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12 Days of Mariners-mas: #12 Goes to Mr. Mariner, Alvin Davis

By Connor Tweet |
MILWAUKEE, WI - MAY 1990: Alvin Davis #21 of the Seattle Mariners batting during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 22, 1990 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI - MAY 1990: Alvin Davis #21 of the Seattle Mariners batting during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 22, 1990 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)

Good evening, Mariners fans, and welcome to The 12 Days of Mariners-mas! Over the next 12 days leading up to Christmas, I, along with my fellow SoDo Mojo writers Chris O’Day and Andrew Bailie, will be presenting the top 12 players in Seattle Mariners franchise history.

Chris, Andrew, and I used an amalgam of factors to produce this list, including each player’s WAR as calculated by Baseball Reference (bWAR), overall contribution to the success of the franchise, relevance in Seattle Mariners lore, and popularity among the fanbase, and we did our darnedest to avoid any inkling of recency bias. (One day, Mitch Haniger, one day…)

The 12 Days of Mariners-mas kicks off with Mr. Mariner himself, Alvin Davis.

Without Alvin Davis, the Seattle Mariners may have never made it in Major League Baseball. After Seattle joined the league as an expansion franchise in 1977, the Mariners were largely irrelevant until 1984, when Davis burst onto the scene as the American League Rookie of the Year, an A.L. All-Star, and finishing 12th in the A.L. MVP race. (Seems fitting, eh?)

Alvin Davis, Designated Hitter and First Baseman for the Seattle Mariners at bat during the Major League Baseball American League East game against the New York Yankees on 18 May 1991 at Yankee Stadium, New York, New York, United States. The Mariners won the game 4 – 1. (Photo by Lonnie Major/Allsport/Getty Images)
Alvin Davis, Designated Hitter and First Baseman for the Seattle Mariners at bat during the Major League Baseball American League East game against the New York Yankees on 18 May 1991 at Yankee Stadium, New York, New York, United States. The Mariners won the game 4 – 1. (Photo by Lonnie Major/Allsport/Getty Images) /

A sixth-round pick of the Mariners in 1982, Davis posted a .284 BA with 27 home runs, 116 RBIs, and 34 doubles during his award-winning first season, while triggering a newfound passion for baseball among the Seattle sports community. Davis’s rookie year was his only All-Star season, but he certainly continued to impress, posting an OPS+ of 118 or above (where 100 is the league average) over the next six seasons.

Next. 12 Days of Mariners-Mas: #11. dark

Appropriately, Alvin Davis’s bWAR of 20.1 is 12th among Mariners greats, leading his 1984-89 teammate Mark Langston by 0.9, and trailing mid-2000’s M’s legend Adrian Beltre by 1.1. Will either of those two Mariners fan favorites make our list? Be sure to tune in tomorrow to find out…

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