Top 50 Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners began as an expansion team in 1977, and like many expansion teams, they took their lumps in the beginning. It took them until 1995, where they would not make their first playoff until 1995 with a team comprising of Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. Randy Johnson and Edgar Martinez, the sky seemed to be the limit, and they would make the playoffs in 1997, 2000, and 2001, but they were unable to win the American League Pennant.
To date, the Mariners are the only Major League Baseball team that has not participated in a World Series.
This list is up to the end of the 2023 season.
Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
The son of Ken Griffey Sr., Ken Griffey Jr., was bred for baseball greatness. Drafted first overall in the 1987 Amateur Draft, Griffey would debut as a teenager in 1989, where he had a sweet rookie year, with 120 Hits and 16 Home Runs. That was a good start, but that was just the beginning of what would be one of the most exceptional baseball careers of all time.
We almost put him number one, and would there not be a lot of logic for us to do so? We can go to our grave jumping up and down that Ken Griffey Jr. is the better baseball player, and since his prime (which was a long one) was exclusively in Seattle, placing “Junior” at the top makes sense.
Like Edgar Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki received some consideration as the top Seattle Mariner of all time, but instead, he will have to labeled the best hitter for average in team history. A case can be made that Ichiro was one of the greatest hitters of the game period. The Japanese native did not debut in the Majors until he was 27, and he was still able to collect 3,089 Hits, 2,542 of them with Seattle. If you add his hits in the Japanese League, he has more combined than Pete Rose.
From Venezuela, Felix Hernandez signed with the Seattle Mariners as an Amateur Free Agent in 2002, with the hopes of following the footsteps of his idol, Freddy Garcia. In 2005, at age 19, Hernandez made his debut and would start 12 Games. From there, Hernandez would begin his slow ascent to one of the best hurlers in the Game. He would break out in 2009, with a league-leading 19 Wins, his first All-Star Game, and a second place finish in Cy Young voting.
The Montreal Expos made a huge (a literal 6’ 10” mistake) when they dealt a young Randy Johnson to the Seattle Mariners early in the 1989 season. It was evident immediately that there was something special as Johnson could strike out a lot of batters, but he had control problems. It would, however, not take long for the "Big Unit" to become one of the stud pitchers in baseball.
Alex Rodriguez only played with the Seattle Mariners until he was 25 years old, but he had already established himself as one of the most exciting players in the game. Based on the mega-deal he signed with the Texas Rangers when the Shortstop left the Mariners, the consensus was that he was also one of the best.
Jamie Moyer played an astounding 25 years in the Majors, and the crafty southpaw would spend 11 of them with the Seattle Mariners.
Kyle Seager was a Seattle Mariner for the entirety of his eleven seasons, and though he was not a superstar, he was a steady presence in a period when Seattle needed it.
When learning that his son (erroneously) was dead from George Steinbrenner, Frank Costanza’s first response was: “What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for? He had 30 Home Runs, over 100 RBIs last year! He’s got a rocket for an arm! You don’t know what the hell you’re doing!”
If you have the nickname of "Mr. Mariner," it stands to reason that the player in question is an important player in franchise history.
Mark Langston was a second round pick in 1981 and would debut with the Mariners in 1984, where he had a stellar rookie campaign. The product of San Jose State went 17-10 and would lead the AL in Strikeouts with 204. He was the runner-up to the Rookie of the Year, coincidentally losing to his teammate, Alvin Davis.
Robinson Cano would sign with the Seattle Mariners after spending his first nine seasons with the New York Yankees, where he went to five All-Star Games and won a World Series in 2009. Cano was past 30, but still had plenty left to offer the baseball fans of the Emerald City.
From Venezuela, Freddy Garcia burst on to the scene as a rookie with the Mariners in 1999, where he went 17-8 with 170 Strikeouts and was the runner-up to the Rookie of the Year to Carlos Beltran. This had to hurt the Houston Astros, who had traded him five years in the Randy Johnson trade after they drafted him as an Amateur Free Agent.
Bret Boone would make history as the first-ever third-generation Major League Baseball player when he debuted with the Seattle Mariners in 1992.
An All-Star for three of his four seasons as a Seattle Mariner, Nelson Cruz provided substantial power numbers for his duration in the Emerald City.
After a dozen seasons in the Japanese League, Hisashi Iwakuma made his way to the United States, specifically with the Seattle Mariners, the only team he would play for in Major League Baseball.
Popularity wise, Harold Reynolds had few equals in Seattle. He treated the fans well, was respected by his peers, and he gave to the community. He was also a pretty good baseball player.
A member of the 3,000 hit club, Adrian Beltre, would collect 751 of his 3,166 Hits with the Seattle Mariners.
Erik Hanson played his first six seasons in the Majors with the Seattle Mariners, where he would start 143 of his 145 Games with a 56-54 record.