Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Who Are the Greatest Mariners Corner Outfielders of All Time?

Episode Date: March 12, 2020

The week-long series continues with D.C. Lundberg and Jonathan Miller discussing the greatest left fielders and right fielders ever to play for the Seattle Mariners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Weeks almost done, guys. It is Thursday, and welcome to Lockdown Mariners. Thank you again, Joey Martin, for introducing the show today. I am D.C. Lundberg, and you can find this show on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally like to use. Download, rate, and subscribe to this program. Please also ask your smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast.

Follow the show on Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-Skourners. Follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Today continues our week-long series focusing on the best Mariners position by position of all time. Today we are talking about the corner outfielders, left-fielders in the first half, and then B-block will be doing right-fielders, or we'll be talking about the right-fielders in any case. And here to help me with that endeavor, once again, all this week, locked on Mariners contributor Jonathan Miller. Jonathan, welcome back. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here again.

And it's a pleasure to have you. We both have identical lists for left fielders, don't we? Yes, we do. Because, and I'm sure that you out there listening realize this, that left field is probably the weakest position that the Mariners have had historically. There have been a few decent ones who have stuck around for a few seasons, but not really anyone superstar that has stuck around like Ken Griffey Jr. did in Centerfield. or the top two right fielders that we both have for our list. They were both meritors for a long period of time.

Number three for both of us was Tom Pishorek, who in his 403 games as a mariner, 1,384 at Bats, accumulated a 296 average, 343 on base and 460 slugging. Good contact guy, didn't strike out too much, a little bit of extra base pop, average defense. the one thing that Tom Peshorek probably is most remembered for, John, and these are all on YouTube, the television commercials.

Yes. Rich Little, he was not. But that was kind of part of his charm, because his imitations were so bad. But again, that was kind of part of his charm. And who can forget the commercial for funny noseglasses night? Or it's actually Jacket Night, but he had the noseglasses in that one. Yeah, he had the noseglasses in the two of them, I believe.

The first time they did it, it was actually Jacket Night. And the joke of the commercial was that Peshorek had the wrong item, the noseglasses, but then everybody showed up to the kingdom expecting to see the noseglasses. So a couple months later, they actually had to do funny noseglasses night, and I think that was 1982, if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, let's move on to the number two left fielder. Our lists are identical once again. I will let you talk about the second gentleman.

The number two on our list is Phil Bradley. in his 607 games with the Seattle Mariners, he had a slash line of 301, 382, 449. He select 52 home runs, had 234 RBIs, had 112 doubles, and 26 triples. He was a good extra base guy, especially towards the end of his Mariners tenure, not all that much home run, Pop, but he became a good doubles hitter, and he is one of only four players to hit 300 over 300 as a mariner and the 382 on base percentage is also pretty impressive. Yes, it is. Number one is Raul Ibanez.

I kind of split, he had three different tenures with the Mariners. I forgot about the third one. I remember him coming up as a kid where he was a first baseman, left field or right fieler, and an emergency catcher. He then went to Kansas City and I think a couple other teams, or maybe just Kansas City, where he found his stroke. when he came back in 2004, he played through 2008, and those are the numbers I'm going to highlight. He played 755 games in those seasons.

He slashed 291, 354, 477, a little bit more home run pop than I remember at 113 home runs. The doubles are what I remember. He was a good extra base guy, 174 doubles, almost 500 RBI. Kind of league average difference. He kind of lost a step from season to season. and became a below-average left feeler towards the end of his tenure, but he was in his late 30s by that time. Anything else to add about Raul, John?

You mentioned being a catcher. Surprisingly, he only caught once in his major league career, but he was a catcher in the minors. He came up as a catcher, and I don't know why they moved him. Maybe the defense just wasn't up to snuff, or maybe they thought that he was going to be a good hitter, so they wanted to kind of preserve that. And that certainly extended his career he played into his 40s,

which most catchers do not do. The only one I can think of who did that was Pat Borders, who caught all the time. He also, when he first came up, he didn't look like the fastest guy in the world, but he was a pretty good base runner. It was. Which he was described as sneaky fast,

which is in some ways kind of like a backhanded compliment. But he could move. a little bit. He wasn't a base stealer by any stretch of the imagination, but he knew when to take the extra base, and he knew what the outfielders were doing, and he knew what he was doing on the base paths, which is kind of a lost art. It really is, and I'll just say, I thought he was incredibly fun to watch. Just throughout his career, he was, he's probably one of my all-time favorite mariners. And he was also one of those mariners who went on all the caravan tours. He, you know, kind of stepped up to the forefront, very, very good in the community.

very marketable, very good guy. And who can forget the radio commercial where they said, I spell Raoul with seven U's. Remember how in particularly Safeco Field when he came back, however it would say, Raul! And then they would play for his walk-up song, The Werewolves of London, because of that. I do remember that, yes.

He was a fan favorite. He was a good Mariner, fun to watch, number one left fielder for both of us of all time in Mariners history. And for honorable mentions in left field, there are quite a few names that I can think of, but they either played maybe one season or a half a season for various reasons, and I'll get into that. I'll let you go first, John. Is there anybody that you want to mention for left field? I have as my honorable mention.

