Randy was fucking terrifying. He was a stud in Seattle. Got traded to Houston. Still a stud. Signed with Arizona. Became a fucking legend. Maddux and Randy: 4 straight Cy Young Awards each. One via location and speed control. The other via fear and power. "Catch up to my fastball? Ha! Now, here's a slider coming at 95% of the speed of my fastball."
That slider was devastating. For left handed hitters it left Randy's hand looking like its gonna hit you and ends up painting the outside corner at 90+.. and dropped about 3 ft on top of it....just not fair.
Seeing this dude come out as a closer in the World Series, the game after he started was one of the greatest things I’ve seen in baseball in my life. Dude was otherworldly
Thank Nolan Ryan for unleashing this monster. Before his advice to Randy back in the early 90s he was still a strikeout machine but also gave away a lot of walks. The advice in tweaking his delivery finalized the foundation of his epic career.
Dude, same. i've been turquoise and purple since '98, i had dinner with my mom with the original line up a few months before their inagrual season opener. I was right around 10 years old. So, ya know right when i really discovered MLB. I knew of teams, watched ESPN, typical boy shit. But when we got a team...It was game over, the Diamonbacks were was my home. Still to this day, (even though we are in a down tick) they're my dudes, and when Randy came to town...oooooHHHHH BOOOOY lol
What Curt and Randy did together was absolutely absurd. Paired with their performances in the playoffs, especially Curt - we may never see that type of dominance + volume every again.
@@johnnieewalkerr oh absolutely. I think it was last week, Dodgers Tyler Glasnow had 14K's. I haven't seen a K number that large in quite some time to be honest. MLB has shifted heavily to the batters, so seeing pitching dominance and endurance is so rare any more.
@@thizlam4810I’m a mariners fan too back then and just think: we didn’t have Randy. Didn’t have Jr and didn’t have Arod in 01. And we STILL won 116 games
@@thizlam4810 I dunno, man. As a Mariners fan as well, there is no logical reason why we shouldnt have won the WS that year. Other than its the Mariners lol I doubt having Randy, A-Rod or Griffey on the team would have mattered. If a team that won 116 games in the regular season cant even get past the division series...(sighs in Mariners fan)
Worth noting - at 8:01, you mentioned Randy became the first person to strike out 300 in three straight years while discussing 2001. This was actually his *fourth* consecutive year striking out 300+. His combined total in 1998 between Seattle and Houston was 329. So he ended up with five consecutive years from 98-02.
As a kid growing up in Phoenix, that World Series team was absolutely inspirational. Very few things about and around Phoenix have ever made me as excited as that team and Randy was honestly it's biggest contributor. He'll always be one of my favorite athletes of all time
The perfect game vs my braves was absolutely a once in a lifetime experience. The braves fans gave him standing ovations and all the flowers he rightly deserved.
Watching that fateful game 7, the announcers talked about what the late innings would bring for the Diamondbacks pitching. No reliable relievers to speak of, and Schilling might get them seven or eight. So they pontificated….can Randy come in, like he did in 1995? He would have to start warming up early one of the announcers said. Sure enough, Johnson started pitching in the 5th inning. He knew he was gonna have to close this thing because no one was gonna trot Byung Hyung Kim out there again. Plus the wild thing about 2004 was how lousy the Diamondbacks were. Tons of injuries, rotating cast of players and a catcher that had barely started his career. There is a reason why the Braves fans said “screw it” and cheered Randy on. The video of the final inning is still spine tingling.
I was at that Spring Training game when he hit the bird. That whole period of D' Backs baseball is my fondest period of childhood and will always make me love baseball.
Oh and one more small little detail, he was tipping his pitches the entire time. Batters knew whether a slider or fastball was coming and still couldn't hit it. Inhuman.
I was gonna comment that everybody and their mama knew that slider was coming with 2 strikes and randy ahead in the count and he still made professional hitters look dumbfounded by it. It wasn't just hitters but literally everyone who was a fan knew what was coming.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the 1994 American League wild card playoff between the Mariners and Twins when Randy crushed the hopes and dreams of baseball’s youngest manager Billy Heywood
I still find it hilarious that they made the least successful franchise in MLB history the villains of that film. The Mariners had never even made the playoffs when that movie was made. Oddly enough they made it for the first time the following year in 1995 and still no World Series appearances. That’s like making the Browns a villain in a football movie, or the Timberwolves in a basketball movie. Absolutely ridiculous 😂
@@RileyMerlino The bad guys can't ALWAYS be the Yankees. Seriously though, if I'm making a movie and I could put any real-life pitcher as the final boss in the mid-90s, it's going to be Randy Johnson. No one else comes close to as physically imposing as he was, and he'd just finally put together all the pieces and was in the early phase of his decade of dominance.
