Alvin Davis

Alvin Glenn Davis (born September 9, 1960), nicknamed "Mr. Mariner", is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman and designated hitter. He played eight of his nine seasons for the Seattle Mariners and won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1984.

Early years The youngest of four sons, Davis was born and raised in Riverside, California. His father died in 1970. Davis graduated from John W. North High School in 1978. Davis, who batted left-handed and threw right-handed, was later drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the sixth round (144th overall) of the 1981 MLB draft, but opted to stay in college and earned a degree in finance.

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

Draft and minor leagues After his senior season at Arizona State in 1982, Davis was drafted in June by the Seattle Mariners in the sixth round (138th overall). He played the rest of the season in Double-A for the Lynn Sailors in the Eastern League, batting .284 with 12 home runs and 56 runs batted in (RBI) in 74 games. Davis continued at that level in 1983 in Tennessee, with the Chattanooga Lookouts in the Southern League. He hit .296 with 18 home runs and 83 RBI in 131 games, and nearly averaged a walk per game. He hit 20-plus homers in three seasons, and drove in over 100 runs twice. Well-liked by Mariners fans, Davis held most of the young franchise's offensive records until the arrival of Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martínez, and Alex Rodriguez. His fellow players thought highly of him as well. "You know sooner or later we're going to score some runs," teammate Ed Vande Berg said in 1984. "We have mister everything on the offense – Mr. Alvin Davis."

Davis made his major league debut in the Kingdome on April 11, 1984; he homered in his first two big league and collected two doubles in his sixth and three doubles in the next. After his first week, Davis had a .370 batting average, a .778 slugging percentage, and a seven-game hitting streak. He reached base in each of the first 47 games of his career, and was chosen for his only All-Star Game as a rookie. Named the Mariners' MVP, he was also voted the American League's Rookie of the Year, with a .284 batting average, 27 home runs, and 116 RBI in 152 games. Davis hit a career-high 29 home runs in 1987, and he had perhaps his best season in 1989, when he finished second in the American League with a .920 OPS.

With the addition of Pete O'Brien in 1990, Davis was increasingly used as Seattle's designated hitter. He only saw action on defense as a first baseman in 52 games that season, further reduced to just 14 games in 1991. His batting average fell to .221 in 1991 with 12 home runs and 69 RBI in 145 games;

California Angels and Kintetsu Buffaloes After eight years in Seattle, Davis signed a one-year, $800,000 contract with the California Angels on February 14, 1992. In 40 games with the Angels in a platoon role, he hit .250 with no homers and 16 RBI. but was released after only a half season in late June. joined the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Japan He has also previously coached baseball at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside for ten years. After his father's death in 1970, Davis and his mother Mylie had a very close relationship, and she relocated from Riverside to Tempe when he was in college.

In 2012, Davis returned to the Seattle Mariners as a roving minor league instructor.