Sporcle Friday: Mariners with 1,000+ PA and less than 20 home runs

The Mariners have played in two stadiums that in many ways have been in direct opposition to the eras they inhabited. From 1977-1999, the Kingdome and its homer-happy environment allowed baseballs to fly over the garish blue walls with regularity, even if, especially in the 70s and 80s, small ball reigned supreme.

When Safeco Field was constructed during MLB’s super awesome steroid explosion late-90s offensive boom, it was famously suppressive of the long ball. This angered sluggers like Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez, who, according to this Kitsap Sun article, even blogged about this on his personal website! The Mariners did not move the fences in until the 2013 season, but by then it was already too late for many of the players on this list.

Here we have every person in Mariner history to make at least 1,000 plate appearances and hit less than 20 home runs. The dude with 17 homers who played in Seattle from 1983-1992 has the high mark in plate appearances with 4,593, meaning he homered roughly once every 270 times he came to bat.

We’d be remiss if we did not mention some of the guys who hit zero career home runs for the Mariners too. While they didn’t come close to making 1,000 plate appearances with the team, James Jones, Charles Gipson, and Chris Taylor have the most PA’s in Mariner history without leaving the yard.

LINK TO QUIZ