• When Willie was about six or seven, his mother bought him a pair of pajamas designed like a baseball uniform. "I was so excited. It was the middle of the day, but I put them on and ran around the house, sliding and stuff. By nighttime, I had holes in the knees. I don't think my Mom was too happy about that."

• Willie is the youngest of four children. He has two older sisters and an older brother.
• His exuberance for the game helped Bloomquist lead South Kitsap High School in Washington to a state championship and Arizona State to a College World Series final.

• When Bloomquist was asked what the best thing was about growing up in Port Orchard, Washington, he said, "The A&W restaurant. I go there every time I go back to Port Orchard. I usually get a double cheeseburger, onion rings, and a chocolate milk shake."

• In high school, Willie was the starting quarterback and safety in one of the state of Washington's best football programs. He played with Benji Olson, Tony Coats, and Mac Morrison. "Football," he said, "is where you develop character. I liked hitting people and not getting in trouble for it."

• Bloomquist is a baseball player in every sense of the word. He plays hard, smart and will make things happen for his team. He has hard-core intensity.

  DRAFTED BY THE MARINERS . . . TWICE

• In 1996, Willie passed up the Mariners offer out of high school to attend college.

  Rice University was one of the Division I schools that offered Bloomquist a baseball scholarship. Notre Dame, Arizona State and the University of Washington also had scholarship offers on the table, while USC also showed some interest in the South Kitsap High School player.

  "It was my first recruiting trip and I loved everything about it," Bloomquist said. "The only bad thing was there were almost as many students at my high school than there were at Rice."

  Arizona State was the last stop on Bloomquist's recruiting trail. "As soon as I got off the plane, I knew I was going there," he said of the October visit. "I flew in from Seattle, where it was something like 40 degrees, and it was 85 in Phoenix. I knew right then and there that I was going to attend Arizona State."

• At Arizona State, he was the Pac-10 Player of the Year for 1999, hitting .394 while leading the nation with 95 runs scored and stole 32 bases. He was a GTE Academic All American as a business management major.

  Then, the Mariners drafted him again, and he signed with them a week later, for a bonus of $400,000. He grew up a Mariners fan, living an hour from the Kingdome. With most of his bonus, he bought an engagement ring for his future wife.

• In 1999, Bloomquist gave up his scholarship at Arizona State to allow 3B Andrew Beinbrink to get that scholarship! 

  "Everyone thought he'd go pro after the draft and when he came back his scholarship had been given to a freshman," Bloomquist said. "There was no money left to pay for his school, and my family was not rich but was in a financial position to pay for my schooling, so we could give the scholarship back.

• "I thought it was a great idea. ASU had done so much for me, it felt good to be able to give back."  (Bob Finnigan-Seattle Times-3/2/05)

• "Baseball is meant to be played hard," Bloomquist said. "You've got to get your uniform dirty."

  He is very enthusiastic about playing the game. He is a leader who finds a way to succeed. His tremendous work ethic is part of why he is an overachiever. He learns quickly and is easty to teach. He is a throwback-type player. He has no problem with getting his uniform dirty. His work ethic allows him to overachieve.

• Growing up in Washington, Willie says, "The Mariners are who I am. My heroes were Alvin Davis, Harold Reynolds, Jim Presley, and Dave Valle. It was my dream to play for them, but I wanted to go to college."
• Mariners' minor league Manager Dave Brundage says Bloomquist has the best baseball tool of all: "He just helps you win games. He's got great instincts for what needs to be done in every situation, and he knows how to go about getting it done."

• Willie's father, a big, strong bear of a man, was semi-retired from his dental practice. But Dr. Bloomquist still went into his office about three days each month. One fall day that would be his last at work, he performed more than a dozen root canal surgeries, crown repairs, and various exams for some of his longtime patients. Then he headed out with a hunting buddy for Cheyenne, Wyoming to hunt elk. But they never made it to Cheyenne.

