Day Thirty Two: Mark Langston

Mark Langston made a career out of wearing only extra dated uniforms. Certainly, most (the equivalent of the original six notwithstanding) teams had awful (depending on your vantage point) uniforms during the 1980's and early 90's, but the teams that Mark Langston pitched for had the kind of uniforms that can never be mistaken for being from some other era. Like the Toronto Raptors will forever be linked to the popularity of a dinosaur movie (with the color scheme to boot!), the career of Mark Langston will for me eternally be connected to incredibly odd uniforms. He pitched for the mid 80's Mariners who wore the diamond logo, the Montreal Expos of the three colored hat and blue uni era, and the California Angels during their early to mid 90's failed rebranding. Langston ended his career playing consecutively for two other bad uniform teams: the delightful Padres and the abhorrently regressive Cleveland squad. He really traveled through it all. But it was for the Mariners, the Expos, and the Angels that he made his mark. Pun intended, but also, Mark Langston was fucking good. 

Mark Langston's career begins prior to my existential cognizance as a human creature on this level of existence. Like I have said, my first baseball memories come in the summer of 1986 when I was three years old, and subsequently in the playoffs of that year when I was 4. Prior to that is just mystery and legend. So like his fellow rookie, Alvin Davis, the origin story of Mark Langston is oral history for me. Passed down from my dad. In our house, position players were lionized and pitchers, well, they were hardly considered worthy of even faint praise (Rainbow Trout!). So there was little discussion about how Mark Langston had been second in ROY voting behind Mr. Mariner in 1984. We were an AD household to be certain. Alvin was everything that the very ugly Mariners needed. And he enjoyed playing in Seattle. In fact, Alvin Davis still lives here. God bless him! Mark Langston on the other hand, he was a California (please note that both my father and Alvin Davis are also from California) prima donna who was always complaining and demanding to be traded to a better team. Just like a pitcher really!

So for my early years Mark Langston was just some pitcher that played on the same team as Alvin Davis and Harold Reynolds. Those two position players were the heart and soul of those late 80s M's teams, so it is easy to forget most of the other characters that inhabited those squads. And Mark Langston was certainly a forgotten Mariner for me. He was just some snarky looking (and he always did look kind of sour. I have no way of knowing if this is real or just part of the familial legend) pitcher who didn't like the Mariners. But he became a very well known Mariner the literal second that he was traded. In fact, he in many ways is one of the most important Mariners to ever suit up. But let's start with his actual Mariners career before we get to those fireworks. 

Mark Langston was filthy. It is arguable who had the better rookie year between Langston and Davis, but there is no argument about who performed better after that. Mark Langston was a legit ace. No wonder he wanted off the Mariners! He was languishing on a horrible team in the prime of his career. There is no fault in wanting out of that. And Mark Langston isn't an almost type of player. I was shocked when I looked at his Baseball Reference page to see that this guy has over 50 career WAR. You know who else had 50 WAR? Felix Hernandez. And Jamie Moyer. Jesus! Mark Langston has the 103rd most WAR all-time for a pitcher. And he was left handed! He had over 2000 K's and started over 400 games. Pretty good doesn't do him justice. He's borderline HOF. So for all those years (84-89) Langston was just plugging away striking out almost 300 batters three times and pitching his way to an all-star appearance in 87. His pitching career as a Mariner, in my estimation, is on that second tier with Jamie Moyer and Felix. But of course there is a Mariner who holds the number one spot with a vengeance (please don't tell me that Felix is better than Randy). And now it's time to talk about how Mark Langston was transmuted into the greatest lefthanded pitcher of all time. 

In 1989 Mark Langston finally got his wish. He was traded away from the Mariners. Unfortunately for Langston he wasn't headed to the defending World Series champ Dodgers, or even the runner-up Athletics. No, he was going to play for another weird uniform space-dome team: The Montreal Expos. And the Mariners were going to get three untested and unpolished prospects: Gene Harris, Brian Holman, and Randy Johnson. Gene Harris never materialized into a big leaguer, Brian Holman had some very good early success before injury ended his career, and of course Randy Johnson was Randy Johnson. It's the biggest trade in Mariners history. Mark Langston, borderline HOF (by what I will now be referred to as The Baines Rule), was through arcane wizardry and savvy gambling, turned into a pitcher that when I say: "Randy Johnson is the greatest pitcher of all-time" it's an arguable point. I think that Pedro and Greg Maddux are the best pitchers I have ever watched, but I would certainly say that Randy is the greatest lefty I have seen over time. And he started as a freak throw-in on the Mark Langston deal. So that's part one of how Mark Langston is one of the most important Mariners ever. Here's part two.

At the end of the 1989 season, Langston was finally able to sign a new contract and he went to play in his home region of southern California. Happy for perhaps the first time in his major league career he pushed his game to another level, winning gold gloves and racking up all-star appearances. As the decade progressed, the Angels put talent around their great starters, Mark Langston, Chuck Finley, and Jim Abbott and in 1995 they made a bug push to win the AL West for the first time since 1986. But as we know that wasn't to be! The Mariners historically tied the Angels on the final day of the regular season, forcing a one-game playoff in the Kingdome. On the mound for the Mariners was soon to be Cy Young winner, Randy Johnson, and on the mound for the Angels was, you guessed it, Mark Langston. They battled back and forth that day and Langston should not feel bad about anything that happened (although I'm sure it still burns), but Randy was just a lot better. And he went the distance and the Angels were sent packing. While the Mariners of 1995 were celebrating the unexpected, the Angels were suffering that worst sort of defeat. I felt bad for Mark Langston on that day. I had only known him as a complaining pitcher and the guy who we traded for Randy. But in those 9 innings I began to understand that he was more than a figure. He was a person who lost the biggest game of his career after giving it his all. And I will always admire him for his determination that afternoon. And he will always be one of the most important people in Mariners history, if not for the reasons he would have preferred. Thanks Mark Langston for putting it all out there. It's a pretty amazing thing when you lose a pitching duel to Randy Johnson.