Greetings, home run hitters and bench warmers, and welcome to Snohomish, Washington, where the beans have stopped to drop off some flowers and belated gratitude to another baseball legend, Earl Averill. Known as "The Earl of Snohomish," Earl was a slugging king for the Cleveland Indians, and later for the Detroit Tigers and Boston Braves. He hit a home run at his first professional at bat in 1929, and didn't stop there. By the time he retired, he had pounded out 238 homers and left the game with a very cool .318 average. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975, and passed away at age 81 in 1983.

The beans were glad to meet Earl, even though he did play for the Indians and not the Mariners. But that's okay - he would have been 74 when the M's joined the American League, and as much as they stunk back then, I doubt that even the great Mr. Averill could've helped them.