  Near Rock Springs, Wyoming, their car skated across a patch of black ice and flipped several times. Both walked away, seemingly unhurt. But Bill Bloomquist said his neck was sore, and he lay down in the snow at the side of the road to rest it. That turned out to be a life-saving decision.

  Doctors said later if he had moved his head slightly in either direction, he likely would have snapped his spinal cord. Bill Bloomquist had two broken vertebrae in his neck and was airlifted to a hospital in Salt Lake City. Soon thereafter, Dr. Bloomquist slipped into a coma. But miraculously, he came out of it about three days later, just when virtually all hope was gone. As of 2003, Dr. Bloomquist was improving at a rehab/healthcare center in Utah.

  "He has his moments where he’s normal, and then he’ll be off in never-never land," Willie said. "He’s starting to walk a little bit, but his balance is off. And his speech has gotten night-and-day better. It’s going to be a long process."

• Willie recalls growing up with his Dad.

  "There were a few lumps along the way. It wasn't all peaches and cream. Dad would push us. Sometimes as good as we each wanted to be, he wanted us to be better than we wanted.

  "You know, I'd do anything to have that back now. I can't have it back. It is what it is, and we have to deal with it."

  There are the memories. Bloomquist and older brother Joe had a family "field of dreams."

  Bloomquist makes a bit of a face when asked about the personal park, built when he was six years old, and is quick to point out it was really just a cleared piece of pasture that was good for batting practice.

  "My family had some farmland and it had been used for cattle. So Dad had the idea to clear it off. He hooked up a tractor and we spent week after week one summer clearing off the rocks."

• When he was drafted and signed in 1999, the family brought every coach he had ever played for to the house for an appreciation celebration. 

• When Willie hit a grand slam home run on July 13, 2003 for the first Major League home run in his career, he became the second Mariner to hit a slam for his first MLB home run. Orlando Mercado was the first to do it, on September 19, 1982, off Steve Comer at the Kingdome.

• Bloomquist brings a lot of intangibles to the game. He knows how to play and has attributes and enthusiasm that endear him to teammates and the coaching staff.

  Willie brings leadership to the clubhouse.

  FRIEND OF THE TILLMAN BROTHERS

• Willie was upset and shocked at hearing his old friend, Pat Tillman, who played football at Arizona State and later with the Arizona Cardinals, was killed in action in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004.

  "I just about dropped my cell phone; it was that unbelievable," Bloomquist said. "His brother, Kevin, and I were pretty much best friends playing baseball at ASU. The three of us spent lots of time together.

  "I could believe anybody but him. He was pretty much indestructible. He was as down-to-earth as you can get. It's a sad, sad day for me, and my heart just goes out to his family. He'd just gotten married after he joined the Army Rangers."

• Bloomquist said Pat and Kevin, who was in the Cleveland Indians' minor league organization, had struck a deal to join the Army and serve together.

  Pat Tillman turned his back on a $3.6 million NFL salary. Bloomquist said Pat Tillman joined the Army as a specialist with his brother. In so doing, Pat turned down the option of going in as an officer.

  "It was never about money or fame or glory for Pat or for Kevin," Bloomquist said. "I wasn't surprised, knowing the type of guy he was, that he left football to join the Army. Doing things for glory wasn't the way Pat was."

• Bloomquist had dinner in Seattle with the brothers in September, and had planned to get tickets to one game of the 2004 opening series against Oakland for Kevin.

  "I got a call from him a couple of days before the opener and Kevin said, 'Don't bother,' " Bloomquist said. "They'd just learned they were shipping out. It was a tribute to his character that he'd promised his brother that they'd both join the Rangers together," Bloomquist said. "He was a class guy all the way; I really can't believe he's dead. Here's a guy who was a great athlete and a 4.0 student, an All-American kind of guy."

  Bloomquist had a script for the final moments of Tillman's life. "Obviously I don't know what happened, but it wouldn't surprise me if he took a bullet for somebody else," Bloomquist said. "That's the kind of guy he was."

• Willie never says anything bad about anybody. He is calm, never showing anger or disgust when answering even the tough questions from reporters.