@@RileyMerlino I think that’s a credit to the figures of Randy and Junior. Junior in the 90s was arguably the second most famous athlete on the planet next to MJ, and Randy’s imposing figure speaks for himself.
I'm so glad you used a part of that Bois clip. The music for that whole sequence introducing him is what I imagine his walkout music as a closer would've been. Seeing him run out to that as a batter would send the message that not only is he going to strike out, but his life is also in danger. Also nice use of Ode to the Mets. Didn't catch that at first.
If you were old enough to see him play. You will never see another like him. Only pitcher I’ve ever seen that could make some of the best hitters in the game not want to step in the box. He was a sight to behold. The GOAT of pitchers.
Randy had 4 straight 300+ strikeout seasons between 1999-2002. Since 2002, there’s only been 5 300+ strikeout seasons by any pitcher. Randy was built different
I feel like his postseason heroics go underappreciated. When you would need him most, he would deliver, big time. I mean, you could make a good point that his pitching is the reason why the Seattle Mariners still exist.
That 2004 season was unbelievable. What he was able to accomplish on a team that lost 111 games. All these dominant seasons and I am most impressed with 2004.
I just feel so lucky to have been a teen obsessed with baseball while Johnson, schilling and Pedro were in the league during the roid era. Absolute monsters
He had 329 strikeouts in 1998 so that gives him five straight seasons with 300 Ks. Not even Nolan Ryan did that thanks to the bone chips in his elbow in 1975.
3 minutes left in the video "no way he left out the perfect game!!" dude, great video. thanks for letting me relive some of my best childhood baseball moments!
As an Arizona Diamondbacks in his early youth during this run, Randy Johnson scared the living daylights out of me, and as a result was my favorite player. Nobody made baseball cooler than the tall angry dude that threw it as fast as he could. Great video!!!
Great video. He was my idol growing up as a left handed pitcher who batted right. We will never see anything like him again. Wish I could’ve seen him play.
Cutting bait on Randy when he was 34, because they thought he was on the downside of his career, might be the most Mariners thing out of all the Mariners things.
Going to the "cheapie homers" park at Yankee Stadium was bad for him now that he was so consistently in the zone and no longer the wild man, funny enough. 2004 was Randy's best year. He had by far his highest K/bb, and at the same time his second lowest H/9. The perfect game cemented it. He just kept learning how to pitch better.
I didn't go to many MLB games when I was younger, but I was lucky enough to be in Baltimore and to see Randy Johnson pitch in 98. I was and remain a Yankee fan, but I am truly glad I got to see that game, even if he killed my team in 2001. He did most of this while fighting serious back injuries as well. He was also the best pitcher in the old P.C. game Backyard Baseball b/c he never got tired.
Always good to get a video about Randy Johnson. I don't think he ever quite got the credit that I felt he deserved in those 1999-2002 seasons, just because Pedro had the more insane ERA numbers at the same time. Sure. Randy's 2.48 ERA (187 ERA+) doesn't come close to matching Pedro's 2.07 ERA (233 ERA+) in those seasons, but his 1,417 strikeouts dwarfs Pedro's 999 in the same timeframe. And Randy was pretty good outside of those four seasons too. He should have won the Cy Young in 2004.
Fantastic video. I’m a big fan of Jon Bois as well so seeing you hit him with some praise was awesome. I gotta say, your video was an awesome storytelling about Randy Johnson. Great graphics, editing, it was funny and informative, all in one. Definitely earned a subscriber
Definitely one of my top 5 favorite Mariners ever. I watched every game he ever pitched in Seattle except one. He was one of the rare pitchers that made you want to watch the game for the pitching.
I will never forget the sound the ball makes when the catcher catches it from randy. That sound IMMEDIATELY got my attention and I was in awe the rest of the game.
I was going into freshman year when AZ was awarded the team, a sophomore when we acquired Randy and I must say watching him in his prime up close for so many years built a love for the game I can’t communicate. His prime was the the most amazing thing to watch and will never see again here at least
As a 36 year old life long Seattle Mariners fan, I was young when Randy came to Seattle and my love for baseball was growing more and more. Watching The Big Unit pitch for my Mariners was awesome but also something I took for granted. That man was absolutely dominate even back then and that’s when he still hadn’t quite fine tuned his mechanics so his walk numbers were fairly high. Randy was (in my opinion) the greatest, most dominant and 100% the most intimidating pitcher that I have ever watched pitch in the majors
I wasn't a Randy Johnson, or Diamondbacks fan, but I was that night they took down the Evil Empire. I will always be a fan of his for that moment. Coming in and saving that World Series and having that story book ending.
Dbacks postseason with Johnson and Schilling pitching and relieving at the end of the World Series was such a magnificent moment for modern baseball. Some of these performances are perhaps the greatest baseball moments ever.
