The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in 1977, the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field, now named T-Mobile Park, has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July . From their 1977 inception until June 1999, the club's home park was the Kingdome.
1965–1976: Origins and formation Before being awarded a team in Major League Baseball, Seattle had been a staple of the Pacific Coast League minor league dating back to the late 19th century. The first attempt to land a major league team failed when a bid by William Daley to move the Cleveland Indians to Seattle in fell apart. In late 1967, Daley, by then having sold the Indians, led a consortium to win a franchise in the expansion (said expansion was originally planned for 1971, but pressure by Missouri senator Stuart Symington led to the expansion taking place two years earlier than scheduled). That team became the Seattle Pilots. The Pilots, amidst a bevy of financial problems, were sold and relocated to Milwaukee after just one season in Seattle in April 1970 and became the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Mariners were created as a result of a lawsuit. In 1970, in the aftermath of the Pilots' purchase and relocation to Milwaukee by future Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig, the City of Seattle, King County, and the state of Washington (represented by then-State Attorney General and future U.S. Senator Slade Gorton) sued the American League for breach of contract. Confident that Major League Baseball would return to Seattle within a few years, King County built the multi-purpose Kingdome, which would also become home to the NFL's expansion Seattle Seahawks in 1976.
The Pilots lawsuit continued until 1976. At trial, the American League offered to give Seattle an expansion baseball franchise in return for dropping the suit, and details were ironed out over the next year. To keep the league with an even number of teams, a formal expansion proceeding was held, with a second team, the Blue Jays, awarded to the city of Toronto (also allowing both leagues to place a team in Canada, the National League's Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) having been established in 1969). The new Seattle team, to begin play in 1977, was to be owned by a consortium led by entertainer Danny Kaye, along with Stanley Golub, Walter Schoenfeld, Lester Smith, James Stillwell Jr., and James A. Walsh. The cost of the franchise was approximately $5.5 million, similar to the cost for the Pilots in 1969.
The name "Mariners" was chosen by club officials in August 1976 from over 600 names submitted by 15,000 entrants in a name-the-team contest. The name was submitted by Roger Szmodis of suburban Bellevue. However, when the Mariners attempted to reach Szmodis about the prize he had won as a result of his entry being chosen, they were unable to make contact with him, with all efforts to track the man down for years being unsuccessful. According to Dick Vertlieb, the first general manager of the Mariners, he wanted to name the team "Hustlers" or "Pros" and dress them in black, even stating his disappointment in an interview for the eventual name chosen that he described as "lame".
1977–1990: Debut and winning struggles The Mariners played their first game on April 6, , to a sold-out crowd of 57,762 at the Kingdome, getting shut out by the California Angels 7–0.RetroSheet.org box score: Game Played on Wednesday, April 6, 1977 (N) at Kingdome After also being shut out in their second game, the team recorded its first win two days later defeating the Angels, 7–6. The first home run in team history was hit on April 10, 1977, by designated hitter Juan Bernhardt. That year, star pitcher Diego Seguí, in his last major league season, became the only player to play for both the Pilots and the Mariners. The Mariners finished with a 64–98 record, good for a sixth-place finish in the AL West, echoing the record the 1969 Pilots once held; however, the team narrowly avoided last place by half a game. In 1979, Seattle hosted the 50th MLB All-Star Game at the Kingdome. Prior to the 1981 season, the Mariners were sold to southern California businessman (and future ambassador to Spain) George Argyros for an estimated $12.5 million. The sale of the team, which needed the approval of 10 of 14 owners of American League teams, received a unanimous vote of consent on January 29.
Despite having stars such as Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry (nicknamed the "Ancient Mariner"), American League Rookie of the Year Alvin Davis, two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner Harold Reynolds, three-time American League strikeout leader Mark Langston, and shortstop and team captain Spike Owen on their rosters, the Mariners teams of the late 1970s and the entirety of the 1980s were characterized by perennial non-achievement, gaining a reputation for poor performances, low attendance, and losing records. Moreover, the team's ownership again changed hands in August 1989, as Argyros sold the club to a group headed by Indianapolis communications magnate Jeff Smulyan for $76 million. However, the 1989 rookie season of center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., acquired with the first overall pick of the 1987 amateur draft, gave fans hope that a change of fortunes might be on the horizon. The Mariners finished with a losing record in 1990, but did have their moments that year with Randy Johnson's first no-hitter on June 2, and on September 14, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. hit back-to-back home runs, becoming the first father-and-son duo to hit home runs in the same game.
