MLB Top 5: Seattle Mariners Catchers and Managers

By Kevin Rakas

This is the first article in a series that looks at the best five players at each position for the Seattle Mariners. In this installment are catchers and managers.

The making of the Seattle Mariners franchise started a decade before the team began play as an expansion team in 1977. The rainy city in the Northwest corner of the U. S. hosted popular and successful clubs in the Pacific Coast League, first the Rainiers and then the Angels. Charlie Finley moved the Athletics from Kansas City to Oakland in 1967, setting off a flurry of activity that included Congress threatening to cut off Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption if they didn’t put a team in Kansas City. This led to the creating of the Royals and Seattle Pilots, which were both rushed into existence in 1969.

While Seattle’s first attempt at a major league franchise ended in bankruptcy and a move to Milwaukee (becoming the Brewers in 1970), the groundwork was laid for a second chance. City and state officials brought a lawsuit against the American League, citing a breach of contract in allowing the team and city to be abandoned. The case was postponed several times, and in the meantime, the Kingdome was built to house the Seattle Seahawks, an NFL expansion team that was beginning play in 1976. That same year, the lawsuit was dropped in exchange for a new team in the Pacific Northwest. The Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays would begin play the following season.

The first owners of the team were an investment group that included Lester Smith, an owner of a group of radio stations and Danny Kaye, a noted actor and entertainer who was Smith’s business partner. Also involved were jeweler Stanley Golub, Walter Schoenfeld, the founder of the Brittania clothing company and a founding partner of both the NBA’s Supersonics and the original Sounders soccer club, and construction company owner James Stillwell. The group tapped Darrell Johnson as the first manager. Just two years prior, Johnson was named Manager of the Year after leading the Red Sox to the World Series.

Despite his accolades, Johnson could not create a winning team, and after early solid fan turnout, attendance dropped in each of the next four seasons. The original ownership group lasted less than five years, with Smith, Kaye and the others selling to Southern California real estate developer George Argyros in 1981 for $13.1 million. The Argyros era was dominated by upheaval and controversy. The new owner tried to sell the team almost immediately after buying it, refused to put money into the roster, complained about issues with the Kingdome and hired executives who were from other industries and weren’t good at making sound baseball moves. In 1987, Argyros tried to buy the Padres, but the deal fell through when the owner couldn’t find a taker for the Mariners. Two years later the team was finally purchased for $76 million by Jeff Smulyan and Michael Browning, radio executives from Indianapolis who also were credited with creating WFAN in New York, the first all sports talk station in the country.

Unfortunately, the pair found out that it wasn’t cheap to own a major league team and, due to rising salaries and Kingdome upkeep, they were actively looking to sell the franchise within a year. Much like with the Giants and a National League expansion team in recent years, the Tampa/St. Petersburg area was interested if the Mariners were to move. Central Florida would have to wait a few more years for a team because the Seattle club was purchased in the middle of 1992 by Hiroshi Yamauchi, the owner of Japanese video game giant Nintendo who, thanks an aversion to travel, never actually saw the team play. The Mariners were overseen by his son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa, as well as Howard Lincoln, a top company executive in the U. S. office who was named CEO and Chuck Armstrong, a holdover from the Argyros days who remained as team president. Despite the entire Kingdome roof needing to be replaced after several tiles fell before a game in 1994, the franchise was on its way to improvement.

On the field, Seattle had its first winning season in 1991 (its 15th year of existence) and began its first run of sustained success after Lou Piniella was hired two years later. In a decade under the former Yankees outfielder and championship skipper for the Reds in 1990, the Mariners posted seven winning seasons, won three division titles and went to the playoffs four times. The first came in 1995, when the team adopted a motto of “Refuse to Lose,” which included a 25-11 run to end the regular season, a victory over the Angels to win the A. L. West in a one-game playoff and a toppling of the Yankees in the Division Series before falling to the Indians in the ALCS. Thanks to the stellar play of star outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. and left-handed fireballer Randy Johnson, attendance rose, and the team shed its hapless image.

