Seattle Mariners Throwback Thursday: Norm Charlton – The Sheriff

We continue on with our Mariners Throwback Thursday series and take a look at “The Sheriff” – Norm Charlton.

Now, how did we decide on Norm Charlton? Was it because we like him (yes), or was it because he had bada** hair (yes), or was it because he was someone that kids in the ’90s wanted to be (yes)?

The real reason that he is this week’s pick…Twitter!

The Sheriff received a little over 40% of the votes this week. I wouldn’t have minded any of them (probably because they were all options I had put on there), but The Sheriff will also hold a special place in my young baseball heart.

To a five-year-old kid in 1993, it was easy to think of Norm Charlton as a Mariner first. At that age, you aren’t that aware of other teams, or at least the players on your team and their time anywhere else before they got there. That’s the case with Norm Charlton, who actually only played with the Seattle Mariners in 1993, 95-97, and coming back in 2001 before retiring.

While he was there though, he was pretty great… well, for the most part. Here are his ERA by year for the five years that he was with the team. As you might hear on Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the others”

2.34 – 1.51 – 4.04 – 7.27 – 3.02.

Oof. That year in 97 sure was rough. Let’s embrace the good times instead, and look at some of the highlights of The Sheriff.  He showed up in ’93 at the age of 30 and was instantly a stud. He had spent time as both a starter and a reliever in Cincinnati, but was a reliever the last few years, and would be for the rest of his career. That first year in Seattle, he threw 34.2 innings, striking out 48, and getting saves in 18 games.

Unfortunately, his time in Seattle was cut short for two different reasons. ’94 saw the strike, and he also dealt with an injury for the length of the season. As ’95 started, he signed with the Phillies, and it looked like he may be feeling some lingering effects still. Through 22 innings, he had an ERA over 6. This caused him to be released and he was subsequently picked up by the M’s.

If you thought the 2.34 ERA was good, it was nothing compared to what we were about to see from Charlton in the midst of the Mariner’s amazing run at the playoffs. Remember… this is 1995. Charlton would amass a record of 2-1 with 14 saves, an ERA of 1.51, and 58 strikeouts in 47.2 innings.

It would be the best year for Norm Charlton in his career up to that point and would go down as his best stint.

1996 ended up being nothing special, although a 4.04 ERA in that era was still nothing to sneeze at. Now 33, his strikeout rate was down, and you had to wonder if it was a precursor of things to come. It looked like it was, as the ERA jumped nearly 500% from 1995 to 1997. He would leave Seattle after that year and just seemed to float around until 2001.

He came back to the Mariners to finish out his career at the age of 38, after throwing just three innings the year before. This may be Throwback Thursday, but 2001 was Throwback Sheriff.

Just like when he arrived in 1995, Charlton would throw 47.2 innings, and be nearly as successful. The strikeout rate climbed back above 9.0 for the first time in a few years, while at the same time leading to a good year where he posted an ERA of 3.02. Although, this time it was as a standard reliever and not the closer.

Here is where we come to the part that may shock you the most.

Norm Charlton may be the greatest postseason player in the history of the Seattle Mariners.

Yeah, you read that correctly.

He would feature in all three postseason appearances that the Seattle Mariners have made, pitching in ’95, ’97, and ’01. He would pitch in 12 games for the team, totaling 19 innings and 19 strikeouts, two wins, two saves, six walks, and just two runs, which were given up in the first series against the Yankees over 7.1 innings. Throughout his postseason career with the team, that led to an ERA of 0.95. Not too shabby for the sheriff.

Who do you want to see in next week’s article? One of the other guys from the poll? Let me know below, or whatever method is easier for you, and I’ll pick one of them out and include them as next week’s throwback Thursday showcase!