1995 Seattle Mariners season

1995 Seattle Mariners
American League West champions American League Runner-Up
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1977)
Western Division (since 1977)
Location
Kingdome (since 1977)
Seattle, Washington (since 1977)
Other information
Owner(s)	Hiroshi Yamauchi (represented by John Ellis)
General manager(s)	Woody Woodward
Manager(s)	Lou Piniella
Local television	KIRO-TV 7 Prime Sports NW
Local radio	KIRO 710 AM (Dave Niehaus, Rick Rizzs, Chip Caray, Ron Fairly,)
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The Seattle Mariners' 1995 season was the 19th in the history of the franchise. The team finished with a regular season record of 79–66, tying the California Angels for first in the American League West. In a one-game tiebreaker, the Mariners defeated the Angels 9–1 to make the postseason for the first time in franchise history.^[1]

In the postseason, the Mariners defeated the New York Yankees in the best-of-five American League Division Series after being down 2 games to 0, a series notable for Edgar Martínez' 11th-inning double that clinched the series for the Mariners. They were subsequently defeated in the American League Championship Series by the Cleveland Indians, 4–2.

Offseason

• October 14, 1994: Alex Diaz was selected off waivers by the Mariners from the Milwaukee Brewers.^[2]
• November 29, 1994: Félix Fermín was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[3]
• December 21, 1994: Jay Buhner was signed as a free agent with the Mariners.^[4]
• December 21, 1994: Eric Anthony was released by the Mariners.^[5]

Regular season

• Ken Griffey, Jr. suffered a severe wrist injury on May 26 while making a catch at the wall that would sideline him until mid August. The team would stay afloat at .500 however, and after Junior returned they managed their historic late season comeback against the California Angels.^[6]
• The Mariners honored the West Coast Negro Baseball League Seattle Steelheads when they wore 1946 Steelheads uniforms on September 9, 1995 at home against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals wore Kansas City Monarchs uniforms.^[7] The Mariners beat the Royals 6 to 2 in front of 39,157 fans at the Kingdome.^[8]
• Randy Johnson won the Cy Young Award. The award came at the end of a banner year. Johnson (18-2, 2.48 ERA, 294 strikeouts) narrowly missed becoming the first AL Triple Crown pitcher (leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts) since Detroit's Hal Newhouser accomplished the feat in 1945.^[9] His .900 winning percentage broke Ron Guidry's 1978 record, and his strikeouts per nine innings ratio of 12.35 broke the record held by Nolan Ryan.^[9]

Opening Day Lineup

• Mike Blowers
• Darren Bragg
• Jay Buhner
• Joey Cora
• Ken Griffey Jr.
• Félix Fermín
• Randy Johnson
• Edgar Martínez
• Tino Martinez
• Dan Wilson

Roster

1995 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers 13 Bobby Ayala 31 Tim Belcher 40 Andy Benes 25 Chris Bosio 22 Rafael Carmona 37 Norm Charlton 32 Jim Converse 44 John Cummings 47 Tim Davis 35 Scott Davison 35 Dave Fleming 41 Steve Frey 48 Lee Guetterman 39 Tim Harikkala 51 Randy Johnson 50 Kevin King 44 Bill Krueger 42 Jim Mecir 43 Jeff Nelson 55 Bill Risley 38 Salomón Torres 33 Ron Villone 46 Bob Wells 33 Bob Wolcott		Catchers 18 Chad Kreuter 36 Chris Widger  6 Dan Wilson Infielders 16 Mike Blowers 28 Joey Cora 10 Félix Fermín 11 Edgar Martínez 23 Tino Martinez 20 Greg Pirkl 41 Arquimedez Pozo  3 Alex Rodriguez  9 Luis Sojo 12 Doug Strange		Outfielders  8 Rich Amaral 40,34 Darren Bragg 19 Jay Buhner 29 Vince Coleman  1 Alex Diaz 24 Ken Griffey, Jr. 27 Marc Newfield 29,26 Warren Newson 32 Gary Thurman		Manager 14 Lou Piniella Coaches  5 Bobby Cuellar  4 Lee Elia  7 John McLaren 49 Sam Mejías  2 Sam Perlozzo 17 Matt Sinatro

