# 1991 Seattle Mariners season

The 1991 Seattle Mariners season was the 15th since the franchise's creation. It was the first winning season in franchise history, as the Mariners finished fifth in the American League West with a record of 83–79 (.512). Home attendance at the Kingdome was the highest to date, exceeding 2.1 million.
After the season, the contract of third-year manager Jim Lefebvre was not renewed despite his performance, and he was succeeded by third-base coach Bill Plummer in 1992.
This was the last full season under the ownership of Jeff Smulyan; the club was sold the following July.

## Offseason

* November 25, 1990: Rich Amaral was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.

## Regular season

* July 18: Ken Griffey Jr. and Omar Vizquel each had five hits in one game at Milwaukee.
* September 30: Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers struck out Tino Martinez of the M's for the 5,500th strikeout in his career. Griffey, age 21, became the youngest player in 35 years to reach 100 RBI in a season.
* October 4, The Mariners won their 82nd game over the Chicago White Sox, to finish with their first winning season in franchise history.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 95 | 67 | .586 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 8 | 46‍–‍35 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Texas Rangers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 10 | 46‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Oakland Athletics | 84 | 78 | .519 | 11 | 47‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Seattle Mariners | 83 | 79 | .512 | 12 | 45‍–‍36 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Kansas City Royals | 82 | 80 | .506 | 13 | 40‍–‍41 | 42‍–‍39 |
| California Angels | 81 | 81 | .500 | 14 | 40‍–‍41 | 41‍–‍40 |

### Record vs. opponents

1991 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 8–5 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 3–10 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 3–9 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–8 |
| Boston | 5–8 | — | 4–8 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 9–4 |
| California | 6–6 | 8–4 | — | 8–5 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 1–12 | 6–7 | 5–8 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | 5–7 | 5–8 | — | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Cleveland | 6–7 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 6–6 | — | 7–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 2–10 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 4–8 | 1–12 |
| Detroit | 8–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 6–7 | — | 8–4 | 4–9 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 5–8 |
| Kansas City | 8–4 | 5–7 | 4–9 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 4–8 | — | 9–3 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 5–7 |
| Milwaukee | 10–3 | 6–7 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 3–9 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| Minnesota | 8–4 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 6–6 | — | 10–2 | 8–5 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 4–8 |
| New York | 8–5 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 2–10 | — | 6–6 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 9–3 | 4–8 | 12–1 | 6–7 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–7 | 4–9 | 6–6 |
| Seattle | 8–4 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 6–7 | 10–2 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 4–9 | 9–3 | 7–6 | — | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 8–5 | — | 6–6 |
| Toronto | 8–5 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–1 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 17: The Mariners traded cash and a player to be named later to the New York Yankees for Mike Blowers; Jim Blueberg (minors) was sent to the Yankees on June 22.
* June 22: Randy Kramer was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.

### Roster
## Game log
### Regular season

1991 regular season game log: 83–79 (Home: 45–36; Away: 38–43) :
April: 10–11 (Home: 6–3; Away: 4–8)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
May: 15–12 (Home: 8–7; Away: 7–5)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
June: 14–13 (Home: 6–4; Away: 8–9)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
July: 15–12 (Home: 8–7; Away: 7–5)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
August: 13–15 (Home: 10–6; Away: 3–9)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
September: 12–15 (Home: 5–8; Away: 7–7)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
October: 4–1 (Home: 2–1; Away: 2–0)
#DateTime (PT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Mariners team member :

## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Dave Valle | 132 | 324 | 63 | .194 | 8 | 32 |
| 1B | Pete O'Brien | 152 | 560 | 139 | .248 | 17 | 88 |
| 2B | Harold Reynolds | 161 | 631 | 160 | .254 | 3 | 57 |
| 3B | Edgar Martínez | 150 | 544 | 167 | .307 | 14 | 52 |
| SS | Omar Vizquel | 142 | 426 | 98 | .230 | 1 | 41 |
| LF | Greg Briley | 139 | 381 | 99 | .260 | 2 | 26 |
| CF | Ken Griffey Jr. | 154 | 548 | 179 | .327 | 22 | 100 |
| RF | Jay Buhner | 137 | 406 | 99 | .244 | 27 | 77 |
| DH | Alvin Davis | 145 | 462 | 102 | .221 | 12 | 69 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Dave Cochrane | 65 | 178 | 44 | .247 | 2 | 22 |
| Henry Cotto | 66 | 177 | 54 | .305 | 6 | 23 |
| Tracy Jones | 79 | 175 | 44 | .251 | 3 | 24 |
| Scott Bradley | 83 | 172 | 35 | .203 | 0 | 11 |
| Jeff Schaefer | 84 | 164 | 41 | .250 | 1 | 11 |
| Tino Martinez | 36 | 112 | 23 | .205 | 4 | 9 |
| Alonzo Powell | 57 | 111 | 24 | .216 | 3 | 12 |
| Ken Griffey Sr. | 30 | 85 | 24 | .282 | 1 | 9 |
| Rich Amaral | 14 | 16 | 1 | .063 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick Lennon | 9 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Sinatro | 5 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Howard | 9 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Randy Johnson | 33 | 201.1 | 13 | 10 | 3.98 | 228 |
| Brian Holman | 30 | 195.1 | 13 | 14 | 3.69 | 108 |
| Rich DeLucia | 32 | 182.0 | 12 | 13 | 5.09 | 98 |
| Bill Krueger | 35 | 175.0 | 11 | 8 | 3.60 | 91 |
| Erik Hanson | 27 | 174.2 | 8 | 8 | 3.81 | 143 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Scott Bankhead | 17 | 60.2 | 3 | 6 | 4.90 | 28 |
| Pat Rice | 7 | 21.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.00 | 12 |
| Dave Fleming | 9 | 17.2 | 1 | 0 | 6.62 | 11 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Bill Swift | 71 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 1.99 | 48 |
| Mike Jackson | 72 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3.25 | 74 |
| Russ Swan | 63 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3.43 | 33 |
| Rob Murphy | 57 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3.00 | 34 |
| Mike Schooler | 34 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3.67 | 31 |
| Calvin Jones | 27 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.53 | 42 |
| Dave Burba | 22 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.68 | 16 |
| Gene Harris | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.05 | 6 |
| Keith Comstock | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54.00 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Harold Reynolds, second baseman, Roberto Clemente Award

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Calgary Cannons | Pacific Coast League | Keith Bodie |
| AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Jim Nettles |
| A | San Bernardino Spirit | California League | Tommy Jones |
| A | Peninsula Pilots | Carolina League | Steve Smith |
| A-Short Season | Bellingham Mariners | Northwest League | Dave Myers |
| Rookie | AZL Mariners | Arizona League | Myron Pines |
    Source: