Major League Baseball
5 great HR moments in Mariners history

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In 27-plus seasons, the Mariners have provided plenty of home-run thrills. This is the team, after all, that set the major-league record for homers in a season, hitting 264 in 1997. It's hard to pick just five moments, and there are plenty not on this list you could make an argument for — Jay Buhner's tape-measure shot at Yankee Stadium; Ken Griffey Jr.'s streak of home runs in eight straight games; Mike Blowers hitting grand slams in consecutive games; Ruppert Jones connecting to end a streak of 22 no-hit innings by Dennis Eckersley. But here are the five we chose, in chronological order:

1. Juan Bernhardt, April 10, 1977, Kingdome, vs. California Angels, off Frank Tanana: The first Mariners homer was hit in their fifth game, by Bernhardt, a 23-year-old designated hitter. A paltry Kingdome crowd of 10,405 witnessed the historic homer, the first of nine in Bernhardt's short career.

2. Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., Sept. 14, 1990, Anaheim Stadium, vs. California Angels, off Kirk McCaskill: Griffey Sr., who had been signed by the Mariners two weeks earlier, was 40 years old and near the end of his career. Junior, 20 at the time, was in his second season. In the first inning at Anaheim, Senior hit a two-run homer to center field, and Junior followed with his 36th career homer, also to center. Junior, who has 501 home runs, says this one was his favorite.

3. Doug Strange, Sept. 19, 1995, Kingdome, vs. Texas Rangers, off Jeff Russell: There were many dramatic home runs during the stretch run in 1995 — Griffey off John Wetteland, Vince Coleman and Alex Diaz to beat Oakland, Tino Martinez off Eckersley. But it was Strange, an unlikely hero, who struck on the same night the vote to pay for a new stadium was narrowly defeated, hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie a game the Mariners won in the 11th.

4. Edgar Martinez, Oct. 7, 1995, Kingdome, vs. New York Yankees, off Scott Kamieniecki and John Wetteland: Everyone remembers Edgar's big hit in Game 5 that scored Griffey Jr. and beat the Yankees to send the Mariners to the ALCS. But they wouldn't have been playing Game 5 if Edgar hadn't hit a three-run shot off Kamieniecki in the third inning and a grand slam off Wetteland in the eighth in Game 4.

5. Mike Cameron, May 2, 2002, at Comiskey Park, vs. Chicago White Sox, off Jon Rauch and Jim Parque. And Jim Parque. And Jim Parque: Cameron had four home runs by the fifth inning of this game. In the Mariners' 10-run first inning, Bret Boone and Cameron went back to back twice.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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