First up is Greg Breiley. Oh, yes, good choice. And then second, Michael Saunders. Oh, yeah, the Condor. The Condor, Michael Saunders. For my honorable mentions, I kind of went in a different direction, only because, as I said, the Mariners have had so many left-fielders who have played a brief period of time. They didn't have very many left-fielders who stuck around for an extended period of time.

When Jose Cruz Jr. came up in 1997, I thought he was going to be the one to play for years and years in left field next to Kenny Griffey Jr. But the Mariners were in the pennant race that year when they were kind of forced to trade him to the Blue Jays for bullpen help because their bullpen was just awful at that point. We ended up getting Mike Timlin and, of course, Paul Jinn, Eric added that deal, so it was not. a good trade. And they wound up acquiring Roberto Kelly for the stretch drive. And I think Joe Mays was the prospect who went to the twins in that one. The season prior in 1996, they acquired Mark Witten, I think from the Braves for a single a pitcher.

I could not figure out for the life of me why the Mariners did not make more of an effort to sign Mark Witten to a long-term deal. I know that there has got to be a reason, maybe a contract dispute or something, maybe he wanted too much money. but he hit when he was in Seattle. He became a fan favorite very, very quickly. He was clutch. His glove may have not been the best in left field,

but when he was in left field and Griffey was in center and Jay Buehner was in right field, those three outfield arms were probably the best in the league at that time. You don't have any question in my mind. And I know there were a couple others I was going to mention. Rich Amarroll played a bunch in left field, but he was really more of a utility guy. played a lot at second base.

Just, Leffield is a very bizarre position in Mariners history. And with that, we're going to take a break and pose today's Mariners trivia question, an outfield type question, since these are all themed this week, who was the last Seattle Mariner to regularly wear number 42? If you have a question for me or a comment on the show, please send an email to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com, and I'll consider using it for the Friday mailbag segment. Locked-on Mariners will continue as soon as these commercials that they digitally insert in my program have concluded. Hey, this is Dylan Short, host of the Locked-on Braves podcast, and you're listening to Locked-on Mariners.

Thank you very much, Dylan Short. Do go check him out on Locked-on Braves. This is D.C. Lundberg bringing you back to Locked-on Mariners, and also offering the answer to the trivia question. The last Mariner to regularly wear number 42 was Butch Husky, an outfielder who played for the Mariners for about half a season in 1999. Jackie Robinson's number 42 was retired in 1997, but players who were wearing it at the time were allowed to wear it throughout the remainder of their major league careers,

which is why Butch Husky was allowed to wear it as a Seattle Mariner. Getting back to the top three Mariners position by position, moving into right field, John's list in my own, again, are very similar in this regard. but there is one difference, and that is the number three position for both of us. I'll let John go first. You know what, let's do this differently. Since our number threes are different, let's go one, two, three this time.

Who is number one? Number one is Ichiro Suzuki. Yeah, without question, he's got to be the number one, right fielder. His first stint with the team, his first 11 full season, 2001 through 2011, 1749 games, almost 7,500 at bats. He slashed 326, 370, 421. He had more home run power than he let people realize during games because he could crush him in batting practice,

but that wasn't his modus operandi during games. Just putting the ball in play and making things happen on the base paths is what he liked to do. He stole 423 bases, which I believe is the Mariners' record. And of course he has that outstanding defense in right field, the arm, the range, the glove, it was all out of this world. Number two is whom? Number two is Jay Buehner, the Bone. Who might be my all-time favorite mariner.

Oh, he's a favorite of many. He's definitely up there with me. Oh, absolutely. I talked about Ichero stats, so why don't you talk about the Bone? Oh, it'd be a pleasure. And Buneer's time with Seattle Mariners, and all but 32 games of his career were with the Seattle Mariners. Those few games were with the New York Yanke.

Yep, as was so noted on Seinfeld, I believe. I believe you're right. I never seen the show in my life. I can't say that I have. Oh, well. In Buneer's time with the Mariners, he had a 255, 365,000, 497 slash line. He had 307 home runs, 951 RBIs, 231 doubles, 19 triples. And he had a very good.

eye. I know he struck out a ton, but he walked almost 800 times, 788 walks. His on-base percentage is 105 points higher than his batting average. He had a very good eye. And as far as his defense goes, he won a gold glove in 1997, and he earned it. He may have not had the best range in right field, but he might have had the top arm in the American League at that time. And what he got to, he played. He didn't boot many of them. No, he really didn't. He was known for at times putting his body on the line. I'm sure we all remember him going over the only five-foot wall there at Fenway Park.

Yes. I wish I remembered who pitched that ball, but I believe Scott Hattieberg was the hitter. I think you're right, yeah. And another thing about Boehner talking about sacrificing his body, if the Mariners did not play in the kingdom during the Haiti of his career, his knees may have withstood the test of time. broke down very, very early because of that AstroTurf. Yes, he did. I'm surprised more players didn't, although like Kim Griffey Jr.

