Mark Langston

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right  •  Throws: Left
6-2, 177lb (188cm, 80kg)
Born: August 20, 1960  in San Diego, CA
Draft: Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 15th round of the 1978 MLB June Amateur Draft from Buchser HS (Santa Clara, CA) and the Seattle Mariners in the 2nd round of the 1981 MLB June Amateur Draft from San Jose State University (San Jose, CA).
High School: Buchser HS (Santa Clara, CA)
School: San Jose State University (San Jose, CA)
Debut: April 7, 1984 (12,488th in MLB history)
vs. MIL 7.0 IP, 4 H, 5 SO, 3 BB, 2 ER, W
Last Game: September 24, 1999
vs. TOR 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 SO, 0 BB, 0 ER
Full Name: Mark Edward Langston

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Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1984

Terry Pendleton
Kirby Puckett
Stan Javier
Eric Davis
Roger Clemens
John Franco
Dwight Gooden
Mark Langston
Bret Saberhagen

All-Time Teammate Team

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Notable Events and Chronology for Mark Langston Career

SearchSearch Events, Dates and More Date (Newest)Title (A - Z)

August 29, 1984

1984 – In Seattle, Mark Langston stops the Tigers on two hits and strikes out 12 to win, 5 – 1. Ken Phelps’ three-run homer in the 5th is the big blow.

September 14, 1984

1984 – Rookie Mark Langston (15-9) becomes the first Mariner to win 15 games in a season by beating the Royals, 2 – 1, on a 5-hitter.

November 20, 1984

Seattle Mariners first baseman Alvin Davis, who hit .284 with 27 home runs and 116 RBI, wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award. Teammate pitcher Mark Langston and Minnesota Twins outfielder Kirby Puckett are the runner-ups.

August 13, 1985

1985 – In the Mariners’ 11 – 4 win, Seattle’s infield again ties the major-league record for assists with 21 against California. Mark Langston goes all the way for the win.

August 24, 1985

Don Baylor ties an American League record when he is hit by a pitch thrown by Mariner southpaw Mark Langston in the first inning of the Yankees’ 4-3 victory at the Kingdome. The New York DH gets plunked for the 189th time in his career, tying him with Minnie Minoso, who established the mark in 1963 while with the White Sox.

June 25, 1986

Mark Langston sets a Mariners record with 15 strikeouts in a 6 – 1 three-hitter against the White Sox.

September 13, 1987

1987 – Chicago’s Floyd Bannister faces the minimum 27 batters in a 2 – 0 one-hitter against Seattle, striking out 10 while walking none. Hard-luck loser Mark Langston pitches a 2-hitter for the Mariners.

May 10, 1988

Mark Langston strikes out 16 batters in a 4 – 2 win over Toronto, equaling this season’s high set the day before by Boston’s Roger Clemens in a 2 – 0 three-hitter over the Royals.

April 3, 1989

In his first major league at bat, Mariners’ center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. doubles off of Oakland’s Dave Stewart

April 25, 1989

Expos trade Randy Johnson for Mark Langston

May 10, 1989

Mark Langston no-hits Toronto for eight innings before Tom Lawless singles and the Blue Jays rally for three runs to beat Seattle, 3 – 2. It is the third time this season that the Blue Jays have broken up a no-hit bid in the 9th inning.

May 25, 1989

Seattle Mariners trade star pitcher Mark Langston and a player to be named later – Randy Johnson

December 1, 1989

Mark Langston reaches an agreement with the Angels on a five-year contract worth $16 million

April 11, 1990

Langston and Witt combine on no hitter

July 25, 1998

The Padres top Houston, 6 – 5, as Mark Langston gets the win with 5+ innings of work. Trevor Hoffman picks up his 41st consecutive save and 33rd this year, tying a major league record. He’ll blow his next save opportunity tomorrow in San Diego’s 5 – 4 win, ending his streak.

August 13, 1998

Tom Glavine (16-4) shuts out the Padres, 5 – 0, on two hits and beats Mark Langston. Langston strikes out eight batters to push his career Ks to 2,419, and move into 24th place on the career strikeout list.

August 25, 2010

Felix Hernandez collects his 1000th strikeout when he fans David Ortiz in the sixth inning of the Mariners’ 4-2 victory over Boston at Safeco Field. The 24 year-old Seattle starter, the fourth youngest ever to reach the milestone, joins Randy Johnson (2,162), Jamie Moyer (1,239), and Mark Langston (1,078) as the fourth pitcher in franchise history to accomplish the feat.

