1983 Seattle Mariners

We wrap up 1983 with the Seattle Mariners. After 1982, they had a 76-86 record, by far the best in franchise history. But going into their 7th season in existence in 1983, they returned to the womb. They actually ended up with a worse record than they had in their first season. Compared to their expansion brothers, the Toronto Blue Jays, who were starting to build a team that would lead to playoff appearances and eventually World Series titles, the Mariners were just spinning their wheels in these early years.

Best Player: Pat Putnam...well the best player was probably Matt Young, put Putnam led the team in HRs, RBIs, and run scored. Sounds impressive, but those numbers are 19-67-58. Not even impressive for 1983.

Best Pitcher: Matt Young, he went 11-15 for this team, which led the team in wins, and had an ERA of 3.27. Was two short of leading the team in strikeouts.

All-Stars: Matt Young

Hall-of-Famers: Gaylord Perry, although he didn't play the full season with the M's. He was basically signed to put fans in the seats for his 300th win. He got that in 1982 and stuck around until he was released in June 1983. For whatever reason, the Royals picked him up and that is where he finished his career later in the year.

Rookie Card of the Year: Mike Moore, first draft pick in the 1981 amateur draft, not the documentary film maker noted for Fahrenheit 9/11. He won 17 games for a bad Mariners team in 1985, went on to pitch for the great A's teams of the late '80s-early '90s and wrapped up his career for the Tigers from 1993-1995, ending up with 161 career wins.

Other rookies: Manny Castillo, Al Chambers, Dave Henderson, Jim Maler, Orlando Mercado, Bob Stoddard, Matt Young

First Mariner cards: Tony Bernazard, Todd Cruz, Steve Henderson, Pat Putnam, Dave Revering (listed under retired players), Rick Sweet

Most interesting non-Topps card: Earlier Mike Moore was noted as being the first pick in the 1981 draft. The first pick in the 1979 draft, Al Chambers, also taken by the Mariners, has his rookie card in the Donruss set. His career was not as solid, as he only played in 57 games in the majors and was done after 1985. He played in the minors through 1988 and that was it for the 1979 #1 draft pick.

Other notes: Larry Andersen is listed under the Phillies checklist and Bobby Brown is listed under the Padres checklist. Both players are shown as Mariners in the 1983 sets, and neither played for them in 1983. Also, neither one had cards in the traded set showing them with their new teams. Ron Roenicke signed with the Mariners after being cut by the Dodgers midway through the season. He got more playing time with the M's, so he is listed here, even though his card shows him as a Dodger.

Starters

__	TO	437	C	Rick Sweet	SEA
__	TT	89	1B	Pat Putnam	SEA
__	TT	9	2B	Tony Bernazard	SEA
__			SS	Spike Owen
__			3B	Jamie Allen
__	TT	42	LF	Steve Henderson	SEA
__	TO	732	CF	Dave Henderson	SEA
__	TO	763	RF	Al Cowens	SEA
__	TO	368	DH	Richie Zisk	SEA
__			OF	Ricky Nelson

Starting Pitchers

__	TT	129	SP	Matt Young	SEA
__	TO	675	SP	Jim Beattie	SEA
__	TO	195	SP	Bob Stoddard	SEA
__	TO	209	SP	Mike Moore	SEA
__	TO	463	SP	Gaylord Perry	SEA
__			SP	Glenn Abbott

Relief Pitchers

__	TO	78	CL	Bill Caudill	SEA
__	TO	789	RP	Bryan Clark	SEA
__			RP	Roy Thomas
__	TO	159	RP	Mike Stanton	SEA
__	TO	183	RP	Ed Vande Berg	SEA

Other Players

__	TO	113	CF	Ron Roenicke	LAD
__	TO	132	SS	Todd Cruz	SEA
__	TO	258	3B	Manny Castillo	SEA
__	TO	414	2B	Julio Cruz	SEA
__	TT	71	C	Orlando Mercado	SEA
__			UT	Ken Phelps
__			CF	John Moses
__			SS	Domingo Ramos
__			C	Jamie Nelson
__			3B	Darnell Coles
__	DO	649	DH	Al Chambers	SEA
__			CF	Phil Bradley
__	TO	54	UT	Jim Maler	SEA
__	TO	622	UT	Dave Edler	SEA
__			2B	Harold Reynolds
__			UT	Rod Allen
__	TO	519	C	Bud Bulling	SEA
__			RP	Ed Nunez
__	TO	106	SP	Gene Nelson	SEA
__			RP	Karl Best

Manager

__	TO	336	MG	Rene Lachemann	SEA
__			MG	Del Crandall