Even after the two left (Johnson was traded to the Astros in 1998 then signed with the Diamondbacks while Griffey was sent to the Reds after the following season), the Mariners put together an all-time great season in 2001. Playing its 25th season at the new Safeco Field, which had opened in 1999, Seattle treated fans to a season in which the team went 116-46. setting an American League record for victories and tying a major league mark which was set by the Cubs in 1906. Although the Mariners were known for their late-inning comebacks and two-out production (their motto was “two outs, so what”), they had no answer for the Yankees, who ended their season in disappointing fashion, with a five-game loss in the ALCS.

Despite having more than a few talented players take to the turf at Safeco Field, especially Japanese-born superstar Ichiro Suzuki, the Mariners have one been to the playoffs once since that fateful 2001 season. Yamauchi had transferred most of his team stock to Nintendo’s holdings in the U. S., so when he passed away in 2013, control of the team went to Lincoln, who had helped create a regional sports network to broadcast the club’s games. In 2016, Nintendo of America sold 90 percent of its shares in the team to Baseball Club of Seattle LP. The 17-member group was led by John Stanton a wireless technology industry pioneer who formed the first nationwide cellular network in the 1980s and rand VoiceStream, which became T-Mobile after its sale in 2001.

Although the Mariners have not had a lot of recent postseason experience, that is not from a lack of trying. The club has sported a winning record 10 times in the past 22 seasons. Under the guidance of former big-league catcher Scott Servais, Seattle has been above the .500 mark in the last three campaigns, including 2022, when the team finished a distant second behind Houston but earned a Wild Card spot. The Mariners swept fellow 1977 expansion club, the Blue Jays, in the Wild Card round before getting swept by the Astros in the Division Series. In 47 completed seasons, Seattle has posted a winning record 18 times, finished in the top two spots in the A. L. West 11 times, registered at least 90 wins on seven occasions and earned a spot in the playoffs five times. However, Mariners fans are still waiting for that elusive World Series berth, and the team is the only current major league club to have never won a pennant.

The Best Catchers and Managers in Seattle Mariners History

Catchers

Honorable Mentions – Bob Stinson was a first-round pick of the Dodgers in 1975 and made his major league debut four years later. He was primarily a backup with five teams but started for the Mariners after he was selected in the expansion draft. “Scrap Iron” was the starter in the team’s first game had his best season in 1978, set he set career highs with 11 home runs and 55 runs batted in. His four-year run in Seattle, as well as his 12-year major league career, ended in 1980, and he batted .253 with 257 hits, 26 homers and 123 RBIs in 372 games with the Mariners.

Bob Kearney was a San Antonio native who had a brief callup with the Giants before moving across the San Francisco Bay to the Athletics in the 1980 minor league draft. He started in Oakland in 1983 before being traded to Seattle the following year. Despite leading the league in putouts in his first season with the Mariners and winning the fielding title in 1985, Kearney was labeled a light hitter who was not good at calling pitches. He got off to a poor start in 1987 and was released, finishing his four-year run in Seattle (1984-87) with 228 hits, 19 home runs and 96 RBIs in 346 games.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Miguel Olivo signed with the Athletics in 1996, was traded to the White Sox in 2000 and played in that year’s MLB All-Star Futures Game. He made his major league debut two years later and played for seven teams during his 13-year career, including four with the Mariners in two stints. Olivo was acquired from Chicago in 2004 but struggled in his first go-round with Seattle and was traded to San Diego the following year. After playing with the Padres, Marlins, Royals and Rockies, he was sent to the Blue Jays after the 2010 season, but they declined his option, so he signed back with the Mariners. Olivo fared slightly better in his second run with the team, driving in 62 runs and setting career highs with 55 runs and 19 home runs in 2011. He hit 12 more the following year, but his poor average was a detriment, and he was let go after the season, batting just .210 with 120 runs, 232 hits, 42 homers and 123 RBIs in 321 games with the Mariners. Olivo returned for one more season with the Marlins and spent his final major league season with the Dodgers in 2014. While he was in the minor leagues in May, he got in an altercation in which he bit off a part of a teammate’s ear, resulting in the player requiring surgery and Olivo being released. He spent a year in the minor leagues with the Giants sandwiched in between stints in the Mexican League.