• In October 2004, Willie's mother, Sally, died.

• On January 28, 2005, Willie and wife Lisa became parents for the first time when daughter Natalie Marie was born.

  "I've always been excited to come to the field," said Bloomquist. "Now I'm excited to go home, too. I give 100 percent of my focus to baseball as always, but I'm 100 percent ready to leave every day and go home. I know now there is a lot more than baseball."

• On May 13, 2007, Willie and wife Lisa celebrated the birth of their second child, daughter Ava Lynn.

• This dude has a lot of nicknames. They call him the Spork. Except for those who call him the Ignitor. Or Wee Willie. Or the Mighty Bloomquist, or Ballgame, or Boom-Boom, and, well, honestly, this could go on all day. The joke is that he has more nicknames than extra-base hits.

  Willie is a fan favorite for his hustle and everyman physical abilities, except for also being a fan punchline for his lack of power and other measurables.

  He accepts this truth: He’s not a home-run hitter. Never will be, and, now that he thinks about it, never has been. Not even in Little League.

  “Never,” he says. “High school, college, I was never the guy who when he came up, it was, ‘Oh, God, back up.’ That’s not my swing, not my strength, never been, so why try to change it?”  (Sam Mellinger-KC Star-5/29/09)

• June 15, 2011: Bloomquist's car was crunched in a collision on Highway 51 and Thunderbird in Phoenix.

  Bloomquist was following a trailer carrying granite countertops when one of those granite countertops fell onto the freeway and, in his words, "Blew up, like popcorn or something, all over the freeway."

  The person in front of Bloomquist slammed on his breaks, Bloomquist slammed on his brakes but the driver behind him didn't. He hit Bloomquist, who hit the car in front of him, totaling the car.

  "It's done," he said of the car. "Totaled."

• Bloomquist, a Port Orchard, Washington native says he’s not as talented as some other players who never made it to the Majors. Why, then, is he there?

  In part because of the intercession of St. Rita of Cascia, he says. After hitting a low point in the minor leagues, he began to ask for her prayers, and he made it through the often slow grind.

  After playing nine full seasons in the Majors, Bloomquist has a renewed appreciation for his Catholicism, family, and opportunities to help others. (April 2012)

• Bloomquist and his wife have three daughters, Natalie, Ava and Layla.

• Bloomquist used to carry around five gloves, one for each infield position and the outfield, but now just has one infield glove and one outfield mitt. He's streamlined his approach as he's gotten older, but one thing that's never changed is his work ethic.  Most of his time in workouts are spent in the infield, but when batting practice begins, he trots out to the grass to take fly balls and keep that part of his game sharp as well.  

  "I feel the best way to get outfield work is live off the bat in batting practice, because it just comes off different than it does off a fungo," he said. "So I sneak out there and do it under the radar, but I'm prepared to go out there if I need."  Bloomquist hasn't pitched since his prep days at South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard, Wash., saying there isn't much room for "a short guy with an 86 mph fastball with no movement."  As for catching? He isn't raising his hand to volunteer for that job, though he was drafted into a third-string role while with the Mariners earlier in his career.  He'll take it all as it comes, at peace with his place again in the organization where it all began.  

  "Who gets to put a uniform on twice and play in your hometown?" he said. "It's been a fun ride, so I just want to continue, and the biggest thing is I'd really, really like to win up in the Northwest. I saw how it was early in my career, and you see what the Seahawks have done to that city. That city will go crazy if you win. If we can figure out a way to put it together and win, it would be a great way to spend the tail end of my career. That would be pretty cool."

• In Bloomquist's 14-year career, he may not have been one of the best players in the league. He was elected to zero All-Star games, never picked up an MVP vote and only finished with 18 career home runs.  But for those who love a good utility infielder, who named fantasy teams things like "Willie's Bloomin' Onionquist" and who dreamed of creating a caked-in-dirt fantasy video game called "Bloomquest: Lords of the Infield," he was a hero.