July 27, 2011

Ervin Santana, facing only two hitters over the minimum, no-hits the Indians at Progressive Field, 3-1

Despite having a fine career of his own, Langston may always be known as the pitcher that the Seattle Mariners used to fleece the Montreal Expos out of Randy Johnson in 1989. He was an aggressive and durable workhorse on the mound, an excellent fielder as well as an inning-eater, but towards the latter half of his career became plagued with injuries. In Langston’s early years with the Mariners and the Angels, the lefty overpowered his opponents with blazing fastballs, but as time wore him down, he adjusted his pitching style to utilize craftiness instead of speed.
When he broke into the major leagues, Langston quickly showed signs that he would be a pitching force for Seattle. Runner-up to teammate Alvin Davis in the 1984 Rookie of the Year Award voting, the southpaw became the fourth rookie to lead the league in strikeouts, and he set a Mariners record with 17 wins. A slight elbow injury hampered him in 1985 and kept him below 200 strikeouts for the only time in the 1980s. But he came back to lead the AL in strikeouts in 1986 and 1987. In 1987 Langston set a new Mariner record with 19 wins and became the first Mariner to win a Gold Glove (one of many, it would turn out). He set team season records for innings, complete games, strikeouts, and shutouts. On May 10, 1988 Langston broke his own team record by striking out 16 Blue Jays.

Halfway through 1989, Seattle traded Langston to Montreal in one of the more infamous trades of the decade. In return for their one-time ace, the Mariners got pitching prospects Gene Harris, Brian Holman, and Randy Johnson, a tall, lanky hurler who was having control problems. Johnson, of course, went on to fame and fortune with the Mariners, ironically shattering a number of Langston’s club records, including season wins, strikeouts, and shutouts. Langston, on the other hand, pitched the rest of the season with the Expos, posting impressive numbers (including a 2.39 ERA), but left in the off-season to sign with the California Angels.

Langston was known not only as a good pitcher, but also as a smart fielder, snagging seven Gold Gloves in his career. And he was a workhorse, averaging 247 innings between 1986 and 1993. It wasn’t only the impressive number of innings he totaled but also the sheer number of pitches he tossed, at one point exceeding 11,000 in a three-year span. Yet in the beginning of his career, he seemed impervious to injury, no matter how bizarre. While with Seattle in the mid-80’s, Langston hyperextended his back while doing a backflip into a water park’s pool. Another time, the lefty flipped a golf cart while driving it down a course’s hill, sending him and his partner flying out of the cart with their equipment raining down on top of them. Neither time did Langston miss a start.

But Langston began to feel the effects of age just a week into the 1994 campaign. Having thrown 256 1/3 innings the year before, Langston didn’t get suitable rest in the offseason and began to feel pain in his elbow for just the second time in his career. After just one start, Langston underwent surgery for bone chips in his elbow. Though his 15-7 record indicated that he successfully bounced back in 1995, his 4.63 ERA told a different story. In 1996, Langston fell subject to injuries again, this time having surgery to repair torn knee cartilage.

In the twilight of his career, Langston signed with the San Diego Padres in January 1998, on board just in time to make it to postseason for the first time in his career. Though re-signed by the team, he was released in April 1999, and inked a minor-league deal with the Cleveland Indians. With the team in need of middle relief, Langston was quickly called on to help out from the pen, but went on the disabled list with elbow problems just as rapidly, and finished the year with 25 appearances and a five-plus ERA. The next spring looked bleak, and after letting up twelve runs in nine innings, Langston decided to call it quits in March 2000.

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Factoids, Quotes, Milestones and Odd Facts

Played For
Seattle Mariners (1984-1989)
Montreal Expos (1989)
California Angels (1990-1996)
Anaheim Angels (1997)
San Diego Padres (1998)
Cleveland Indians (1999)

Awards and Honors
1987 AL Gold Glove
1988 AL Gold Glove
1991 AL Gold Glove
1992 AL Gold Glove
1993 AL Gold Glove
1994 AL Gold Glove
1995 AL Gold Glove

All-Star Selections

No-Hit Fame
4/11/1990: For CAL (A) vs. SEA (A), 1-0 at CAL. 7 innings pitched.

Post-Season Appearances
1998 National League Championship Series

All-Star Selections
1987 AL
1991 AL
1992 AL
1993 AL

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