5. Mike Zunino – He was drafted by the Athletics out of high school, but instead went to the University of Florida, helping the Gators reach the College World Series three straight years and won the Golden Spikes Award (best amateur player) in 2012. The Mariners selected Zunino third overall that year, and he was in the major leagues the following season. He is known as a power hitter with a low average and a high strikeout total. During his six-year run in Seattle (2013-18), Zunino hit at least 20 home runs three times and posted his best season in 2017, when he hit 25 homers and set career highs with a .251 batting average and 64 RBIs. He was no slouch behind the plate either, leading all American League catchers in assists in 2014 and winning a Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award four years later. However, Zunino’s biggest highlight with the Mariners came in May 2018, when he was the catcher for James Paxton‘s no-hitter against the Blue Jays. Zunino was traded to Tampa Bay after the season, finishing his time in Seattle with a .207 average, 206 runs, 391 hits, 95 homers, 241 RBIs and 714 strikeouts (seventh in franchise history) in 587 games. He was a member of the Rays’ pennant-winning team in 2020, earned an All-Star selection after hitting a career-high 33 home runs the following year and retired after spending 2023 with the Guardians.

4. Cal Raleigh – The North Carolina native was selected by the Mariners in the third round in 2018 and got his unique “Big Dumper” nickname (given to him by teammate Jarred Kelenic for the size of his posterior) while in the minor leagues. Like Zunino, Raleigh was not a good contact hitter, but he showed power. After spending the second half of the 2021 season as a backup, he hit 27 home runs the following year and 30 in 2023, setting a franchise record for homers at the position. Raleigh also registered 75 RBIs and set career highs with 78 runs, 119 hits and a .232 average. His greatest moment came in late September 2022, when he hit a pinch-hit, walk-off home run against Oakland that allowed Seattle to make the playoffs for the first time in 21 years, the longest drought in the major leagues at the time. Raleigh hit a home run in the Wild Card round against the Astros and totaled four runs, five hits and four RBIs in five postseason contests. In addition to his power, he is solid behind the plate, leading the position in runners caught stealing in 2022 and putouts with following year. Heading into the final month of 2024, he is having his best season, setting career highs in home runs and RBIs and leading the league in almost every major defensive statistic for catchers.

3. Kenji Johjima – The Japanese-born backstop was at the top of his game during his 11 seasons in his home country with the Fukuoka Daiei/SoftBank Hawks, being named Pacific League MVP in 2003 and earning nine All-Star selections, seven gold gloves and six Best Nine Awards. Johjima brought his talents to the Mariners in 2006 and finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting after setting an American League record for rookie catchers with 147 hits and tying a franchise record for catchers with 18 home runs (since broken by Zunino and then Raleigh) as well as career highs with 61 runs and 76 RBIs. Despite playing just four seasons in this country (2006-09), he was able to adjust well to big-league pitching, posting a .268 average with 166 runs, 431 hits, 48 homers and 198 RBIs in 462 games. He was also talented behind the plate, leading the league in double plays twice and finishing second in fielding percentage in 2007. Johjima helped Japan win the World Baseball Classic in 2009 and returned to his home country for good the following year, playing three seasons with the Hanshin Tigers, earning his tenth and final Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) All-Star selection in 2010 and retiring in 2012.