Notable transactions

• May 15, 1995: Roger Salkeld was traded by the Mariners to the Cincinnati Reds for Tim Belcher.^[10]
• July 14, 1995: Norm Charlton was signed by the Mariners after being released by the Cincinnati Reds ^[11]
• July 31, 1995: Ron Villone and Marc Newfield were traded by the Mariners to the San Diego Padres for Andy Benes and a player to be named later. The Padres completed the trade by sending Greg Keagle to the Mariners on September 17.^[12]
• August 15, 1995: The Mariners traded a player to be named later to the Kansas City Royals for Vince Coleman. The Mariners completed the deal by sending Jim Converse to the Royals on August 18.^[13]

Draft Picks

• June 1, 1995: 1995 Major League Baseball draft
  • Shane Monahan was drafted by the Mariners in the 2nd round. Player signed June 27, 1995.^[14]
  • Juan Pierre was drafted by the Mariners in the 30th round, but did not sign.^[15]

Season standings

Note: Teams played 144 games instead of the normal 162 as a consequence of the 1994 strike. Seattle and California each played 145 games due to the one-game tiebreaker.

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Seattle Mariners	79	66	0.545	—	46–27	33–39
California Angels	78	67	0.538	1	39–33	39–34
Texas Rangers	74	70	0.514	4½	41–31	33–39
Oakland Athletics	67	77	0.465	11½	38–34	29–43

Record vs. opponents

1995 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	9–4	6–1	2–10	8–5	4–5	7–5	3–6	6–7	5–7	6–7	4–1	7–6
Boston	9–4	—	11–3	5–3	6–7	8–5	3–2	8–4	5–4	5–8	8–4	7–5	3–4	8–5
California	4–9	3–11	—	10–2	3–2	6–2	5–7	5–2	8–5	7–5	6–7	7–6	6–7	8–2
Chicago	1–6	3–5	2–10	—	5–8	8–4	8–5	6–7	10–3	3–2–1	7–5	4–9	5–7	6–5
Cleveland	10–2	7–6	2–3	8–5	—	10–3	11–1	9–4	9–4	6–6	7–0	5–4	6–3	10–3
Detroit	5–8	5–8	2–6	4–8	3–10	—	3–4	8–5	7–5	5–8	2–3	5–5	4–8	7–6
Kansas City	5–4	2–3	7–5	5–8	1–11	4–3	—	10–2	6–7	3–7	5–8	7–5	8–6	7–5
Milwaukee	5–7	4–8	2–5	7–6	4–9	5–8	2–10	—	9–4	5–6	7–2	3–2	5–7	7–5
Minnesota	6–3	4–5	5–8	3–10	4–9	5–7	7–6	4–9	—	3–4	5–7	4–8	5–8	1–4
New York	7–6	8–5	5–7	2–3–1	6–6	8–5	7–3	6–5	4–3	—	4–9	4–9	6–3	12–1
Oakland	7–5	4–8	7–6	5–7	0–7	3–2	8–5	2–7	7–5	9–4	—	7–6	5–8	3–7
Seattle	7–6	5–7	6–7	9–4	4–5	5–5	5–7	2–3	8–4	9–4	6–7	—	10–3	3–4
Texas	1–4	4–3	7–6	7–5	3–6	8–4	6–8	7–5	8–5	3–6	8–5	3–10	—	9–3
Toronto	6–7	5–8	2–8	5–6	3–10	6–7	5–7	5–7	4–1	1–12	7–3	4–3	3–9	—

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Dan Wilson	119	399	111	.278	9	51
1B	Tino Martinez	141	519	152	.293	31	111
2B	Joey Cora	120	427	127	.297	3	39
3B	Mike Blowers	134	439	113	.257	23	96
SS	Luis Sojo	102	339	98	.289	7	39
LF	Vince Coleman	40	162	47	.290	1	9
CF	Ken Griffey, Jr.	72	260	67	.258	17	42
RF	Jay Buhner	126	470	123	.262	40	121
DH	Edgar Martínez	145	511	182	.356	29	113