Randy was a BEAST. Used to work at the Cabelas here in Arizona. Bug Unit came in to buy a gun and my god. I knew his height. But seeing it up close is jaring. We were instructed, unless he asks for assistance leave him be. And honestly having to watch the man try to shop and be stopped every few minutes threw the thought out entirely. I didn't need to be told.
I remember how crazy it was watching the world series with Kurt schilling and Randy Johnson. You knew that their lineup had barely anyone, maybe Gonzo. They only had two good starting pitchers who they would use in a three-man rotation. In the world series those two guys single-handedly won them that world series, Randy and Curt were so dominant.
Something crazy I just found in the box score of Big Unit's perfect game, his pitching opponent that game was Mike Hampton, he was on an 0-4 stretch where only 1 of his losses he pitched less than 6 innings, he pitched a complete game HIMSELF that same game vs Big Unit! A complete game LOSS! You NEVER see that anymore! Even more crazy, Hampton started the season 2-8, before winning 7 of his next 8 starts (including a ND) going 9-8 before finishing the season on a good note at a 13-9 record. Hampton started awful in terms of ERA but managed to get it all the way down to 4.28 by the end of the season. Talk about a turn around for him!
He was amazing-- I remember watching the 1995 game 163 where he took a perfect game into the 6th, finishing with a 3 hit CG and 12 Ks, and it was one of the best & most clutch games ever. That he got even better from then on was just astounding.
I went to so many dback games solely because Randy was pitching. It was just different when he was on the mound. We actually had the same arm doctor, so I ran into him a few times later and he was such a nice guy. He’s an absolute legend in Arizona.
My first video game was Ken Griffey Jr and Randy was the opener, so since that I knew his slider was a guarantee to make K’s. Good video, always good to see big unit in action
I wish I had been a little older when this happened. I was barely even 7 years old when Randy played his first season with us. Knew who he was by the 01 world series but barely followed baseball until around the 07-08 season so I only really got to see him play regularly in some of his final years with us.
At the time living in the tri-state area, watching the Yankees win 3 straight titles against what in hindsight turned out to be little serious competition in the postseason, then seeing the lead-up to and progression of the entire 2001 world series was very special. Arizona and Randy Johnson weren't really discussed in great detail in that area and who could blame the local media. Yankees were rolling in the middle of another golden era, there was the Red Sox rivalry that was really heating up again and the Mets were also right there competing in the NL, having set up the subway series the season prior. Anything done in baseball outside of that may as well have happened on a different planet, short of what Bonds was doing at the same time in San Francisco. Johnson and the Diamonbacks really flipped that perception locally. This guy was so dominating and intimidating, it was wild to see it "live", so to speak. 2001 WS was his series more than anyone elses and that's a bold statement given all of the other crazy stuff that happened throughout. In particular what he did in game 6 and 7 cannot be overstated, especially given the context of what was covered in the this video. Should have been the sole MVP but I understand sharing it with Schilling bc he also was fantastic. Thanks for a ride down memory lane with this video. It was a really fun time in baseball, that entire late 90s to mid 00s stretch. 2001 might have been the peak tbh.
Idk if we’ll ever get another title with any pro sport team here from the desert (AZ) soon, but I’ll always be grateful for this ‘01 diamondbacks team !!
I was sad to see Randy leave Seattle, but was extremely happy that once he got to Arizona that they actually let him off the leash. Far too often if felt like he was pulled too early when with the Mariners. Arizona though, they just said "Here is the ball, Randy. Let us know when youre done." lol
Hof diamondbacks? I know he went god mode in AZ but Randy will always burn in our memories as a Mariner. Man, that 90s unie with the long curly perm? Cmon man!
Dont think he gets enough credit for that last season, dude was known for helping out other pitchers on teams he was on. His last year he was with the Giants he mentored or at least gave some welcome advice and pointers to young pitchers Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, and a struggling Jonathan Sanchez. All key contributors to Giants world series runs. Even when his career was almost over, he was still helping the next generation of pitchers assert dominance over baseball.
Fun fact: Randy Johnson is one of 2 pitchers in MLB history with the following combination -multiple Cy Young awards -multiple no hitters -20 Strikeout game -a WS The only other pitcher to do it is Max Scherzer, who is the only one ever with that combination but with multiple WS
I’m a left-handed batter. And I remember thinking even when I was a young kid, how terrifying it must be to dig into the batter’s box against Randy. Not only was his stuff filthy, but he just looked mean!
in a lot of ways randy was a throwback to a much earlier era in baseball, in particular the workload that he took on. absolutely insane how log he pitched at that level. only other person i can think of that even comes close to being that good that late in their career is satchel paige, and he, like randy, was utterly inhuman. no idea how either of them pitched as long as they did.