2. Dave Valle – The New York City native was drafted by the Mariners in the second round in 1978 and spent seven seasons in the minor leagues. Valle was a backup for three years in Seattle at the beginning of his career before taking over as the starter in 1987. He was a productive hitter, driving in at least 50 runs on three occasions, and a stellar defender, winning the 1990 fielding title and finishing the top three two other times. Valle had his best season in 1993, when he set career highs with a .259 average, 48 runs, 109 hits, 13 home runs and 63 RBIs. He also led the league with being hit by a pitch 17 times and topped all catchers in putouts, double plays and runners caught stealing. In late April, he caught Chris Bosio‘s no-hitter against the Red Sox. In all, Valle spent a decade in Seattle (1984-93), batting .235 with 279 runs, 588 hits, 104 doubles, 72 homers and 318 RBIs in 846 games. He signed with Boston in 1994, was traded to Milwaukee during the season and spent his last two years with Texas. Following his retirement, he was a minor league manager, a radio and television analyst for the Mariners for 17 seasons, then worked for the MLB Network and the Rangers’ broadcast team before joining the YES Network to be a post-game analyst for the Yankees in 2024. Valle also runs a charity called Esperanza International, which helps to fight poverty in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

1. Dan Wilson – He was a participant in the 1981 Little League World Series and nine years later, he was taken by the Reds with the seventh overall selection. After brief callups in two straight seasons, Wilson was traded late in 1993 and struggled in his first season before batting .278 with 51 RBIs in 1995 and helping the Mariners clinch a playoff berth for the first time in franchise history. The following year, he had his best offensive season, earning his only All-Star selection, batting .285 and setting career highs with 140 hits, 18 home runs and 83 RBIs. Wilson continued his solid play with the bat in 1997, setting a personal-best with 66 runs and posting a .270-15-74 stat line while also catching both of Randy Johnson‘s 19-strikeout games.

Wilson remained a dependable presence in the Seattle lineup (posting a career-high .295 average in 2002), but injuries began to mount, including torn ligaments in his ankle in 1998 and a pair of oblique strains. He lost his starting spot to Olivo and played in just 11 games in 2005 before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and ending his career. Wilson spent 12 seasons with the Mariners (1994-2005), and he ranks sixth in franchise history in games (1,251) and strikeouts (739), eighth in hits (1,071) and doubles (207), ninth in total bases (1,568) and tenth in RBIs (508) to go with a .262 average, 433 runs and 88 home runs. He was also stellar behind the plate, winning two fielding titles, leading the league in putouts and runners caught stealing two times each and finishing second in assists twice. Following his playing career, Wilson was a radio and television color commentator for Mariners games and has held several instructional and front office positions with the club, including seven years as a special assistant for player development. He was hired to become Seattle’s manager in late August 2024 after Scott Servais was fired.

Managers

Honorable Mentions – Darrell Johnson was born in Nebraska and moved to California as a youth. He was signed by the St. Louis Browns and made his debut three years later. Johnson spent more than a decade as a journeyman, spending most of this time in the minor leagues but playing in 134 big-league games as a catcher for six teams. He spent the next 38 years with several organizations as a scout and a coach and manager, both in the minors and majors. Johnson had his greatest success with the Red Sox, posting his only two winning seasons as a manager and leading Boston to 95 wins and the American League pennant in 1975. Although his team lost to the Reds in the World Series, he earned the Manager of the Year Award. However, he was arrested for DUI after the season and was fired the following July. Johnson was named the first manager in Mariners history and led the club through its early struggles before being removed in 1980 after posting a 226-362 record. He was a coach in Texas before taking over as interim manager late in 1982. Johnson spent the next 17 years as a coach, scout and coordinator of minor league operations and special assistant with the Mets, winning his only championship with the team in 1986. He passed away due to Leukemia in 2004 at age 75.

Dick Williams played in more than 1,000 games in a 13-year career as an outfielder and third baseman primarily with the Royals and Orioles. He was a minor league manager for two years before taking over the Red Sox and leading them to the pennant in his first season in 1967. After a season as the third base coach with the Expos, Williams spent three years as manager of the Athletics, winning 90 games each season and guiding Oakland to titles in 1972-73. However, increasing animosity between the manager and owner Charlie Finley came to a head during the 1973 World Series, when the owner tried to declare infielder Mike Andrews injured after making two errors so he could replace him on the roster. The league went against Finley and Williams resigned after the series in disgust. Williams spent parts of three seasons with California, led Montreal to a pair of winning records in a five-year stint and was the skipper for San Diego, leading the club to the pennant in 1984. He was pushed out of the job with the Padres before spring training in 1986 and was brought in to manage the Mariners in May. The following year, Seattle had their best record to date at 78-84 but he was again undermined by management and was fired in 1988. Williams was a scout for the Padres and an adviser for the Yankees until retiring in 2002. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2008 and passed away after suffering a ruptured aortic aneurysm in 2011 at age 79.

