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Unit hangs 'em up. Randy Johnson retires.

24fps

By 24fps
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Moose Milligan Hangout Grand Counsel

Moose Milligan

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I remember when Curtis Goodwin came up and he was playing WAY over his head, hitting something ridiculous like .360.

Johnson and the Mariners rolled into town and he whiffed Goodwin 4 times. He never had a shot.

This game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL199506050.shtml

I thought it was later in the season and Goodwin had been up for a couple weeks...it was like his 5th game or something.

Tough loss for Big Ben...Johnson throws 141 pitches and a 3 hit shutout.

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Boy Howdy All-Star

Boy Howdy

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He will be missed. A few random Randy Johnson memories:

1) Getting him to sign his Donruss rookie card (in an Expos) uniform when he got out of a cab to enter Memorial Stadium in 1989

2) Seeing Mickey Tettleton & Randy Milligan take him deep back-to-back, plus a third long ball by Craig Worthington as Jeff Ballard beat him 4-3 in his first Baltimore appearance

3) Leaving work early in 1995 to watch him duel Ben McDonald on a Monday night. Johnson hurled a 3-hit shutout and struck out 12.

4) Mike Mussina beating the "invincible" Johnson --not once, but twice-- in the 1997 ALDS...with a little help from Jeff Reboulet, Geronimo Berroa and the boys.

5) RJ shoving a NY Post photographer on his first day in Manhattan as a Yankee.

One thing I can't quite pinpoint, though I know for sure it happened. He dueled Mussina one night at OPACY, and a bank of lights went out just as he was walking in to pitch the bottom of the first. I was a couple hundred feet away, but you could just feel his rage as he twitched and cursed the inconvenience. If I remember correctly, he got beat that night. (EDIT - It looks like the 5/8/97 contest when Mussina struck out 6 in the first two innings. Johnson gave up a two-out, two-run double to Chris Hoiles after the delay in the bottom of the first, a 3-run homer to Hoiles later, and the O's piled on against the Seattle bullpen and won 13-3. Hoiles added another HR to finish with 6 RBI).

Great, great pitcher, but only 4-3, 4.52 in his regular season career at Camden Yards...and we already mentioned the playoffs.

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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To me the highlight of Mike Mussina's career was besting Johnson twice in the '97 playoffs. He actually was even more brilliant in the ALCS that year, but the O's lost both games he pitched in that series with Mussina getting no decisioned.

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MikeAD Hangout Grand Counsel

MikeAD

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To me the highlight of Mike Mussina's career was besting Johnson twice in the '97 playoffs. He actually was even more brilliant in the ALCS that year, but the O's lost both games he pitched in that series with Mussina getting no decisioned.

I remember those Mariners/Os match ups very well, ah the good ol days.

Johnson was one of the most thrilling pitchers to watch. He threw hard, he threw every start, and he seemed like he could pitch...and who can forget the Diamondbacks' World Series?

And theres always the great encounter with a certain bird... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPxeGkPeR90

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Gurgi Hangout Grand Counsel

Gurgi

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Any hints of Clemens like extra help?

Hard to ignore the possibility there.

My favorite memory of Randy is pitching to John Kruk in the 1993 all-star game at Camden Yards. He let a fastball go right past John's head.

John was frozen after that. He struck out. Never had a chance.

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DuffMan Hangout Veteran Council

DuffMan

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Inner circle HOFer, on the short list for Best Pitcher Ever.

Don't think I've ever seen another starting pitcher who caused the opposition manager to bench multiple stars so they didn't have to face him.

I'm assuming you're talking about Davey Johnson and how he pulled out all the stars against the unit. Pretty bold strategy and yet it paid off, I doubt we would ever see DT do something like that. (That's not meant as a knock on DT, b/c I'm not sure there would be hardly any managers that would try that)

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DrungoHazewood Hangout Grand Counsel

DrungoHazewood

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I'm assuming you're talking about Davey Johnson and how he pulled out all the stars against the unit. Pretty bold strategy and yet it paid off, I doubt we would ever see DT do something like that. (That's not meant as a knock on DT, b/c I'm not sure there would be hardly any managers that would try that)

That's one example, but I think it was fairly common for other managers to sit lefties against Johnson, too. For example, Wade Boggs was in the same league as Johnson for about 10 years, but only had 17 at bats against him. John Olerud was 0-for-5 off Johnson, despite being in the same league for many years.

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Boy Howdy All-Star

Boy Howdy

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That's one example, but I think it was fairly common for other managers to sit lefties against Johnson, too. For example, Wade Boggs was in the same league as Johnson for about 10 years, but only had 17 at bats against him. John Olerud was 0-for-5 off Johnson, despite being in the same league for many years.

Yep. In fact I just looked up Randy's splits from 1997, and LH-hitters had only 77 at bats against him all season. Amazingly they batted a respectable .260 with four homers, but most lefties were granted a night off by their respective skippers when the Unit was on the hill.

Lifetime , lefty hitters batted just .199 against him and "slugged" .294. Only about 12% of opposing plate appearances against Johnson were by LH-batters. Contrast that with the 20% or so against Glavine or 17% (approx) vs. Steve Carlton.

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