Well, he did kind of break down when he got to Cincinnati. They played on turf at the time also. He was, the Mariners were lucky that that really didn't happen to him when he was in Seattle, but he certainly had those problems when he got to Cincinnati. The one player that surprises me that that didn't happen to is Dan Wilson because of his position as catcher. He was a guy. durable dude. Yes, geez. But we'll talk about him tomorrow.

As I said, our number three right-fielders differ from one another. He's got one, I've got another, and I was kind of debating between the two that we have. John, who is your number three? My number three is Al Cowan's. Very good choice. For those who may be old enough to remember,

who was with the Seattle Mariners from 1982 to 1986 towards the twilight of his career, but he was still swinging pretty good. And Cowan's time with the Seattle Mariners, he had a 255-301-4-22 slash line. He had 56 home runs, had 266 RBI, 17 triples, and 128 doubles.

Again, a very good choice. I was debating between him and the guy I chose for my number three spot, because Cowan's had more tenures. year than my number three, Leon Roberts. He spent, I think, two fewer seasons with the Mariners than Cowens did, but he put up better offensive numbers, 393 games, almost 1,300 of bats, 276, 349, 458 slash line. And as a mariner, Roberts' defense was superior to Cowens. Roberts had pretty good range from the numbers that I saw, kind of an average glove, and Cowens was in the twilight of his career, and

his range and his glove got progressively worse and worse each season. But again, since Cowans did play more for the Mariners, I did consider him over Roberts, but I couldn't ignore the defense. I couldn't ignore the numbers. Do you have any honorable mentions in right field? It's funny you should mention that because my number one honorable mention is your number three, Leon Roberts. I'm not surprised. I thought that they were so close to each other. And was it the numbers? Was it the better number? and defense, or was it the couple extra seasons of tenure? Because really 400 games and three seasons really isn't a lot if we're talking about the top three players at each position for a team's history.

I think it was the games that did it for me. Yeah, that's exactly, that's why I was considering him. My other honorable mention is a current mariner, Mitch Hanigar. In 316 games so far with the Mariners, he is slashing 271, 351, 486. and he plays a pretty good right field also. He's got a good arm. I did not get the pleasure to see Cowens or Roberts play personally, so I'm not sure how the right field arms are, but I've obviously seen Mitch Hanager. But again, the tenure, that's really in two and a half seasons,

and if you throw out last season's numbers where he only played half the season because he was injured, all those offensive numbers go up because he had a very poor offensive season. So you're really looking at only two full seasons for Manager versus. is three for Roberts and five for Cowan. I just could not put him above the other two. Yeah, I also have Manninger as my number two honorable mention. And again, same with left field. There's not a whole lot beyond that for players who had any sort of tenure at all.

It's much more marketed left field than it was right field. But it was mostly a bunch of fourth outfielders. Darren Bragg, I consider more of a left fielder. It was players like that for the most part. I mean, and I like Darren Bragg. I'm not taking a swipe at Darren Bragg. I thought he was a good player. Good fourth out, fielder could play all three spots,

had a little bit of speed, a little bit of extra base punch. I'm kind of going off on a tangent. Anything else to add, John? I see another name that had he played a little more for the Mariners, the best hair in baseball may have made my honorable mention. Aha, yes. Of course you're talking about Ben Gamble, I bet, yeah?

Yes, sir. Yeah. See, that trade at the time didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because the Mariners were giving up 25-year-old outfielder and a pitching prospect for a 25-year-old outfielder. And the outfield that the Mariners got back is no longer a mariner. Domingo Santana is still a free agent. His defense, man, was just the worst I have ever seen, talking about Santana.

Gamble's okay. And just the energy that Gamble kind of brings to a team, he's kind of a bit of a spark plug. And he is fun to watch play the outfield. Yes, he is. Make some really good diving catches he gives it is all. Those are the players that I like. Time to wrap it up for today. John, thank you again for joining us.

Please tell people once again for the fourth time this week where they can find you on Twitter. I can be found on the Twitter sphere at Seattle Pilot 69. Thank you very much. We will talk to you tomorrow. Tomorrow's Friday. We've actually got two shows, haven't we? Yes, we do. We've got a double dip for you, double-header.

First show we're going to be talking about centerfielders and catchers, which I know is an odd combination, but I had to put him somewhere. And then the second show tomorrow, we will be talking about DHS in the first half, and the second half is going to be the mailbag. So join us for both episodes tomorrow right here on Locked on Mariners. And also tomorrow I will be appearing on Locked on Anaheim Ducks, hosted by Jason Hernandez, who's been on this program a couple of times already. I'll be talking about Hall of Fame outfielder Larry Walker.

Yes, on a hockey show. But there is a reason for this. And please check that out tomorrow right here on the Locked-on Podcast Network, Locked-on Anaheim Ducks, just to find out what the heck I'm talking about. Also, please download, rate, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariners, on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners.

Find the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Find me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg. John's on there also, Seattle Pilots 69. Ask your smart device to play locked-on fantasy baseball upon the conclusion of this program. We'll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. This is Joey Martin, speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.