Other than the guy in the top spot, Mike Hargrove may have had the best playing career of any manager on this list. The Texas native spent 12 productive years in the major leagues, winning the Rookie of the Year Award with the Ranges in 1974 and earning his only All-Star selection the following season. Throughout his career, which also included stops with the Padres and Indians, Hargrove was known for two things: getting on base and taking a LONG time in between pitches, so much time that he earned the nickname the “Human Rain Delay.” He retired after the 1985 season and was a minor league coach and manager until taking over in Cleveland in 1991. Hargrove led the Indians to five straight division titles and two pennants in nine years. He had four unsuccessful seasons with Baltimore before being named manager in Seattle in 2005. Hargrove had a winning record two years later, but he unexpectedly resigned midway through the season, with the rumored reason being a strained relationship with the team’s star, Ichiro Suzuki. He finished with a 192-210 record with the Mariners and a 1,188-1,173 overall mark in 16 seasons. Hargrove worked as an adviser and occasional broadcaster with the Indians from 2011-14.

Eric Wedge was a third-round pick of the Red Sox in 1989, played in 39 major league games with Boston and Colorado and spent time in the minors with Detroit and Philadelphia. He joined the Indians as a minor league manager in 1998 and was named skipper of the big-league club five years later. Wedge spent seven seasons in Cleveland, leading the team to a pair of winning records and a berth in the ALCS in 2007, which led to him winning the Manager of the Year Award. He was not brought back as manager after the 2009 season and, after a year off, he joined the Mariners, leading the club to three fourth place finishes and a 213-273 record. Following his time in Seattle, Wedge was a studio analyst for ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, worked as a player development advisor for the Blue Jays and coached at his alma mater, Wichita State, for three years.

5. Lloyd McClendon – The former Little League star from Indiana had an eight-year playing career as a reserve outfielder with the Reds, Cubs and Pirates. McClendon spent five seasons as Pittsburgh’s hitting coach and five more as the manager of the struggling club, with the Pirates finishing no higher than fourth during his tenure. He went to Detroit where he was a bullpen coach before spending seven seasons as hitting coach. McClendon got a second chance to be a manager with he was hired by the Mariners before the 2014 season, and the team responded with a 16-game improvement to 87-75. He had been known for having a temper during his run in Pittsburgh and his final season in Seattle showed nothing had changed, as he ran around the bases during a June game against the Yankees kicking his hat and arguing with the entire umpiring crew. After he was fired in 2015, McClendon sandwiched another stint as Tigers’ hitting coach in between two runs as manager of the team’s Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens.

4. Jim Lefebvre – The Southern California native spent his entire eight-year major league career with the hometown Dodgers, winning the Rookie of the Year Award and a championship in 1965 and earning his only All-Star selection the following season. Lefebvre played four seasons with the Lotte Orions following his time in Los Angeles, winning the Japan Series in 1974. He was a coach for the Dodgers, Giants and Athletics before getting his first managerial job with the Mariners in 1989. The energetic “Frenchy” led the club to respectable finishes in his first two years before an 83-79 mark in 1991 that was the first winning season in franchise history. He was fired after posting a 233-253 record in three seasons, then had two offensively challenged campaigns with the Cubs, and mixed in major league coaching stints with clinics in Europe and a run as manager in China that included a World Baseball Classic and the 2008 Summer Olympics. Lefebvre had his last baseball job as hitting coach of the Padres in 2009.

