Since the Mariners came online in 1977, this was their best team recordwise. This would also be the team's best record until 1987. This team also had the first hall-of-famer in team's history, in Gaylord Perry. Perry was one of nine Mariners in the Topps Traded set.
He was picked up in one of those moves that many expansion teams make in order to create a history for their team because he won his 300th game shortly after joining the Mariners. Who did Wade Boggs get his 3000th hit with? The Devil Rays (or Rays) in 1999, which Boggs only played with for two seasons. Who did Pete Rose get his 4000th hit with? The Montreal Expos, who he played with for only 4 months in 1984. This may have all started with the '62 Mets who attempted to create an all-star team of over-the-hill players from other NL teams until they could get fully up and running in order to put fans in the seats.
MVP
Al Cowens, who came in 2nd in the MVP race in 1977 with the Royals, was purchased to by the Mariners prior to the '82 season. He led the team in hits and RBIs (even though it was only 78), was 2nd in runs scored, HRs, and slugging percentage, and was third in batting average and OBP. This wasn't a team known for it's offense. Al Cowens, Julio Cruz, Bruce Bochte, and Richie Zisk led this offense, but wouldn't have even come close to leading any other team in 1982.
Cy Young
This team was stronger in the pitching department. There wasn't any pitcher with a strong winning percentage, but alot of young pitchers (who either panned or didn't) with decent ERAs. The best pitcher though was actually the teams closer. Bill Caudill had 26 saves for this team to go with a 2.35 ERA.
Rookie Card of the Year
Another strong arm out of the bullpen was Ed VandeBerg, he was truly a 1st year player with a card in one of the sets. He had a 2.37 ERA as a set up man out of the pen. 1982 was his best year though and after leaving the Mariners in for the 1986 season to play for the Dodgers, Indians, and Rangers, he was out of baseball after 1988.
Most Interesting Non-Topps Card
I am trying not to use the manager cards that were in the Donruss set, so I am going with the only player who saw playing time with the Mariners in 1982 that didn't have a Topps card, Paul Serna. Serna was a backup middle infielder who signed with the Mariners as an amateur free agent in 1980 and was with the big club in 1981. 1982 was his last season in the majors, although he was in the farm system until 1985.
Note: Dave Revering played his final season in 1982. He bounced around between the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Mariners in 1982. He had a card as a Yankee in the regular Topps set and a card in the Traded set with the Blue Jays. He got 159 plate appearances with the Jays, 92 with the Mariners, and 44 with the Yankees, so I am placing his Yankees card on the Mariners checklist since he got more playing time with the Mariners.
Starters
| __ | C | Rick Sweet | |||
| __ | 1B | Jim Maler | |||
| __ | TO | 130 | 2B | Julio Cruz | SEA |
| __ | 3B | Manny Castillo | |||
| __ | SS | Todd Cruz | |||
| __ | TO | 224 | LF | Bruce Bochte | SEA |
| __ | CF | Dave Henderson | |||
| __ | TT | 22 | RF | Al Cowens | SEA |
| __ | TO | 769 | DH | Richie Zisk | SEA |
| __ | TO | 382 | OF | Joe Simpson | SEA |
| __ | TO | 523 | 1B | Gary Gray | SEA |
| __ | TT | 12 | LF | Bobby Brown | SEA |
Starting Pitchers
| __ | TO | 468 | SP | Floyd Bannister | SEA |
| __ | TT | 88 | SP | Gaylord Perry | SEA |
| __ | TO | 22 | SP | Jim Beattie | SEA |
| __ | SP | Mike Moore | |||
| __ | TT | 80 | SP | Gene Nelson | SEA |
Relief Pitchers
| __ | TT | 18 | CL | Bill Caudill | SEA |
| __ | TT | 122 | RP | Ed Vande Berg | SEA |
| __ | TO | 632 | RP | Bryan Clark | SEA |
| __ | SP | Bob Stoddard | |||
| __ | TT | 113 | RP | Mike Stanton | SEA |
| __ | TO | 52 | RP | Larry Andersen | SEA |
Other Players
| __ | DO | 567 | IF | Paul Serna | SEA |
| __ | TO | 98 | C | Bud Bulling | SEA |
| __ | TT | 31 | C | Jim Essian | SEA |
| __ | 3B | Dave Edler | |||
| __ | TO | 109 | 1B | Dave Revering | NYY |
| __ | TO | 312 | UT | Lenny Randle | SEA |
| __ | TT | 114 | UT | Steve Stroughter | SEA |
| __ | TO | 350 | OF | Thad Bosley | MIL |
| __ | OF | John Moses | |||
| __ | SS | Domingo Ramos | |||
| __ | UT | Orlando Mercado | |||
| __ | C | Dan Firova | |||
| __ | UT | Vance McHenry | |||
| __ | SP | Ed Nunez | |||
| __ | RP | Ron Musselman | |||
| __ | RP | Rich Bordi | |||
| __ | TO | 371 | RP | Jerry Gleaton | SEA |
Minor Leagues
| __ | TO | 571 | MN | Glenn Abbott | SEA |
| __ | FL | 515 | MN | Casey Parsons | SEA |
Manager/Coaches
| __ | DO | 600 | MG | Rene Lachemann | SEA |
| __ | DO | 445 | CO | Vada Pinson | CHW |
Also this year, Floyd Bannister became the 1st Mariner to lead the league in K's. Now that I think about it... did any Mariner lead the league in anything (significant) before '82? He might've been the 1st.
ReplyDeleteI do miss the old early 80's Mariners logo.
You know, I didn't think to consider that fact when picking the best pitcher for the team. Bannister did lead the league in K's. I just thought that it was interesting that Caudill had 26 saves for a team 5 games below .500, this was when 26 saves was quite a lot.
ReplyDeleteAmazing that 5 of their starters didn't have baseball cards in 1982. I would have hated to have been a kid in Seattle trying to track down cards of the Mariners' infield that year!
ReplyDeleteThe first base and catcher positions on the '82 Mariners demonstrates the problem of trying to show true starting full time players for every position. My compromise was to list the players with the most innings played at a position as the starter and anyone else after filling out a lineup who met a minimum number of plate appearances amongst the starters. This may also explain why they didn't have a card.
ReplyDeleteAt first, Gary Gray actually started the most games at 1B, but Jim Maler played the most innings, so I put Maler in as the regular first baseman. Maler played only 57 games and Gray only 60 games at first. Neither one I would consider a full time player though, just that there was no one who played a majority of games at first.
Catcher was like a 3 way platoon between Rick Sweet, Bud Bulling, and Jim Essian. Sweet played the most innings, so I put him as the starter.
Doing this project, I noticed bad teams have the most changeover from year to year and much larger rosters with more platoon players. Probably a way to find some playing time to audition players to rebuild the team. A good team is largely set at most positions, so they aren't trying to play the kids to see who will stick.
Another interesting thing with this team...Steve Stroughter was in his first and only season in the majors and appeared in the Topps Traded set. He only got 51 plate appearances.
ReplyDeleteThis is odd in this era, as most players had to wait until at least a year after they appeared in the majors before they got their own card. There were only 6 players on the '82 Mariners who had less plate appearances for the season. Thing was, he wasn't even a hot prospect..he was 30 when he made his debut. So who knows why he got a card and the 5 starters who all had at least a cup of coffee in previous seasons didn't get into that traded set.
Caudill definitely had the better season over Bannister, but I just noticed you didn't say much about Banny so I thought I'd add it :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, that's weird that 5 of their starters didn't have cards