The Steiner Sports Memorabilia Blog

By Alex Cohen-Smith

In 1985, BJ Surhoff was drafted #1 overall in the amateur draft. Will Clark went # 2. Barry Larkin went #4. Barry Bonds, #6.  Rafael Palmeiro, #22. In the 2nd round, The Montreal Expos pick #36 was a wild left-hander from the University of Southern California. This pick was viewed as a high risk-high reward due to the control issues the lefty showed during his time in college. And of course everyone was scared of the fact that a 6’10″ pitcher had never pitched in the big leagues before.

At the time, he wasn’t worth a 1st round pick. But when Randy Johnson retired this morning after 22 major league seasons, he will go down as the most feared left-handed pitcher to ever play the game. You can make your arguments for Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Lefty Grove and Steve Carlton, but I’d go with the Big Unit every time.

When he came into the league he was just as wild as everyone feared and just as dominant as everyone hoped. In 1990 while playing his first full season in the American League for Seattle Mariners he led the league with 120 walks. Twice in a game he walked 10 batters. Of course that same season he struck out 194 hitters and and threw a no-hitter versus the Detroit Tigers. He led the league in walks the two years following as well. But as the number of walks began to dwindle, the numbers of strikeouts began to rise. Johnson led the league in strikeouts from 1992-1995, 1999-2002 and in 2004 at the age of 40. Not too shabby for an “old” guy.

Johnson was a downright scary pitcher, I mean haven’t you seen Little Big League?. The man frightened hitters to the point that most guys were just swinging with their eyes closed and praying that they made contact with the ball. I personally will always remember Johnson for that insane mullet he donned during the start of his career that put John Kruk’s best mullet to shame.  Speaking of putting John Kruk to shame, this video of Johnson vs. Kruk at the 2003 All-Star game is by far one of my favorites and even allows fans to see a lighter side of the normally very serious Big Unit. He did the same to Larry Walker in the 1997 All-Star Game, causing Walker to turn around and bat righty, even though he wasn’t a switch hitter.

If you look at his statistics you can’t deny that not only was Johnson one of the best left handed pitchers ever, but he in fact was one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game of baseball. 4,875 strikeouts, giving him the second highest total of all-time behind Nolan Ryan. Ryan however only struck out 9.5 hitters every 9 innings (SO/9) while Johnson’s rate was a massive 10.6 every 9 innings, the best rate of all-time. The Unit also won 5 Cy Youngs, including 4 in a row with the Arizona Diamondbacks. His 2 second place finishes, although 11 years apart and taking place in different leagues, both came behind Roger Clemens, so technically you can almost give the Unit credit for 7 Cy Youngs (which would be a record). With the help of his Diamondbacks pitching teammate Curt Schilling, Johnson put Arizona baseball on the map and was named co-MVP of the 2001 World Series that the Diamondbacks won. He pitched a perfect game in 2004 at the age of 40, making the oldest person ever to accomplish that feat as well.

Remember in little league, there was that one pitcher in the league you were always nervous about facing because he threw harder than everyone else, he was probably already using steroids, and you knew if one of the those pitches hit you it would make you cry in front of all your teammates? That pitcher was Randy Johnson, only instead of doing it to little leagues, Johnson did that to Major League Baseball hitters for over two decades.

Don’t miss your chance to get Randy Johnson memorabilia! He’s a lock for the Hall of Fame and in a league of his own when it comes to dominance on the mound.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.