5:00 Randy Johnson wearing a Giants hat seemed so odd to me so I had to look this up. For anyone else who was confused by this, he just happened to pick up the wrong hat during a scuffle.
I remember my first game at dodger stadium, Randy Johnson was the opposing pitcher. My first thought was how ridiculous he looked on the mound, all legs and arms and hair, smallest torso I ever saw. But those thoughts turned into how the hell does anyone hit this guy? The arm angle, the speed, the pitch selection. He was absolutely dominant. I hated when the dodgers played the dbacks because I knew they were going to lose. But I loved watching Randy pitch.
It's easy to forget that he didn't really get going until he was 29. Once he ironed out his control issues, the results came and opposing hitters were left wondering how to counter his dominant fastball/slider combo.
An argument could easily be made that he’s the greatest pitcher of all time. The only things Randy didn’t accomplish was winning an MVP (near impossible for a pitcher) or get a triple crown (also near impossible) the man away super human and I don’t think we will see someone like him again in baseball.
Randy was great for an absurd amount of time. Even in his age 44 season he pitched 30 starts, 184 innings, 3.91 ERA, 2 complete games. The man wasn't just dominant, he was absurdly reliable once he found his stride in the MLB. Relief in the World Series, relief in game 5 of the ALDS in 1995, could near guarantee you quality innings.
Great video. My son is a sophomore 16 years old he is 6'10" tall and left handed . He wears number 51. Might be the next Randy Johnson but Dr's say he will probably be around 7'2" .
I still think the Mariners trading him is one of the worst trades in MLB history. Yes, Freddy Garcia became an all star twice and Carlos Guillen was a decent shortstop, but Randy winning the Cy Young four years in a row, throwing a perfect game, and winning a world series just makes that trade absolutely painful
You know the stat that kinda grabbed my attention? 8 complete games. That's wild. I mean, the most complete games by a pitcher recently was a few years ago with 6, but that was an outlier. Usually, the top of the complete game stat sheet is filled with guys that got 2 or 3 complete games. Johnson, while closer to age 40 than 30, put up 8 complete games in a season. That's insane.
Honestly the bird story is so weird. I feel like that would have happened to any pitcher on the mound at that time but the fact that it was Randy just further built up his legend as a dude who was vicious on the mound. The fact that the batter in the box at the time is the uncle of Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is comical serendipity.
Randy was fucking terrifying.
He was a stud in Seattle.
Got traded to Houston. Still a stud.
Signed with Arizona. Became a fucking legend.
Maddux and Randy: 4 straight Cy Young Awards each.
One via location and speed control. The other via fear and power.
"Catch up to my fastball? Ha! Now, here's a slider coming at 95% of the speed of my fastball."
That slider was devastating. For left handed hitters it left Randy's hand looking like its gonna hit you and ends up painting the outside corner at 90+.. and dropped about 3 ft on top of it....just not fair.
He really threw two sliders. A slow one and a hard one. Absolutely ridiculous, he's so much better than ever other pitcher it's absurd Lmao 😂
@@thedoctorrothyeah for a lefty that slider with his low arm slot and freakish length is starting behind them breaking all the way to the outside
My favorite pitcher and my second favorite pitcher. Maddux and Johnson.
Him and Curt were a fantastic one-two punch of legendary proportions! It's no wonder why they won 2001 like that!
97.3 on his Hall voting I hope the 2.7% of writers who didn’t vote for him never have a say on anything ever.
Most likely empty ballots some voters dont even vote
The people who voted no are the angel hernandez of writers. Must not be able to see
They probably voted for Biden too.
@@jamesp1289no need to get political on a video about baseball man
@@alexramirez4723 Tell that to the leftists who like to infest everything with their poisonous garbage.
Seeing this dude come out as a closer in the World Series, the game after he started was one of the greatest things I’ve seen in baseball in my life. Dude was otherworldly
Thank Nolan Ryan for unleashing this monster. Before his advice to Randy back in the early 90s he was still a strikeout machine but also gave away a lot of walks. The advice in tweaking his delivery finalized the foundation of his epic career.
Nolan Ryan giving someone else effective advice on how to walk fewer batters is peak irony.
Totally, Randy was always scary to face, but Nolan’s advice turned him into the most accurate strikeout artist in history.
@@MetFanMac True but Nolan did gain much more control about halfway thru his career
@@MetFanMac Lol right
Randy Johnson was able to surpass Nolan Ryan as a pitcher in no small part because he had Nolan Ryan to give him advice.
Watching this man as a young kid in AZ live during these years was literally the best. Watching him and Curt crush people was a thing of magic.
