The new Mariners were like many expansion teams... some decent hitting combined with
awful pitching. The problem was, that awful pitching would continue to plague
this team for years... even in winning seasons. The inaugural 1977 Mariners
featured 3 power hitters who would each break the 20 HR mark. The 3 big boppers
would be Ruppert Jones (26 2B, 8 3B, 24 HR, 76 RBI, 13 SB, .263), Dan Meyer (24
2B, 22 HR, 90 RBI, .273) and Leroy Stanton (24 2B, 27 HR, 90 RBI, .275). On the
mound however... Glenn Abbott and his losing record would be the best this team
could offer. Abbot led the team in wins (12-13, 4.45) but also led in losses.
Abbott was also the only pitcher to reach double digits in wins, but was just
one of 4 to cross the double digit mark in losses. The worst records belonged
to former Seattle Pilots� ace, Diego Segui (0-7, 5.69... the only player to play
on both the Mariners and Pilots), Bob Galasso (0-6, 9.00) and Stan Thomas (2-6,
6.02) who as a trio went 2-19 on the season guaranteeing a last place finish
in the A.L. West with a 64-98 record. Despite the awful season, it was far better
than they would do the following year. The Mariners drew 1.338 million to
the ballpark and it was pretty much, a downhill fall from there. The 1978 Mariners
were simply terrible putting up a 56-104 record and were simply too hard to
watch as only 877,000 fans showed up to see their brand new ballclub. The novelty
of a new Major League baseball team should have been enough to keep the Mainers
over the million mark for quite a few years into their existence but the shine
wore off fast as there was little redeemable about this team. The only positives
were perhaps Leon Roberts (21 2B, 7 3B, 22 HR, 92 RBI, .301). After Roberts,
nobody on the team had more than 11 HR. There was the excitement of new 2B
Julio Cruz who stole 59 bases but his .235 average and .319 OBP didn�t help the
team much. Paul Mitchell (8-14, 4.18), Glenn Abbott (7-15, 5.27), Rick Honeycutt
(5-11, 4.89), Jim Colborn (3-10, 5.35) and Dick Pole (4-11, 6.48) along with
spot starters Shane Rawley (4-9, 4.12), Byron McLaughlin (4-8, 4.37) and Mike
Parrott (1-5, 5.14) put up some of the worst pitching numbers that the American
League had seen since the days of the St. Louis Browns and Washington Senators.
The American League meanwhile paid close attention to the attendance figures
and began wondering if they would have been better off losing the Pilots
lawsuit and facing the consequences. |