Other batters

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
OF	Alex Diaz	103	270	67	.248	3	27
OF	Rich Amaral	90	230	67	.282	2	19
SS	Félix Fermín	73	200	39	.195	0	15
OF	Darren Bragg	52	145	34	.234	3	12
3B/PH	Doug Strange	74	155	42	.271	2	21
SS	Alex Rodriguez	48	142	33	.232	5	19

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: GS = Games Started; IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO = Strike Outs

Player	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Randy Johnson	30	214.1	18	2	2.48	294
Tim Belcher	28	179.1	10	12	4.52	96
Chris Bosio	31	170.0	10	8	4.92	85
Salomón Torres	13	72.0	3	8	6.00	45
Andy Benes	12	63.0	7	2	4.52	45

Relief pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO	S
Norm Charlton	30	47.2	2	1	1.51	58	14
Bill Risley	45	60.1	2	1	3.13	65	1
Bob Wells	30	76.2	4	3	5.75	38	0
Jeff Nelson	62	78.2	7	3	2.17	96	2
Bobby Ayala	63	71.0	6	5	4.44	77	19

ALDS

Game	Score	Date
1	Seattle 6, New York 9	October 3, 1995
2	Seattle 5, New York 7	October 4, 1995
3	New York 4, Seattle 7	October 6, 1995
4	New York 8, Seattle 11	October 7, 1995
5	New York 5, Seattle 6	October 8, 1995

ALCS

Game	Score	Date
1	Cleveland 2, Seattle 3	October 10, 1995
2	Cleveland 5, Seattle 2	October 11, 1995
3	Seattle 5, Cleveland 2	October 13, 1995
4	Seattle 0, Cleveland 7	October 14, 1995
5	Seattle 2, Cleveland 3	October 15, 1995
6	Cleveland 4, Seattle 0	October 17, 1995

Awards and honors

• Randy Johnson, American League Cy Young Award winner, American League leader, strikeouts
• Edgar Martínez, American League Leader, batting average
• Lou Piniella, Associated Press American League Manager of the Year

In popular culture

The Mariners' ALDS run is the subject of the song, My Oh My, by Seattle-based rapper, Macklemore.^[16]

Chicago-based band Coping has a song titled "'95 Mariners".

See also

• The Double (Seattle Mariners)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Rainiers	Pacific Coast League	Steve Smith
AA	Port City Roosters	Southern League	Dave Myers
A	Riverside Pilots	California League	Dave Brundage
A	Wisconsin Timber Rattlers	Midwest League	Mike Goff
A-Short Season	Everett AquaSox	Northwest League	Orlando Gómez
Rookie	AZL Mariners	Arizona League	Tom LeVasseur

^[17]

References

1. "Mariners Postseason Results". MLB.com. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
2. Alex Diaz at Baseball-Reference
3. Félix Fermín at Baseball-Reference
4. Jay Buhner at Baseball-Reference
5. Eric Anthony at Baseball-Reference
6. The Ballplayers – Ken Griffey, Jr | BaseballLibrary.com
7. Anderson, Lenny (April 14, 1995). "Negro League Seattle Steelheads Gone, But Not Forgotten". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
8. "September 9, 1995 Kansas City Royals at Seattle Mariners Box Score and Play by Play". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
9. The Ballplayers – Randy Johnson | BaseballLibrary.com
10. Tim Belcher at Baseball-Reference
11. Norm Charlton at Baseball-Reference
12. Marc Newfield at Baseball-Reference
13. Vince Coleman at Baseball-Reference
14. Shane Monahan at Baseball-Reference
15. Juan Pierre at Baseball-Reference
16. "Thinking about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' rap tribute to Dave Niehaus,". The Seattle Times. 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
17. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links

• 1995 Seattle Mariners
• 1995 Seattle Mariners team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• A fan site collecting stories about the team and year
• 1995 Mariners: Ringless in Seattle