Dude, same. i've been turquoise and purple since '98, i had dinner with my mom with the original line up a few months before their inagrual season opener. I was right around 10 years old. So, ya know right when i really discovered MLB. I knew of teams, watched ESPN, typical boy shit. But when we got a team...It was game over, the Diamonbacks were was my home. Still to this day, (even though we are in a down tick) they're my dudes, and when Randy came to town...oooooHHHHH BOOOOY lol
What Curt and Randy did together was absolutely absurd. Paired with their performances in the playoffs, especially Curt - we may never see that type of dominance + volume every again.
@@johnnieewalkerr oh absolutely. I think it was last week, Dodgers Tyler Glasnow had 14K's. I haven't seen a K number that large in quite some time to be honest. MLB has shifted heavily to the batters, so seeing pitching dominance and endurance is so rare any more.
As intimidating as he was on the mound, he seems to be one of the nicest people around.
Plus the logo for his photography company is perfect
Randy Johnson is definitely up there on the list of all-time greats I'd love to get a beer with and talk baseball
372 K’s in 2001🤯🤯
Dont forget he also struckout 47 batters during that postseason. That’s 400+ K’s in total!!!
Big Unit was something else!!
As a mariners fan I always say if we had randy still on the team in 2001 when we won 116 games, we would have won the World Series
@@thizlam4810 A Rod + Randy on that team would've been insane
@@thizlam4810I’m a mariners fan too back then and just think: we didn’t have Randy. Didn’t have Jr and didn’t have Arod in 01. And we STILL won 116 games
@@thizlam4810
I dunno, man. As a Mariners fan as well, there is no logical reason why we shouldnt have won the WS that year. Other than its the Mariners lol I doubt having Randy, A-Rod or Griffey on the team would have mattered. If a team that won 116 games in the regular season cant even get past the division series...(sighs in Mariners fan)
Worth noting - at 8:01, you mentioned Randy became the first person to strike out 300 in three straight years while discussing 2001. This was actually his *fourth* consecutive year striking out 300+. His combined total in 1998 between Seattle and Houston was 329. So he ended up with five consecutive years from 98-02.
no nolan did from 72-74
@@thejuansshow6410 So he did! My point will remain regarding Randy getting five in a row, however, and the season in question was the fourth.
@@mptness4389 👌👌
Not only that, but there have only been 5 300K seasons since Randy last accomplished the feat
As a kid growing up in Phoenix, that World Series team was absolutely inspirational. Very few things about and around Phoenix have ever made me as excited as that team and Randy was honestly it's biggest contributor. He'll always be one of my favorite athletes of all time
623 in the building
The perfect game vs my braves was absolutely a once in a lifetime experience. The braves fans gave him standing ovations and all the flowers he rightly deserved.
Thank you so much. Randy Johnson is a living god. A titan among mortals. The greatest pitcher to ever pitch.
bros a professional meat rider
Watching that fateful game 7, the announcers talked about what the late innings would bring for the Diamondbacks pitching. No reliable relievers to speak of, and Schilling might get them seven or eight. So they pontificated….can Randy come in, like he did in 1995? He would have to start warming up early one of the announcers said. Sure enough, Johnson started pitching in the 5th inning. He knew he was gonna have to close this thing because no one was gonna trot Byung Hyung Kim out there again.
Plus the wild thing about 2004 was how lousy the Diamondbacks were. Tons of injuries, rotating cast of players and a catcher that had barely started his career. There is a reason why the Braves fans said “screw it” and cheered Randy on. The video of the final inning is still spine tingling.
I was at that Spring Training game when he hit the bird. That whole period of D' Backs baseball is my fondest period of childhood and will always make me love baseball.
Same, in tucson…I was playing in the outfield hill
Oh and one more small little detail, he was tipping his pitches the entire time. Batters knew whether a slider or fastball was coming and still couldn't hit it. Inhuman.
I was gonna comment that everybody and their mama knew that slider was coming with 2 strikes and randy ahead in the count and he still made professional hitters look dumbfounded by it. It wasn't just hitters but literally everyone who was a fan knew what was coming.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the 1994 American League wild card playoff between the Mariners and Twins when Randy crushed the hopes and dreams of baseball’s youngest manager Billy Heywood
Never forgave Ken Griffey Jr. for that catch
I still find it hilarious that they made the least successful franchise in MLB history the villains of that film. The Mariners had never even made the playoffs when that movie was made. Oddly enough they made it for the first time the following year in 1995 and still no World Series appearances. That’s like making the Browns a villain in a football movie, or the Timberwolves in a basketball movie. Absolutely ridiculous 😂
@@RileyMerlino The bad guys can't ALWAYS be the Yankees.
Seriously though, if I'm making a movie and I could put any real-life pitcher as the final boss in the mid-90s, it's going to be Randy Johnson. No one else comes close to as physically imposing as he was, and he'd just finally put together all the pieces and was in the early phase of his decade of dominance.