  And when he announced his retirement on twitter, he did it in a way that has likely topped all but Lou Gehrig's goodbye speech: He did it with a bat flip.  Of course, given the swing he showed, isn't it possible that maybe, just maybe, a team may come calling when they're in need of some multi-position magic? We can only hope. (Clair - MLB.com - 3/11/16)

  TRANSACTIONS

• June 1999: The Mariners chose Willie in the third round, out of Arizona State University.
• January 16, 2006: Bloomquist signed a two-year, $1.525 million contract with the Mariners. It called for 625,000 in 2006 and $850,000 in 2007. He can earn an additional $150,000 in performance bonuses in 2006 and $250,000 in 2007 based on plate appearances.
• October 30, 2008: Bloomquist filed for free agency.
• January 9, 2009: Willie signed a two-year, $3 million contract with the Royals.
• September 13, 2010: The Reds sent a player to be named (or cash) to the Royals, acquiring Bloomquist.
• January 13, 2011: Willie signed a one-year, $1.05 million contract with the Diamondbacks, with a mutual option for the 2012 season.

• But Bloomquist declined his end of the $1.1 million option and therefore became a free agent.

• November 9, 2011: Bloomquist signed a two-year, $3.8 million contract with the Diamondbacks.

• December 5, 2013: Willie signed a two-year contract with the Mariners.

• Willie won't really impress you a whole lot with his tools, but he gets the job done well. He compensates for a lack of talent by out-thinking and out-playing the opposition. As Mariners scouting director Ken Compton said when asked what his best tool is: "He's a good baseball player."

• Bloomquist is a good hitter for average, but doesn't have much power. He is learning to turn on the ball, developing more power every year. He stays inside the ball and drives it to the opposite field. And he is a real good bunter. He will do anything to get on base, working the count. He will even get himself hit by a pitch

   

• Pitchers can get him out with good breaking stuff. But he stays inside on them. He puts the ball on the bat so consistently that he should never run into a long slump.
  
  

   

• Bloomquist entered the 2014 season with a .271 career batting average with 131 stolen bases and 17 home runs and 207 RBI in 2,689 at-bats in the Majors.

MR. VERSATILITY

• Willie is best at second base, but he can play a number of positions.
  

• He played at six different spots for Arizona State, and almost as many on various United States national teams.

• In his Major League career, he has played every position except pitcher and catcher. (Spring 2013)

• He is a mentally tough, hard-working player who could end up as a fine utilityman for many years in the Majors. Bloomquist is a younger version of former Mariner Mark McLemore—very versatile.

• At second base, he is very good, with well above average range, quick and soft hands and body actions. He can make all the plays around the second base bag. That is the position he is most solid at.

• Willie can do the job at shortstop. "I know the position, mentally, and it's the most challenging," Bloomquist said. "It is the position where you must be the most fluid at, as far as catching and getting rid of the ball."

• Bloomquist has a blue-collar attitude. He is not afraid to get his uniform dirty.

• Willie has a whole lot of gloves in his locker—for all occasions.  An outfield glove. A big infield glove for playing third base. A smaller infield glove for playing shortstop or second. A first baseman's glove.

  He has all of those in game-ready and still-breaking-them-in varieties. It's all part of Bloomquist wanting to make himself as valuable as possible at as many positions as possible.
  
  It takes a long time to break in so many different gloves at once. "It takes four or five days to get it playable," Bloomquist said. "Then it's another couple of weeks to where you'd feel comfortable using it in a (regular season) game."  (John Hickey-Seattle Post Intelligencer-4/12/04)

• "This is a guy we can use at shortstop or center field and not worry about what kind of game we get," former Mariners Manager Bob Melvin said. "How many players at any level can you say that about, and we're talking Majors here."
  
  In 2006 and 2007, former Mariners manager Mike Hargrove always told Willie the day before when and where he will be starting. That allows Bloomquist time to get in the mindset for that position.

  "When you're playing every day, you don't think about it," he added. "You just react. Not to say I'm not thinking out there, but when you haven't been there for a while, you can't help thinking about things you normally wouldn't. That's just kind of natural."

