Rookie of the Year: Alvin Davis, 1984

First Baseman, Seattle Mariners

Age:  24 (Sept. 9)

Bats – Left, Throws – Right

Height: 6’1”    Weight: 195

Prior to 1984:

A native of Riverside, California, Davis was first drafted as an amateur by the San Francisco Giants in 1978 but chose to attend college at Arizona State and was a sixth-round pick by Oakland in 1981 following a junior year in which his performance suffered due to a lung infection. Bouncing back with 13 home runs and a .351 average as a senior in 1982 he was drafted once more, by the Mariners, and this time he signed. Davis batted .284 with 12 home runs and 56 RBIs with the Lynn Sailors of the Class AA Eastern League in 74 games in ’82 and moved on to the Southern League’s Chattanooga Lookouts in 1983 where he batted .296 with 18 home runs and 83 RBIs. He appeared in one Class AAA game in 1984 with Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League before being called up to the Mariners.

1984 Season Summary

Appeared in 152 games

1B – 147, DH – 7

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 678 [13]

At Bats – 567

Runs – 80

Hits – 161

Doubles – 34 [8, tied with four others]

Triples – 3

Home Runs – 27 [13, tied with five others]

RBI – 116 [4]

Bases on Balls – 97 [2]

Int. BB – 16 [2]

Strikeouts – 78

Stolen Bases – 5

Caught Stealing – 4

Average - .284

OBP - .391 [5]

Slugging Pct. - .497 [13]

Total Bases – 282 [14]

GDP – 7

Hit by Pitches – 7 [8, tied with Brian Downing, Chet Lemon & Mike Young]

Sac Hits – 0

Sac Flies – 7 [18, tied with ten others]

Midseason snapshot: HR – 18, RBI - 65, AVG. - .287, SLG PCT – .536

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Most hits, game – 3 on seven occasions

Longest hitting streak – 9 games

Most HR, game – one on 27 occasions

HR at home – 15

HR on road – 12

Multi-HR games – 0

Most RBIs, game – 4 vs. Oakland 4/18, vs. Cleveland 6/23, vs. Toronto 7/20, at Oakland 8/3

Pinch-hitting – No appearances

Fielding

Chances – 1376

Put Outs – 1271

Assists – 94

Errors – 11

DP - 108

Pct. - .992

Awards & Honors:

AL Rookie of the Year: BBWAA

All-Star

12^th in AL MVP voting (26 points, 7% share)

AL ROY Voting (Top 5):

Alvin Davis, Sea.: 134 pts. – 25 of 28 first place votes, 96% share

Mark Langston, Sea.: 82 pts. – 3 first place votes, 59% share

Kirby Puckett, Min.: 23 pts. – 16% share

Tim Teufel, Min.: 5 pts. – 4% share

Mike Young, Balt.: 3 pts. – 2% share

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Mariners went 74-88 to finish tied for fifth in the AL Western Division with the Chicago White Sox, 10 games behind the division-winning Kansas City Royals.  

Aftermath of ‘84:

Davis followed up in 1985 by hitting .287 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs. He remained with Seattle, where he was a fan favorite, through 1991, a total of eight seasons. With the Mariners he batted .281 with 1163 hits that included 212 doubles and 160 home runs, and he drove in 683 runs. He twice reached 100 RBIs in a season and had over 20 home runs on three occasions and was a one-time All-Star. He moved on to the California Angels as a free agent in 1992, where he was released after 40 games in his last major league season. He ended up in Japan with the Kintetsu Buffaloes where he hit .275 in 40 games to finish his professional playing career. For his overall major league career Davis batted .280 with 160 home runs and 683 RBIs. He was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 1997.

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Rookie of the Year Profiles feature players who were recipients of the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1947 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1948 and from 1949 on to one recipient from each major league.