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11/20 13:22 CST Mariners will retire Randy Johnson's No. 51 during the 2026
season
Mariners will retire Randy Johnson's No. 51 during the 2026 season
By ANDREW DESTIN
AP Sports Writer
SEATTLE (AP) --- Hall of Fame left-hander Randy Johnson will have his No. 51
retired by the Seattle Mariners during a pregame ceremony on May 2, 2026, the
club announced Thursday.
In June, the Mariners said Johnson's No. 51 would become the fifth number
retired by the franchise, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (No. 24), Edgar Martinez (No.
11) and Ichiro Suzuki, who had his No. 51 retired this summer. All MLB teams
have retired Jackie Robinson's No. 42.
Johnson went 130-74 with a 3.42 ERA across 10 seasons with the Mariners.
"I'm happy that my contributions over the 10 years that I was there are being
acknowledged now," the 62-year-old Johnson said via Zoom in June. "It's been a
long time, that's for sure."
Johnson enjoyed more success with the Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he won
four consecutive Cy Young Awards in addition to a World Series in 2001.
However, the lanky left-hander nicknamed the "Big Unit" because of his
6-foot-10 frame fondly remembers his Seattle tenure.
Johnson made his major league debut in 1988 with the Montreal Expos and was
traded to Seattle in 1989. After some initial control issues with the Mariners,
he found his stride with a breakout season in 1993. He went 19-8 with a 3.24
ERA that year, the first of his six 300+ strikeout seasons.
The year Johnson looks back on with particular fondness is the 1995 season,
during which he went 18-2 with a 2.48 ERA and won his first of five Cy Young
Awards. The Mariners' future in Seattle was cast into doubt when in September
of that year, King County voters rejected subsidy taxes to build a new stadium.
Simultaneously, the Mariners enjoyed a prosperous season on the field at the
Kingdome, which culminated in reaching the AL Championship Series before
falling to Cleveland. Ultimately, the King County Council approved funding for
a new stadium,
"Looking back at it now and that story being documented by the Mariners, it
worked out," Johnson said. "I'm just thankful that I was a big part of that and
everybody else was a big part of it, and everything just kind of gelled for all
the players."
Johnson was traded to the Houston Astros midway through the 1998 season and
spent the remainder of his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks (1999-2004,
2007-08), New York Yankees (2005-06) and San Francisco Giants (2009).
The 10-time All-Star finished his 22-year big league career with a 303-166
record, 3.29 ERA and 4,875 strikeouts, second only to Nolan Ryan's 5,714.
Johnson is among just four pitchers in MLB history with at least 300 wins and
4,000 strikeouts, joined by Ryan, Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton.
Johnson is second in Mariners franchise history in strikeouts and wins, as well
as third in innings pitched. He was retired into the Mariners Hall of Fame in
2012, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. The Arizona Diamondbacks
retired his No. 51 in 2015.
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