@@RileyMerlino I think that’s a credit to the figures of Randy and Junior. Junior in the 90s was arguably the second most famous athlete on the planet next to MJ, and Randy’s imposing figure speaks for himself.
I'm so glad you used a part of that Bois clip. The music for that whole sequence introducing him is what I imagine his walkout music as a closer would've been. Seeing him run out to that as a batter would send the message that not only is he going to strike out, but his life is also in danger.
Also nice use of Ode to the Mets. Didn't catch that at first.
If you were old enough to see him play. You will never see another like him. Only pitcher I’ve ever seen that could make some of the best hitters in the game not want to step in the box. He was a sight to behold. The GOAT of pitchers.
Randy had 4 straight 300+ strikeout seasons between 1999-2002. Since 2002, there’s only been 5 300+ strikeout seasons by any pitcher.
Randy was built different
I feel like his postseason heroics go underappreciated. When you would need him most, he would deliver, big time. I mean, you could make a good point that his pitching is the reason why the Seattle Mariners still exist.
You didn’t even mention that he also holds the record for most K’s in a relief appearance with 16.
That 2004 season was unbelievable. What he was able to accomplish on a team that lost 111 games. All these dominant seasons and I am most impressed with 2004.
I just feel so lucky to have been a teen obsessed with baseball while Johnson, schilling and Pedro were in the league during the roid era. Absolute monsters
I would understand if being a short king means my qualifications to make this video are all gone
youre a lot taller than me dw
Oh 5' 7" is the global average height. Nothing wrong with it at all.
Everyone 6’5 and under is a short king to Randy Johnson.
@@AllisonIsLividsomeone has to be average after all, it makes the 6 foot and up club feel something in our lives
Randy Johnson is a freak I wouldn’t compare yourself to him lol.
Randy lead ML in K's in 1998 but was the leader in neither NL nor AL that season. Insane stuff from the big unit!
He had 329 strikeouts in 1998 so that gives him five straight seasons with 300 Ks. Not even Nolan Ryan did that thanks to the bone chips in his elbow in 1975.
Cool stat. Didn't realize that
Randy is my all time favorite pitcher. This was a great video!
3 minutes left in the video "no way he left out the perfect game!!"
dude, great video. thanks for letting me relive some of my best childhood baseball moments!
As an Arizona Diamondbacks in his early youth during this run, Randy Johnson scared the living daylights out of me, and as a result was my favorite player. Nobody made baseball cooler than the tall angry dude that threw it as fast as he could. Great video!!!
Great video. He was my idol growing up as a left handed pitcher who batted right. We will never see anything like him again. Wish I could’ve seen him play.
Cutting bait on Randy when he was 34, because they thought he was on the downside of his career, might be the most Mariners thing out of all the Mariners things.
It wasn’t an age thing; it was a money thing. They were tryna keep AROD // Griffey
Growing up a Yanks fan in the late 90's, early 00's I remember that 2001 season. Randy was a MACHINE. Absolutely terrifying. RESPECT on his name.
I love Randy but that bloop single kills me every single time 🥲
That stupid blooper kills me every time I hear or see it. Fml
But randy was a beast in his 30's
Going to the "cheapie homers" park at Yankee Stadium was bad for him now that he was so consistently in the zone and no longer the wild man, funny enough.
2004 was Randy's best year. He had by far his highest K/bb, and at the same time his second lowest H/9. The perfect game cemented it. He just kept learning how to pitch better.
I didn't go to many MLB games when I was younger, but I was lucky enough to be in Baltimore and to see Randy Johnson pitch in 98. I was and remain a Yankee fan, but I am truly glad I got to see that game, even if he killed my team in 2001. He did most of this while fighting serious back injuries as well.
He was also the best pitcher in the old P.C. game Backyard Baseball b/c he never got tired.
Always good to get a video about Randy Johnson. I don't think he ever quite got the credit that I felt he deserved in those 1999-2002 seasons, just because Pedro had the more insane ERA numbers at the same time. Sure. Randy's 2.48 ERA (187 ERA+) doesn't come close to matching Pedro's 2.07 ERA (233 ERA+) in those seasons, but his 1,417 strikeouts dwarfs Pedro's 999 in the same timeframe. And Randy was pretty good outside of those four seasons too. He should have won the Cy Young in 2004.
I often think about who I would rather have pitching with my life on the line, peak Unit or peak Pedro. Usually the answer I arrive at is, "Yes."
Just purchased his rookie 89 topps tiffany auto (mariners) in a psa 10 im so hype on it
Fantastic video. I’m a big fan of Jon Bois as well so seeing you hit him with some praise was awesome.
I gotta say, your video was an awesome storytelling about Randy Johnson. Great graphics, editing, it was funny and informative, all in one. Definitely earned a subscriber
Definitely one of my top 5 favorite Mariners ever. I watched every game he ever pitched in Seattle except one. He was one of the rare pitchers that made you want to watch the game for the pitching.
Greatest left hander of all time thanks SRS/Mike!
His throwing motion and wind up is so efficient, and looks so effortless. It’s no wonder he pitched so long at a high level.
I will never forget the sound the ball makes when the catcher catches it from randy. That sound IMMEDIATELY got my attention and I was in awe the rest of the game.
I was going into freshman year when AZ was awarded the team, a sophomore when we acquired Randy and I must say watching him in his prime up close for so many years built a love for the game I can’t communicate. His prime was the the most amazing thing to watch and will never see again here at least
As a 36 year old life long Seattle Mariners fan, I was young when Randy came to Seattle and my love for baseball was growing more and more. Watching The Big Unit pitch for my Mariners was awesome but also something I took for granted. That man was absolutely dominate even back then and that’s when he still hadn’t quite fine tuned his mechanics so his walk numbers were fairly high. Randy was (in my opinion) the greatest, most dominant and 100% the most intimidating pitcher that I have ever watched pitch in the majors
I just remember watching baseball tonight back then in the summer.. and the boys would just be blown away by randy.. He's my generations goat.
I wasn't a Randy Johnson, or Diamondbacks fan, but I was that night they took down the Evil Empire. I will always be a fan of his for that moment. Coming in and saving that World Series and having that story book ending.
Dbacks postseason with Johnson and Schilling pitching and relieving at the end of the World Series was such a magnificent moment for modern baseball. Some of these performances are perhaps the greatest baseball moments ever.
God tier vid. Well done.
Randy was a BEAST. Used to work at the Cabelas here in Arizona. Bug Unit came in to buy a gun and my god. I knew his height. But seeing it up close is jaring. We were instructed, unless he asks for assistance leave him be. And honestly having to watch the man try to shop and be stopped every few minutes threw the thought out entirely. I didn't need to be told.
Randy was one of a kind.
I remember watching the 04 no hitter game. I live in Atlanta, and it was awesome seeing the stadium cheer Randy on!
I remember the 01 world series vividly. What a series!! Gonzo hitting that blooper had me jumping. And I'm a Red Sox fan.
One of the very best pitchers in baseball! He worked fast on the mound too.
Well done Mariners. Team that have had AROD, Edgar Martinez, Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, King Felix and Ichiro haven't been able to get over the hump.
I remember how crazy it was watching the world series with Kurt schilling and Randy Johnson. You knew that their lineup had barely anyone, maybe Gonzo. They only had two good starting pitchers who they would use in a three-man rotation. In the world series those two guys single-handedly won them that world series, Randy and Curt were so dominant.
I was not ready for the Wii Sports and Minecraft crossover
First time watching this channel. Fantastic work sir, this was exactly what i was searching for. Subscribed
Something crazy I just found in the box score of Big Unit's perfect game, his pitching opponent that game was Mike Hampton, he was on an 0-4 stretch where only 1 of his losses he pitched less than 6 innings, he pitched a complete game HIMSELF that same game vs Big Unit! A complete game LOSS! You NEVER see that anymore! Even more crazy, Hampton started the season 2-8, before winning 7 of his next 8 starts (including a ND) going 9-8 before finishing the season on a good note at a 13-9 record. Hampton started awful in terms of ERA but managed to get it all the way down to 4.28 by the end of the season. Talk about a turn around for him!
He was amazing-- I remember watching the 1995 game 163 where he took a perfect game into the 6th, finishing with a 3 hit CG and 12 Ks, and it was one of the best & most clutch games ever. That he got even better from then on was just astounding.
Ive seen like 3 or 4 videos like this on randy in the last couple months. Legends never die
He made it look so effortless too. Buddy was hitting 100mph sidearming with barely any follow through 😂
I went to so many dback games solely because Randy was pitching. It was just different when he was on the mound. We actually had the same arm doctor, so I ran into him a few times later and he was such a nice guy. He’s an absolute legend in Arizona.
My first video game was Ken Griffey Jr and Randy was the opener, so since that I knew his slider was a guarantee to make K’s. Good video, always good to see big unit in action
I wish I had been a little older when this happened. I was barely even 7 years old when Randy played his first season with us. Knew who he was by the 01 world series but barely followed baseball until around the 07-08 season so I only really got to see him play regularly in some of his final years with us.
