I know this guy Pete, and today Pete made a claim: The 1995 Mariners were much, much better than the 1995 edition of his beloved Yankees. It’s no wonder, stocked with all that talent, that the Mariners won the series. Sounds like a job for a Research Day.
The following is the Mariners’ roster from 1995, listing the position players who most frequently played that position and their stats for that year.
- Position Player, Games, AVG, OBP, RBI, HR
- C Dan Wilson, 119 games, .278, .336, 51, 9
- 1st Tino Martinez, 141 games, .293, .369, 111, 31
- 2nd Joey Cora, 120 games, .297, .359, 39, 3
- 3rd Mike Blowers, 134 games, .257, .335, 96, 23
- SS Luis Sojo, 102 games, .289, .335, 39, 7
- LF Rich Amaral, 90 games, .282, .342, 19, 2
- CF Ken Griffey Jr., 72 games, .258, .379, 42, 17
- RF Jay Buhner, 126 games, .262, .343, 121, 40
- DH Edgar Martinez, 145 games, .356, .479, 113, 29
Position player summary: The Mariners field a team with Two First Ballot Hall of Fame Locks (Griffey, Alex Rodriguez), a near-Hall-of-Famer at the apex of his power (Edgar), and two outstanding not-Hall-of-Fame players in Buhner and Tino. Rodriguez is on the roster, but for our purposes he doesn’t count (he played in 54 games at AAA-Tacoma in 1995, and only 48 games on the Mariners’ roster, batting .232–with only one plate appearance against the Yankees). So: 1 Hall of Fame lock, 1 near-Hall of Famer, 2 great players, and a solid supporting lineup of .280/.290 hitters.
- Pitcher, Games, ERA, W
- Randy Johnson, 30 games, 2.48, 18
- Chris Bosio, 31 games, 4.92, 10
- Tim Belcher, 28 games, 4.52, 10
- Salomon Torres, 16 games, 6.00, 3
- Andy Benes, 12 games, 5.86, 7
- Bullpen/Closer: Bobby Ayala, 63 games, 4.44, 19 saves
- Bullpen/RH: Jeff Nelson, 62 games, 2.17, 7 wins
- Bullpen/RH: Norm Charlton, 30 games, 1.51, 2 wins
Pitcher summary: The Mariners pitching staff has one First Ballot Hall of Fame Lock, Randy Johnson. The rest of the starting staff had ERAs at or above 4.50. The bullpen had two rock-solid relievers in Charlton and Nelson, but the closer was Bobby Fucking Ayala.
And the Yankees?
- Position Player, Games, AVG, OBP, RBI, HR
- C Mike Stanley, 118 games, .268, .360, 83, 18
- 1st Don Mattingly, 128 games, .288, .341, 49, 7
- 2nd Pat Kelly, 89 games, .237, .307, 29, 4
- 3rd Wade Boggs, 126 games, .324, .412, 63, 5
- SS Tony Fernandez, 108 games, .245, .322, 45, 5
- OF Bernie Williams, 144 games, .307, .392, 82, 18
- OF Paul O’Neill, 127 games, .300, .387, 96, 22
- OF Gerald Williams, 100 games, .247, .327, 28, 6
- DH Ruben Sierra, 56 games, .260, .322, 44, 7
First, three guys sat on the Yankees’ bench in 1995: Derek Jeter, Darryl Strawberry, and Jorge Posada. Leaving them aside, the Yankees had one Hall-of-Fame player (Boggs) and three near-Hall-of-Fame players (Mattingly, O’Neill, and Bernie Williams) among position players. Their bottom-of-the-lineup guys sucked compared to the Mariners.
- Pitcher, Games, ERA, W
- Jack McDowell, 30 games, 3.93, 15
- Sterling Hitchcock, 27 games, 4.70, 11
- Andy Pettitte, 31 games, 4.17, 12
- David Cone, 13 games, 3.82, 9
- Scott Kamieniecki, 17 games, 4.01, 7
- Bullpen/Closer: John Wetteland, 60 games, 2.93, 31 saves
- Bullpen: Bob Wickman, 63 games, 4.05, 2 wins
- Bullpen: Steve Howe, 56 games, 4.96, 6 wins
This is a much sounder starting pitching lineup than Seattle’s, featuring one likely Hall-of-Famer in Andy Pettitte, two Hall-of-Fame vote-receiving pitchers in McDowell and Cone, and, overall, four starters with ERAs sub-4.17. Interesting side-note: First Ballot Hal of Fame Lock Mariano Rivera is struggling to break into the starting lineup, with a 5.51 ERA. Wetteland is a way better closer than Ayala, but the balance of the bullpen staff for the Yankees is just okay.
SUMMARY: If you had any sense, you just skipped to the summary in the first place. Pete’s an idiot: the Yankees were as loaded as the Mariners–even more. Granted, the Yankees didn’t quite match the Mariners’ firepower offensively, but the Yankees’ problem wasn’t at the top of the order (the Yankees rolled out one Hall of Famer and three guys who come close), but down at the bottom (Tony Fernandez, Pat Kelly, and Mike Stanley? Anyone?). Meantime, the Yankees’ pitching was deeper and better (one Hall-of-Famer and two vote-getters), except for one inconvenient 6′ 10″ problem.
So be warned: if you make some ill-informed statement, there’s always a chance I’ll waste hours of my life checking it out. Anyways, looking back, it is impressive to see that six of the players on hand during the 1995 series are first ballot locks for the Hall, and 11 others get a serious look (from some, anyway):
First Ballot Hall of Fame: Griffey, Rodriguez, Jeter, Johnson, Boggs, Rivera (3 Mariners, 3 Yankees)
Potential Hall of Fame: Edgar, Pettitte, O’Neill, Jorge Posada, Williams, Mattingly (1 Mariner, 5 Yankees)
Receiving Votes: Jay Buhner, Tino Martinez, Darryl Strawberry, Cone, McDowell (2 Mariners, 3 Yankees)
