Alvin Glenn Davis (born September 9, 1960), nicknamed "Mr. Mariner", is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by t ...

. He played eight of his nine seasons for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

and won the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

Rookie of the Year Award A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Early years

The youngest of four sons, Davis was born and raised in Riverside,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. His father died in 1970, and Davis graduated from John W. North High School in 1978. He was selected in the

1978 Major League Baseball draft In 1978, four American baseball players were promoted from amateur baseball to the major leagues, including Arizona State University third baseman Bob Horner, who was selected number one overall by the Atlanta Braves. Oakland High School pitch ...

by the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

, but opted to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at Arizona State in Tempe. Davis, who batted left-handed and threw right-handed, was later drafted by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The t ...

in sixth round in 1981, but opted to stay in college and earned a degree in finance.

Minor league career

After his senior season at ASU in 1982, Davis was drafted in June by the

in the sixth round (138th overall) and played the rest of the season in Double-A, in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

for the Lynn Sailors in the

Eastern League Eastern League may refer to: Baseball in the United States ''Most recent leagues listed first'' * Eastern League (1938–present), a minor league established in 1923 and renamed Eastern League in 1938, at the Double-A level * Eastern League (1916� ...

. Davis continued at that level in 1983 in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, with the

Chattanooga Lookouts The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...

in the Southern League. He hit .296 with 18 home runs and nearly averaged a walk per game. Davis began the

season in Triple-A, with the

Salt Lake City Gulls Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

. After just one game, he was promoted to the majors, due to a hand injury to Ken Phelps on April 6, and Davis remained with Seattle for eight seasons, through

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

. In that only game for Salt Lake, he went two-for-three with a walk, and never returned to the minors.

Major league career

Seattle Mariners

During a nine-year major league career, Davis batted .280 with 160

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 683

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the b ...

. He hit 20-plus homers in three seasons, and drove in over 100 runs twice. Davis holds the Mariners and Major League Baseball record for the most consecutive games reaching base to start a career, with 47. Well-liked by Mariners fans, Davis held most of the young franchise's offensive records until the arrival of

Ken Griffey Jr. George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle M ...

Edgar Martínez Edgar Martínez (born January 2, 1963), nicknamed "Gar" and "Papi", is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a designated hitter and third baseman for the Seattle Mariners from 19 ...

, and

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman, businessman and philanthropist. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

. 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 Edward John Vande Berg (born October 26, 1958) is an American former professional left-handed baseball pitcher. Career Berg is an alumnus of Redlands High School and Arizona State University. Drafted by the Seattle Mariners The Seattle M ...

said in 1984. "We have mister everything on the offense – Mr. Alvin Davis."

Tommy John Thomas Edward John Jr. (born May 22, 1943), nicknamed "The Bionic Man," is an American retired professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, ...

called him a "modern-day George Scott," explaining, "When Scott first came into the league, no one knew how to pitch to him, and they didn't find out for three years." Davis made his major league debut in Boston's

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and Boston Braves (baseball), since 1953, i ...

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 An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

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 RBIs. 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 In ancient Roman religion, Ops or ''Opis'' (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. Her equivalent in Greek mythology was Rhea. Iconography In Ops' statues and coins, she is figured sitting down, as Chthon ...

. Davis was inducted into the

Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame The Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame is an American museum and hall of fame for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. It is located at T-Mobile Park in the SoDo district of downtown Seattle. Museum overview Seattle Mariners former cha ...

in 1997. With the addition of Pete O'Brien in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, 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; with young

Tino Martinez Constantino "Tino" Martinez (born December 7, 1967) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from ...

in the organization, Davis was not in the team's plans for

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

. Davis' season high for home runs was 29 in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

and his most RBI (116) came as a rookie in 1984. His highest batting average for a season was .305 in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

California Angels

After eight years in Seattle, Davis was a free agent and signed with the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

in February 1992. In 40 games with the Angels in a platoon role, he hit .250 with no homers and 16 runs driven in. Davis had two hits in his final major league game, but was released after only a half season in late June. joined the

Kintetsu Buffaloes The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera St ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, and appeared in 40 games in the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

, with five home runs with 12 RBIs.

Personal life

Davis lives in his hometown of Riverside with his wife Kim; they have three children. Alvin has been a volunteer at Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church for the past nine years overseeing the church's finances and has served as a member of the church's elder board for over 20 years. He has also previously coached baseball at Martin Luther King High School 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 1997, Davis was inducted into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame. In 2012, Davis returned to the Seattle Mariners organization as a roving minor league instructor.

References

External links

Venezuelan Professional League statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Alvin Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball designated hitters California Angels players Seattle Mariners players American League All-Stars Baseball players from Riverside, California African-American baseball players Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners American expatriate baseball players in Japan Kintetsu Buffaloes players Arizona State Sun Devils baseball players Lynn Sailors players Salt Lake City Gulls players Chattanooga Lookouts players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela 1960 births Living people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks players