the 26th anniversary of the mendoza line...

Less known is the fact that the current players apparently have taken it upon themselves to celebrate a somewhat less heralded benchmark in Mariners history, but one with more resonant national implications -- the 26th anniversary of the invention of the Mendoza Line.

Swell as was the '95 season, its appreciation is largely confined to the Seattle market. The Mendoza Line, however, endures across the baseball landscape.

It is the symbol of sustained mediocrity, something about which the Mariners of the time -- the slowest team to a winning season in the history of modern U.S. pro sports -- knew a great deal.

In 1979, Mario Mendoza, a young shortstop acquired by the Mariners from the Pittsburgh Pirates, played in 148 games despite hitting .198. It was one of the most difficult feats in sports, owing to the fact that it is almost impossible to stay in a major league baseball lineup that long hitting that poorly. But the Mariners then were a team on the frontier of many feats, nearly all of them dubious.

The genesis of the designation remains fuzzy. Former Kansas City Royals star George Brett is credited by some for the phrase describing a regular player who hits under .200 for a season. Mendoza attributes it to former Mariners teammate Tom Paciorek. Still others claim the phrase refers to Mendoza's 11-year career average of .215.

Whatever, the fact remains that the Wave, the Mendoza Line and Jim Bouton's half-season in 1969 with the Pilots that helped produce the book "Ball Four," are perhaps the only things from Seattle that have become an enduring part of the national sports culture. Well, there's also Rick Neuheisel jokes, but those have yet to prove their resilience.