Education
University of Washington.
University of Washington.
Born in Würzburg, West Germany, Blowers is a 1983 graduate of Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington. He played college baseball at Tacoma Community College and the University of Washington in Seattle. Following his freshman year, he was selected by the Mariners in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft, but opted not to sign.
Blowers made his major league debut with the New York Yankees on September 1, 1989, and played his last game on October 3, 1999 for the Seattle Mariners.
He was the 13th player to hit grand slams in consecutive games, which he did on May 16 and 17 of 1993 as a Mariner, and he equaled an American League record by committing four errors in one game at third base as a Yankee in 1990. In 1995, Blowers enjoyed his finest season.
He hit.257 with 23 home runs and 96 Reserve Bank of India for the Mariners as they made their first postseason and advanced to the American League Championship Series. His 33 Reserve Bank of India in August remains the most by a Mariner in a single month, a record he co-holds with Mariner Hall of Fame third baseman and designated hitter Edgar Martínez.
Since 2007, he has been a television and radio color commentator for the Seattle Mariners.
He worked alongside the late Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus, and continues to work with Dave Sims. He was inducted into the Tacoma Community College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. Blowers owns and manages a number of Washington-based companies, including Beach Wood Homes of Fife and Keymark Real Estate of Puyallup.
Prediction of Tuiasosopo"s first career home run
During the pre-game broadcast of a September 27, 2009 bout between the Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays, Blowers predicted Matt Tuiasosopo"s first career home run.
What started as simply selecting a notable player for the day"s game became an extended humorous rant by Blowers. In the course of pre-game banter, he stated that the home run would come in Tuiasosopo"s second at bat, on a fastball, in a 3-1 count, and that the ball would land in the second deck of left center field
This then happened - with correct prediction of player, at-bat, count, pitch and general landing area - in the top of the fifth inning. Blowers was on the television side of the broadcast when the prediction came true, and laughed it off without explanation.
Radio announcers Rick Rizzs and Dave Niehaus, however, recalled the prediction, restated it for the audience, and were beside themselves in laughter and disbelief as the prediction came true.
Said Niehaus on-air, seconds before the event, "I"ve never been so excited on a 3-1 count in my life!". As Tuiasosopo circled the bases, Niehaus exclaimed "I see the light! I believe you Mike!".
He hit for the cycle on May 18, 1998 as a member of the Oakland Athletics.