1991–1992: A glimmer of hope
After yet another dismal performance in , the Mariners managed their first winning season in , finishing 83–79 under manager Jim Lefebvre. Though it was the team's best season up to that point, it was only good enough for a fifth-place finish in the seven-team American League West in which no team finished under .500, and Lefebvre was fired after that season. The team hired Bill Plummer as Lefebvre's replacement for the season, but he too was let go after a 98-loss campaign in 1992. Much of the reason for that was trading away pitchers Bill Swift, Mike Jackson and Dave Burba to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Kevin Mitchell and pitcher Mike Remlinger. Bill Swift won the ERA title in 1992 and finish second in Cy Young voting in 1993, Mike Jackson had a solid career as a relief pitcher and Burba pitched well as both a reliever and starter. While Kevin Mitchell had a solid year in 1992, he was traded the next season to Cincinnati for Norm Charlton and Mike Remlinger did not even play in a Mariner uniform. By this time, having enough of the lack of enthusiasm for the city towards the team, Jeff Smulyan attempted to sell the team that could mean relocation by triggering an escape clause. Lawyer Art Harrigan argued that the timing of when the clause could apply did not apply there, which proved successful in forcing Smulyan to first offer local buyers a chance to buy it for roughly $100 million before buyers (such as in Tampa Bay) could pounce. Through the efforts of United States Senator Slade Gorton, the Mariners found a group of Seattle-area businessmen to buy the team, led by Nintendo chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi. The purchase was initially opposed by baseball officials, who objected to a team being owned by a non-North American entity. Eventually, they allowed the sale, provided that the team's presidency and chairmanship remained in the hands of American partners; the new ownership promised to keep the team in Seattle.
1993–2002
1993: The new and improved Mariners
In 1993, the Mariners introduced new uniforms and a new color scheme. Prior to the season, the Mariners hired manager Lou Piniella, who had led the Cincinnati Reds to victory in the 1990 World Series and was a fan favorite during his playing career, primarily with the New York Yankees. Mariners fans embraced Piniella, and he managed the team for a decade, winning two American League Manager of the Year Awards along the way. For only the second time, the Mariners had a winning record, though only two games above .500, at 82–80.
1994 season: The labor strike-shortened season
The Mariners' fortunes began to improve in 1994. Beginning in the late 1980s, the team had added a core of strong players built around center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., pitcher Randy Johnson, third baseman Edgar Martínez, and right fielder Jay Buhner. On July 19, 1994, four 15-pound ceiling tiles fell from the Kingdome roof onto the field and into the stadium's seating bowl. The incident led to uncertainty over whether the Kingdome was fit for use as a major league stadium, and may well have ultimately been a factor leading to the construction of Safeco Field. Unable to play at the venue while repairs were being executed, the Major League Baseball Players' Association rejected the idea of playing games at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma or BC Place in Vancouver, feeling that games should not be played in non-MLB venues. This forced the Mariners to play their next 20 games on the road over the span of 21 days. The long trip began miserably as the Mariners started off 2–8, but rebounded to win nine of their next ten games, leaving them just 2 games behind the division-leading Texas Rangers when a players' strike was called on August 12 that resulted in the cancellation of the rest of the season (at that point, no team in the American League West had reached .500, with the Rangers being the closest at 10 games below, at 52–62; the Mariners were 50–64). Many players felt the time together on the road and the overcoming of the adversity faced that season fed directly into the success the team achieved in the 1995 season. The extended road trip resulted in a peculiarity, in which the first game in a series with the Boston Red Sox – which was supposed to be in Seattle – was rained out; if one still counts this as a home game, it marked the first – and so far only – home rainout in Mariners history (the Kingdome's successor venue for the Mariners, T-Mobile Park has a retractable roof, so games can either be played indoors or outdoors, always indoors when it is raining).
1995 season: "Refuse to Lose"/the first playoff season
Although pitchers Randy Johnson, Bill Risley, and Bobby Ayala combined for an opening-day three-hit shutout, the Mariners' season started off on a bad note overall, as Griffey sustained a major early-season injury. Despite this loss, the Mariners continued to play fairly well, guided by Piniella. In mid-August, however, the Mariners appeared to be out of contention, 13 games behind the first-place California Angels. In September, a ballot measure for a new stadium for the Mariners was shot down by King County voters. However, luck turned their way that month.
The tide turned with a September winning streak marked by late-inning comeback wins, which led to their most-known slogan "Refuse to Lose". Combined with an absolute collapse by the Angels, this opened the way for the Mariners to end up tied with the Angels for first place at the end of the regular season, forcing a one-game playoff. The playoff pitted Johnson against Angels ace Mark Langston, whom, incidentally, the Mariners had traded for Johnson in . Langston ended up on the seat of his pants at homeplate failing to tag out Luis Sojo who came all the way around after clearing the bases with a ball that got by the Angels first baseman, J. T. Snow, rattled around underneath California's bullpen bench, and resulted in a hurried and errant cut-off throw from Langston. The Mariners won the tiebreaker game 9–1 and clinched their first-ever trip to the playoffs. The Mariners had won 25 of their last 36 games.