has dramatically shortened game duration this year.
He spoke with Taylor in the midst of a Mariners’ winning streak that has since been extended to eight games with a 9-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday.
An early McCaw Cellular executive and founding partner at Bellevue, Wash.-based venture firm Trilogy Equity Partners, Stanton was CEO of Western Wireless and VoiceStream, the predecessor to T-Mobile USA, and also served as chairman of broadcast communications provider Clearwire.
Listen for highlights from Stanton’s remarks in the second segment of this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, starting around 10:50, and read an extended writeup with more of his comments on GeekWire.
In the first segment, my colleague John Cook and I revisit my recent podcast conversation with Brinc CEO Blake Resnick based on John’s sighting of the company’s technology during an armed standoff in his neighborhood this week. Here’s the picture that John took of the Brinc Ball at the scene.
In the final segment, we offer our thoughts on Stanton’s remarks, I rants about an annoying tradition carried on by Seattle Mariners fans in the stands during a pivotal moment in a game this week, and we discuss my idea to use technology to help fans keep more engaged with the action on the field.
Listen above, or subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
