Randy Johnson retiring

[Auggie]

Associated Press, 1-5-10

SAN FRANCISCO -- Randy Johnson is retiring after 22 major league seasons.

The Big Unit, an overpowering left-hander who last June became the 24th pitcher to win 300 games, made the expected announcement Tuesday on a conference call. "I really wanted to go out on my terms," Johnson said. "I just feel like there's not a lot more for me to do in this game. I just think it's a natural progression when you play this long. Eventually you have to say it's time."

A five-time Cy Young Award winner, the 46-year-old Johnson accomplished just about everything in his remarkable career that a player hopes for in baseball.

He owns a World Series ring and co-MVP honors, and was a 10-time All-Star. He threw two no-hitters, including a perfect game, and ranks second on the career strikeout list. The 6-foot-10 Johnson finishes with a career record of 303-166 and 4,875 strikeouts in 4,135 1/3 innings for Montreal, Seattle, Houston, Arizona, the New York Yankees and San Francisco. His strikeouts are the most by a left-hander and second to Nolan Ryan's 5,714.

LINK: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4799462
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:thumbsup:

[joeybee12]

1. Good luck to him...

...a great career.

[Upton]

2. Johnson will always be remembered as a Giant

for it was in that great tradition rich uniform, before a shamefully sparse crowd in Washington, that Randy finally achieved the 300th win milestone..

[madinmaryland]

3. One season in SF?? That has to be the dumbest thing I have heard.

Why don't you go call cboy for something a little more intelligent.

mim shakes his head at the stupidity.

[insanity]

4. Umm, he'll always be a Mariner

[Broken_Hero]

5. .......

:thumbsup:

[Onceuponalife]

7. I'm sure he won't be wearing that "poor" uniform when going into the Hall

His brief tenure with the midgets will be but a footnote in an otherwise great career. It's obvious he only stuck around long enough for the 300th win and his performance was quite lacking in the final years.

[Upton]

11. It may be "but a footnote" to you

but Johnson's 300th win is historic, pictures of which will no doubt be featured in the Hall of Fame....and in those images Johnson will be wearing not a Dodgers* uniform, with all the fat sloppy and juiced up players that go with it, but one of the lean clean fighting Giants.

[insanity]

13. That is a load of crock

Sure a picture of him after 300 will be in the Hall, but his uniform will either be a Diamond Back or a Mariner one. I grew up watching him pitch in Seattle and I've followed his career my whole life- he was never more dominant than the game he pitched in the 95 tie-breaker between Seattle and the California Angels. Also, the Giants do not have a squeaky clean image anymore than the Dodgers do. I remember a guy a few years back, a guy named Barry Bonds, who was juiced to the max in his Giants uni.

[Upton]

15. If you have followed Johnson

then you know that he left Seattle under less than ideal conditions. He'll undoubtedly go into the HoF as a D-Back .....and what does that say about his relationship with the Mariners?

As for the Giants, they no longer have anybody on their roster that has been even remotely connected to steroids. That stands in sharp contrast to the Dodgers, who have a big old asterisk NOW playing LF.

BTW, if you're a Mariner fan, perhaps you could tell me when the organization, and their fans who live in the past, are going to stop talking about 1995 and worry about the future?

[madinmaryland]

16. Dude. The Steroids Era will always be known as the Bonds Era! nt

[insanity]

17. Still a load

He still looks back quite fondly in his time in Seattle, where he came into his own as a pitcher. He got control of his fastball and is the only player in franchise history to win the Cy Young. I'd put that he'll be inducted as a Mariner on the first ballot.

Also, you have to understand how important the 95 season was to the Seattle Mariners. Johnson's pitching, The Double, Joey Cora... it all ended years of losing. The 116 win season of 2001 was only possible because of the 95 campaign.

And most Mariners fans, myself included, have been quite up on the team the last two years. Great moves made in the off season and a lot of promising talent mean the M's are going to be competitive again.

Finally, the epitome of the roid era wears a Giants uniform.

[Upton]

20. Still talking about '95, huh?

I've got an idea..since the old man is here, what about we bring back Edgar and Buhner too? Wouldn't cost much..just a season's supply of Depends.

They can be interviewed incessantly about '95 (for all the Mariner fans, like yourself, stuck in the past) and they could also be used as DHs...

Since the Mariners already have one .214 hitting old man holding down that position, it might be nice to give him a break...

[PVnRT]

21. That would be like dwelling on the last NEW YORK Giants championship

[madinmaryland]

23. That is 55 long years since they have had a championship! They have NEVER

won one in San Francisco.

[insanity]

22. Well this is a thread about Randy Johnson

And the question was raised about which uniform he would go in the HoF with.

I argued the Mariners and used the 95 season (where he pitched once every 5 days as their young ace) as a reason he should go in as an M. That was the season he became a dominant force on the mound. He learned how to be a great pitcher during his run with the Mariners. Without the Mariners, Randy Johnson may never of had the career he did. We could talk about his other seasons with the Mariners and how many wins he should of had (and that Bobby Ayala blew).

The picture of his first Cy Young award will be as a Mariner.


I really don't see what you're getting on about here.

[brendan120678]

25. Yeah...and I'm sure that Tom Glavine...

will have a Mets cap on when he gets into the Hall.
After all, he reached his 300th win as a Met.



:sarcasm:

[TZ]

14. Umm no.

He's going to be remembered as A DIAMONDBACK where he won a World Series, along with Curt Shilling.

[Upton]

18. Sure

he'll go in as a D-Back, but Johnson will be remembered for getting his 300th win AS A GIANT.

The humiliatingly small crowd, that attended Randy's historic achievement in Nationals Park, will also be recalled for the shame it brought upon DC baseball.

[NoGOPZone]

26. Well of course, he's six feet ten, isn't he? nt

[Auggie]

27. Rimshot

:D

[Iggo]

28. More correctly...

...in a couple years, no one will remember he ever WAS a Giant.

[greenbriar]

29. he will be remembered for this.....Johnson pitches to a bird

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF85R1em7Zs

[Captain Hilts]

6. I just loved watching the Big Unit put on his Game Face and go against Atlanta. nt

[thatsrightimirish]

8. Loved watching him beat the Yankees

hope he enjoys his retirement

[Drum]

9. ...as he did several times, when he played for them.

:(

As a Yankee fan (and a baseball fan) I saw him for years as a fearsome blistering pitcher. I just didn't see that "stuff" when he wore the pinstripes of my team, alas, and lamented the fat contract they made for his less-than-great period here. Even so, a terrific force was he, back in the day.

[joeybee12]

12. Yeah, Game 7 in 2001...he won my heart that night...

...I will always be a fan because of that!

[madinmaryland]

24. That was a classic!

:woohoo:

[travelingtypist]

10. this will always be my favorite Big Unit memory.

Randy Johnson v. Larry Walker, '93 All Star game. Backwards helmet.

[RT Atlanta]

19. Big Ugly

He was one of my favorites when he played for the Mariners. Best of luck to this "future hall of famer."