La Crosse native Scott Servais dismissed as manager of the Seattle Mariners

Servais with umpire Jansen Visconti in 2018.Photo byUdeezy/Wikimedia Commons

Scott Servais had been the manager of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners for nearly a decade. Earlier this season, the Mariners appeared to have a vise grip on the American League West division. But the last few weeks have been a disaster for the club, and now things have come to a head.

The team has relieved Servais of his duties as a manager. His successor is Dan Wilson, who was inducted into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame as a player in 2012. More recently, Wilson had been working for the team in a front office capacity.

Servais was not alone in getting unfortunate news. Hitting coach Jarrett DeHart also lost his job after serving in various capacities for the franchise since 2018.

Scott Servais was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and spent much of his childhood in nearby Coon Valley before playing at the high school level in Westby, Wisconsin. He was drafted in 1985 by the New York Mets, but did not sign with the organization, opting instead to play collegiately with Creighton University.

In 1986, Servais was a member of the Orleans Cardinals squad that won the Cape Cod Baseball League Championship. He then helped the United States national baseball team reach success at the international level. Including an Olympic gold medal in 1988, as well as silver medals at that year's Baseball World Cup and at the Pan American Games and Intercontinental Cup in 1987.

Also in 1988, Servais was drafted once again, this time by Houston, and went on to have a lengthy MLB career as a catcher with four teams. Along the way, he was a member of two squads that won division titles.

Before joining the Mariners as manager, Servais was an executive with the Texas Rangers and the now-Los Angeles Angels. He would help the Rangers win the 2010 American League pennant.

Ed Servais, Scott's uncle, is the longtime head baseball coach at Creighton, but did not join the school until well after his nephew's playing career there had concluded. Ed played at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse before beginning his coaching career. He has led the Creighton Bluejays to four conference tournament titles and is a combined eight-time Coach of the Year award recipient across different coaching stops.