Ten Big Memories of the Big Unit

I covered Randy Johnson as a beat writer for eight seasons: 1999-2004 with the Diamondbacks and then 2005-06 with the Yankees. (We both moved East the same winter, by coincidence.)

So I figure I saw about 230 of Johnson's starts – hey, I deserved a day off once in a while – and more than 100 of his 300 wins. Off the top of my head, here are the top 10 Randy Johnson moments I witnessed in those eight years:

1. Perfection (May 18, 2004)
Twenty-seven up, 27 down at Atlanta. And after this game, Johnson even smiled. His 117th and final pitch, a called strike to Eddie Perez, was 98 mph. His 14 strikeouts were second-most ever in a perfect game, and at 40, he was the oldest ever to be perfect. "I don't think my stuff has been any better than it was today," Johnson said.

2. What a Relief (Nov. 4, 2001)
A day after throwing 104 pitches in winning Game 6 of the World Series, Johnson came out of the bullpen for the final 1 1/3 innings of Game 7. Arizona's famous rally in the bottom of the ninth gave Johnson his third win of the series.

3. KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK (May 8, 2001)
Midway through a game against the Reds, I realized I had never seen Johnson with more dominant stuff. He struck out two in each of the first three innings and then the side in the fourth. He finished with 20 strikeouts but got a no decision as the game went to extra innings tied at 1-all. At first, Johnson was not considered to have tied the record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game because the game went longer, but the Elias Sports Bureau does recognize the feat.

4. Tough Luck (June 30, 1999)
Before the 20-strikeout game, the best I had seen Johnson was also against the Reds, in Cincinnati. He struck out 17 in eight innings but lost 2-0 as Ron Villone and Scott Williamson combined on a shut out. That was the second game in a four-game stretch in which Johnson had a 1.41 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 32 innings, but went 0-4 because the Diamondbacks were (in order) no-hit, one-hit, two-hit and three-hit.

5. Bye, Bye Birdie (March 24, 2001)
Just an ordinary spring-training game. Or so thought some bird that decided to fly in front of home plate as Johnson was pitching to San Francisco's Calvin Murray. Then the poor, unsuspecting bird met the Big Unit's fastball. "Three feet from home plate the ball just disappapeared," Murray said. "The bird just exploded. Feathers everywhere. Poof!"

6. Going Yard (Sept. 19, 2003)
With a bat borrowed from Raul Mondesi, Johnson connected on a pitch from future teammate Doug Davis for his first career home run. Johnson became the oldest player to hit his first career homer. (Two years later, the Yankees were in Minnesota and Johnson and I were in the dugout. "Isn't the guy I face in Milwaukee tomorrow the guy I homered off of?" he asked me. It was, but this time he went 0-for-3.)

7. Join the Club (Sept. 10, 2000)
With a 97 mph fastball past Florida's Mike Lowell, Johnson became the 12th pitcher to reach 3,000 career strikeouts – the first to do it before his 14th season. "I feel like I'm the answer to a trivia question," Lowell said, "until he gets to No. 4,000, which is fine with me."

8. Back Home (July 20, 1999)
Johnson liked to think he helped get Safeco Field built, and he has a point. The excitement generated by the Mariners' charge to the playoffs in 1995 helped push through a stadium to replace the Kingdome. Johnson got to pitch in the sixth game ever at Safeco – his first game back in Seattle since the Mariners traded him to the Astros in 1998 – and rose to the occasion with an eight-hit shutout.

9. Oops (April 16, 1999)
In one of the more bizarre baseball altercations, San Francisco's Charlie Hayes charged Arizona pitcher Todd Stottlemyre from second base after reaching on a fielder's choice and moving up on a hit. After the required emptying of benches and bullpens, everything was being sorted out and Johnson picked up his cap off the ground and put it back on. Except it wasn't his hat; it belonged to Giants coach Sonny Jackson. And for a few moments before he figured it out, there was Randy Johnson walking around, unbeknownst to him, with an "SF" cap on – 10 years too early.

10. Guts (Oct. 6, 2006)
The last Randy Johnson game I covered. Despite a herniated disk in his back that eventually required surgery, Johnson started Game 3 of the American League Division Series in Detroit. And even though he allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings while Kenny Rogers was blanking the Yankees, Johnson showed his teammates something. "After today," Sal Fasano said, "I have more respect for him than any pitcher I ever caught."