• Which position does he play best now?

  "I don't know. It depends on who you talk to," he said. "Some coaches that I've had told me that my best position is centerfield. Others say second base. Personally, if I had gun to my head, I'd say second base is my best position, but I've haven't done any position for an extended period of time, I don't know anymore."

  Bloomquist has nine different kinds of gloves in his locker, from outfield mitts to a first baseman's mitt to his reliable infielder's glove. He has more hidden away in his overhead storage. It takes him at least three weeks to break in a new glove, but even then he's hesitant to use it.

  "I'm the pickiest person in big leagues about my gloves," he said. "I'm always trying to find the right one—lightweight but durable, one that doesn't get flimsy. I've been using the same one for my third or fourth year now. I don't have one to replace it yet."

         POST-PLAYING CAREER POSITIONS

• May, 2016: Bloomquist returned to te Diamonbacks as a special assistant to president and CEO Derrick Hall. Bloomquist will assist Hall and other departments on both the baseball and business sides of the organization, including attending community events, meeting with corporate partners, coaching during Spring Training and visiting Minor League affiliates throughout the season.
  
  
  
  
• 2022: Willie returned to his alma mater as Baseball Coach for Arizona State.

• Willie broke his collarbone twice when he was young. "The last time was in high school football," he said.
• 1999 season: Bloomquist broke the hamate bone in his left wrist, requiring surgery near the end of the season.

• 2002 season: Willie spent time on the D.L. with a sore back early in the season, returning to action May 3.

• June 2002: Bloomquist was examined by doctors who discovered he had vertigo, which had been aggravated by a sinus infection.

• May 2-21, 2004: Willie was on the D.L. with a strained lower back.

• August 29, 2005: Bloomquist was on the D.L. with a pulled hamstring while legging out a ball at first base.

• March 2006: Willie required three stitches in the pinky finger on his right hand. The laceration happened while he was re-racking weights during a workout. He missed less than a week of spring training games.

• August 10–end of the 2008 season: Bloomquist was on the D.L. with a severly strained right hamstring that was said probably would end his season. In the 10th inning of the previous night's game, Willie stretched to reach first base to avoid a double play, and after reaching the bag collapsed in a heap, clutching his right leg.

  "Hamstrings are very, very painful injuries," Mariners head trainer Rick Griffin said. "It's a bad pull. He hit the base, and it was after he hit the base. His first step, he tried to decelerate, tried to stop really quick after he hit. Obviously the best thing to do would have been to keep running, but that load of trying to stop real quick ... is what caused it."

• October 2009: Bloomquist underwent arthroscopic surgery by team physician Dr. Steve Joyce on both knees. All in one surgical swoop, a two-for-one sale.
  
  "I had some stuff in there that'd been giving me problems since before the All-Star break and they were sore starting in June," Bloomquist said. "But it's one of those things when you got 'em loosened up and oiled up and started running around, it didn't hurt as bad. But I'd be lying if I said they didn't bother me the whole second half of the year and then some."
  
  Even so, the aching knees didn't keep Bloomquist from having the most productive of his eight big league seasons. He reached career highs in games played (125), at-bats (434), runs (52), triples (eight), homers (four), RBIs (29), and stolen bases (25). His steals were the most for the Royals since Carlos Beltran's 41 in 2003.

• April 22-May 18, 2011: Bloomquist was on the D.L. with a strained right hamstring.

• August 10-31, 2012: Willie was on the D.L. with a strained lower back.

• March 27-May 31, 2013: Bloomquist was on the D.L. at the start of the season after he sustained a Grade 2 right oblique strain while swinging the bat at the plate in an exhibition game.
  
  June 28-August 28, 2013: Willie was on the D.L. with two broken bones in his left hand. He was projected to miss six to eight weeks. He was hit on the hand by a pitch on June 26.
  

• July 24, 2014: Bloomquist was on the D.L. with a right knee contusion.
  
  August 8, 2014: Willie underwent arthroscopic surgery.