12 Days of Mariners-mas: #11 is Second Baseman Bret Boone

Next up in our 12 days of Mariners-mas is #11. Mr. Mariner himself kicked things off at #12, and we stick in the infield for someone who wasn’t around a long time but made a big impact while he was here. Bret Boone.

Bret Boone will be remembered as the middle infielder who filled the void left by Alex Rodriguez after he departed in free agency to sign a massive $252 million contract with divisional rival Texas. Not much was expected at the time of Boone, who up until the 2001 season had not had a 25-homer year. That would change when Boone joined the M’s in 2001.

His breakout 2001 season with Mariners would be a career year for Boone, as he posted a .331 batting average, .950 OPS, 37 home runs, and 141 RBI. He led the team in home runs, OPS, and RBI while finishing second only to Ichiro in batting average.

He also won the silver slugger award at second base, while finishing third in MVP voting that season. Boone’s impressive performance in 2001 helped power the Mariners to 116 wins in 2001, the most in American League history.

With his accomplishments on the Mariners, Bret Boone comes in at #11

Following the 2001 season, Boone would add another silver slugger award in 2003, along with three gold glove awards from 2002-2004. He finished his career with M’s with a .277 batting average, 143 home runs, 535 RBI, and a .814 OPS. Boone ranks 9th on the Mariners’ all-time franchise home run list, is 12th in hits, 9th in RBI, and compiled 19.2 WAR which ranks 14th in the Mariners’ all-time rankings.

The Mariners won a total of 302 games between 2001-2003 with Brett Boone as their starting second baseman, the most wins in any three-year span in Mariner’s history.

His home run in game 161 of the 2001 season was all the offense the Mariners would need to secure win number 116 in a 1-0 win over Texas, for a career-high 37 home runs on the season. Boone retired in 2006 at the age of 36, right after accepting an invite to Spring Training with the New York Mets.

Recently, he was employed with Oakland Athletics as a minor league instructor. He also helped co-author a book “Home Game: Big-League Stories from My Life in Baseball’s First Family” with Kevin Cook.

When you put together all the accomplishments that Bret Boone achieved while he was with the Mariners, you can see the argument for his place in M’s history. That’s why he comes in at #11 in our 12 days of Mariners-mas.