The 1989 Seattle Mariners season was their 13th since the franchise creation. The team finished in sixth place in the American League West division, with a record of . The Mariners were led by first-year manager Jim Lefebvre.

The season was enlivened by the arrival of 19-year-old Ken Griffey Jr., the 1st overall pick of the 1987 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. The team traded for fellow future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson in May, sending out All-Star Mark Langston. Omar Vizquel also made his MLB debut for the Mariners, and fellow future All-Stars Edgar Martínez and Jay Buhner played limited roles for the team.

In August, owner George Argyros sold the team to Jeff Smulyan.

Offseason First-time MLB manager Jim Lefebvre was hired in November 1988, replacing interim manager Jim Snyder, who was fired in October. He would lead the team to their first winning record in the 1991 season, his final year at the helm. November 15, 1988: Luis DeLeón signed as a free agent with the Mariners. December 6: José Meléndez selected from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Rule 5 draft. December 7: Jeffrey Leonard and Tom Niedenfuer signed as free agents with the Mariners. March 27, 1989: Steve Balboni traded to the New York Yankees for minor leaguer Dana Ridenour. Ken Griffey Jr. set spring training team records with 32 hits, 20 runs batted in, and 49 total bases.

Regular season Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Season summary Ken Griffey Jr. made his MLB debut on opening day, April 3, against the defending American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics. Griffey hit a double in his first at-bat. During the season, Griffey was selected as card number one in the 1989 Upper Deck baseball card set. Griffey was named the AL Player of the Week within a month. In May, a Seattle-area trading card company released a Griffey chocolate bar. The Mariners lost their first four games of the season and never rose above fifth place in the AL West. They reached their highest winning percentage on May 16, beating the Milwaukee Brewers on Griffey's first pinch-hit home run, reaching a 21–18 record. Griffey hit his first inside-the-park home run on May 21 on a ball that caromed off Roberto Kelly of the New York Yankees. Jeffrey Leonard represented the Mariners in the All-Star Game. Owner George Argyros sold the team in August to a group headed by Indianapolis communications executive Jeff Smulyan for an estimated $75 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Argyros had been trying to sell the team since 1987. In June 1989, the Argyros-led Mariners pulled their advertising from Seattle radio station KZOK in response to a parody song co-written by Jimmy Kimmel criticizing Argyros. The Mariners endured a 12-game losing streak in August, which tied a franchise record and matched the Detroit Tigers, who also lost 12 in a row in August, for the longest in MLB that season. Edgar Martínez had his first career walk-off hit on September 30. The Mariners had the lowest payroll in the majors in , at $7.6 million, equivalent to $ million in . Second baseman Harold Reynolds won a Gold Glove Award. Griffey finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. Closer Mike Schooler had 33 saves, a franchise record broken by Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000.

Notable transactions April 21, 1989: Rey Quiñones and Bill Wilkinson to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Mike Dunne, Mike Walker, and Mark Merchant. May 25: Mark Langston and a player to be named later were traded by the Mariners to the Montreal Expos for pitchers Randy Johnson, Brian Holman, and Gene Harris. The Mariners completed the deal by sending Mike Campbell to the Expos on July 31. June 5: Roger Salkeld drafted third overall by the Mariners in the 1989 MLB draft. Seattle drafted Brian Turang in the 51st round of the draft. June 12: Steve Trout was released by the Mariners. June 20: Keith Comstock signed as a free agent.

Major league debuts Batters: Ken Griffey Jr. and Omar Vizquel (April 3) Pitchers: Clint Zavaras (June 3)

1989 roster 1989 Seattle Mariners Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other Batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB R H HR RBI Avg. SB C Dave Valle 94 316 32 75 7 34 .237 0 1B Alvin Davis 142 498 84 152 21 95 .305 0 2B Harold Reynolds 153 613 87 184 0 43 .300 25 3B Jim Presley 117 390 42 92 1241 .236 0 SS Omar Vizquel 143 387 45 85 1 20 .220 1 LF Greg Briley 115 394 52 105 13 52 .266 11 CF Ken Griffey Jr. 127 455 61 120 16 61 .264 16 RF Darnell Coles 146 535 54 135 10 59 .252 5 DH Jeffrey Leonard 150 566 69 144 24 93 .254 6

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Henry Cotto 100 295 78 .264 9 33 Scott Bradley 103 270 74 .274 3 37 Jay Buhner 58 204 56 .275 9 33 Edgar Martínez 65 171 41 .240 2 20 Mickey Brantley 34 108 17 .157 0 8 Dave Cochrane 54 102 24 .235 3 7 Mike Kingery 31 76 17 .224 2 6 Mario Díaz 52 74 10 .135 1 7 Bill McGuire 14 28 5 .179 1 4 Rey Quiñones 7 19 2 .105 0 0 Jim Wilson 5 8 0 .000 0 0 Bruce Fields 3 3 1 .333 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Scott Bankhead 33 210.1 14 6 3.34 140 Brian Holman 23 159.2 8 10 3.44 82 Randy Johnson 22 131 7 9 4.40 104 Erik Hanson 17 113.1 9 5 3.18 75 Mike Dunne 15 85.1 2 9 5.27 38 Mark Langston 10 73.1 4 5 3.56 60 Clint Zavaras 10 52 1 6 5.19 31 Luis DeLeón 1 4 0 0 2.25 2

Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Bill Swift 37 130 7 3 4.43 45 Gene Harris 10 33.1 1 4 6.48 14 Mike Campbell 5 21 1 2 7.29 6

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Mike Schooler 67 1 7 33 2.81 69 Mike Jackson 65 4 6 7 3.17 94 Jerry Reed 52 7 7 0 3.19 50 Dennis Powell 43 2 2 2 5.00 27 Keith Comstock 31 1 2 0 2.81 22 Tom Niedenfuer 25 0 3 0 6.69 15 Steve Trout 19 4 3 0 6.60 17 Julio Solano 7 0 0 0 5.59 6

Farm system

Sources:

References

External links 1989 Seattle Mariners at Baseball Reference 1989 Seattle Mariners team page at Baseball Almanac