3. Bob Melvin – He was the second overall pick by the Tigers in 1981 and played 692 games as a catcher with seven teams during a 10-year major league career. Melvin was a bench coach in Milwaukee, Detroit and Arizona, winning a championship with the Diamondbacks in 2001. The success led to his first managerial job with the Mariners two years later. Two years removed from the team’s record-setting 116-win performance, Melvin led Seattle to a 93-69 record in 2003, but the club faded down the stretch and missed the playoffs. The Mariners lost 99 games the following season and he was fired after just two years. Melvin returned to the Diamondbacks, this time as a manager, leading the team to a pair of winning records in five seasons, including 2007, when the team reached the NLCS (a loss to the Rockies) and he was named Manager of the Year. He spent 11 years managing the Athletics (winning two more Manager of the Year Awards in 2012 and 2018) and two with the Padres before joining the Giants for the 2024 season. Melvin entered his 21st campaign with a 1,517-1,425 record and eight playoff appearances.

2. Scott Servais – The Wisconsin native was a third-round pick of the Astros in 1988. Servais spent 11 seasons in the major leagues as a catcher, starting and ending his career with Houston. Following his playing career, her served as a senior director of player development with the Rangers and assistant general manager with the Angels before replacing McClendon as manager of the Mariners in 2016. During his tenure as skipper, Servais led Seattle to five winning seasons, including a 90-72 mark in 2022 and the team’s first playoff berth in nearly two decades. The Mariners had a few misses as well, fading out of contention at the end of the 2017 season, missing the playoffs in 2021 despite winning 90 games and having Servais win the Manager of the Year Award and faltering in September to miss the postseason in 2023. He was fired in late August 2024 with the team at 64-64 and replaced by former Mariners catcher Dan Wilson. Servais finished his nine-year stint in Seattle (2016-24) with a 680-642 mark and the only playoff appearance outside of the next man on this list.

1. Lou Piniella – The Tampa native was signed by the Indians, drafted by the “new” Senators (later Rangers) and traded to the Orioles all before turning 20. Piniella played in four games with Baltimore, was reacquired by Cleveland and was traded to Kansas City, where he won the Rookie of the Year Award with the expansion Royals in 1969. The following year, he did something no one had ever done before in a major league game, make an out at every base. In an April contest against the Brewers, Piniella grounded out, was forced out at second, picked off of third and was thrown out at the plate trying to score (although he also hit a three-run home run in the 8-6 win). He earned his only All-Star selection in 1972 and joined the Yankees two years later, playing in four World Series in 11 seasons, winning twice.

“Sweet Lou” (a nicknamed given both for his swing and a play on his temper issues) was New York’s first base coach in 1985 before taking over as manager the following year. He led the Bronx Bombers to a pair of winning seasons before owner George Steinbrenner (like he did with the other members of his management team) moved him around to general manager, then another stint as manager in 1988 and finally to the broadcast booth. Piniella worked for the Reds for three years, leading Cincinnati to a championship in 1990, then joined the Mariners in 1993. Until that point, Seattle had just one winning campaigns, but the hard-nosed skipper changed that, leading the team to seven seasons above .500, beginning with an 82-80 mark. In 1995, the Mariners rallied to force a one-game playoff for the division title, then beat the Angels to earn their first postseason berth and toppled the Yankees in the Division Series before falling to the Indians in the ALCS. Piniella led the club to two more playoff appearances before the magical 2001 season in which Seattle tied a major league record with 116 wins before a second straight ALCS defeat and third overall, a 4-1 loss to the Yankees. Despite a 93-win season the following year, the manager wanted to be close to his family, so the club traded him to his hometown Devil Rays for outfielder Randy Winn.

Piniella finished his decade with the Mariners (1993-2002) with an 840-711 record, four playoff appearances, three division titles and Manager of the Year Awards in 1995 and 2001. He spent three years with the Devil Rays and four more with the Cubs, posting winning records in the first three seasons, leading Chicago to a pair of playoffs and winning the Manager of the Year Award in 2008. Piniella finished his 23-year managerial career with a 1,835-1,713 regular season record and a 23-27 mark in the postseason. He was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2014 but missed out on the Baseball Hall of Fame in the latest Veterans Committee vote in 2023.

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Seattle Mariners Catchers and Managers
Seattle Mariners First and Third Basemen and Designated Hitters
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