At the time living in the tri-state area, watching the Yankees win 3 straight titles against what in hindsight turned out to be little serious competition in the postseason, then seeing the lead-up to and progression of the entire 2001 world series was very special. Arizona and Randy Johnson weren't really discussed in great detail in that area and who could blame the local media. Yankees were rolling in the middle of another golden era, there was the Red Sox rivalry that was really heating up again and the Mets were also right there competing in the NL, having set up the subway series the season prior. Anything done in baseball outside of that may as well have happened on a different planet, short of what Bonds was doing at the same time in San Francisco.
Johnson and the Diamonbacks really flipped that perception locally. This guy was so dominating and intimidating, it was wild to see it "live", so to speak. 2001 WS was his series more than anyone elses and that's a bold statement given all of the other crazy stuff that happened throughout. In particular what he did in game 6 and 7 cannot be overstated, especially given the context of what was covered in the this video. Should have been the sole MVP but I understand sharing it with Schilling bc he also was fantastic.
Thanks for a ride down memory lane with this video. It was a really fun time in baseball, that entire late 90s to mid 00s stretch. 2001 might have been the peak tbh.
1:46 PEAK 😭😭
Idk if we’ll ever get another title with any pro sport team here from the desert (AZ) soon, but I’ll always be grateful for this ‘01 diamondbacks team !!
Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Pedro Martinez will always be my top 3 fav pitchers.
It’s insane that he remains underrated. Top 3 lefty all time, yet underrated. Insane.
Randy Johnson was the Undertaker of MLB. Lives his character, Never breaks character, intimidation at maximum.
World Series.
You thought me starting the game yesterday was bad, you haven't seen anything yet. LET'S GO!!!!
One of the best to ever do it. He just had such an intimidating look to him on the mound since he was such a giant.
Double the Ks to Hits in a season is absolutely insane
I was sad to see Randy leave Seattle, but was extremely happy that once he got to Arizona that they actually let him off the leash. Far too often if felt like he was pulled too early when with the Mariners. Arizona though, they just said "Here is the ball, Randy. Let us know when youre done." lol
And he won a ring as well
My favorite pitcher of all time and one of the few reasons I started watching baseball 💪🏾
Hof diamondbacks? I know he went god mode in AZ but Randy will always burn in our memories as a Mariner. Man, that 90s unie with the long curly perm? Cmon man!
Dont think he gets enough credit for that last season, dude was known for helping out other pitchers on teams he was on. His last year he was with the Giants he mentored or at least gave some welcome advice and pointers to young pitchers Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, and a struggling Jonathan Sanchez. All key contributors to Giants world series runs. Even when his career was almost over, he was still helping the next generation of pitchers assert dominance over baseball.
Thank you Randy for brining a championship to Arizona
gotta love the kumquats
Randy Johnson’s UCL must be made of adamantium
Fun fact: Randy Johnson is one of 2 pitchers in MLB history with the following combination
-multiple Cy Young awards
-multiple no hitters
-20 Strikeout game
-a WS
The only other pitcher to do it is Max Scherzer, who is the only one ever with that combination but with multiple WS
And a perfect game too.
I’m a left-handed batter.
And I remember thinking even when I was a young kid, how terrifying it must be to dig into the batter’s box against Randy.
Not only was his stuff filthy, but he just looked mean!
Randy the Big unit, my favorite pitcher of all time. 🙌🏾❤️🔥
in a lot of ways randy was a throwback to a much earlier era in baseball, in particular the workload that he took on. absolutely insane how log he pitched at that level. only other person i can think of that even comes close to being that good that late in their career is satchel paige, and he, like randy, was utterly inhuman. no idea how either of them pitched as long as they did.
5:00 Randy Johnson wearing a Giants hat seemed so odd to me so I had to look this up. For anyone else who was confused by this, he just happened to pick up the wrong hat during a scuffle.
Go Dbacks!!!! 🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍
Arizona loves randy, so proud he went in the hall as a dback
I remember him being in backyard baseball 2001 and 2003, he's the only pro with a unique model. Every other pro shares one with another
I remember my first game at dodger stadium, Randy Johnson was the opposing pitcher. My first thought was how ridiculous he looked on the mound, all legs and arms and hair, smallest torso I ever saw. But those thoughts turned into how the hell does anyone hit this guy? The arm angle, the speed, the pitch selection. He was absolutely dominant. I hated when the dodgers played the dbacks because I knew they were going to lose. But I loved watching Randy pitch.
97.3 on his Hall voting I hope the 2.7 of writers who didn’t vote for him never have a say on anything ever ❤
It's easy to forget that he didn't really get going until he was 29. Once he ironed out his control issues, the results came and opposing hitters were left wondering how to counter his dominant fastball/slider combo.
An argument could easily be made that he’s the greatest pitcher of all time. The only things Randy didn’t accomplish was winning an MVP (near impossible for a pitcher) or get a triple crown (also near impossible) the man away super human and I don’t think we will see someone like him again in baseball.
Randy was great for an absurd amount of time. Even in his age 44 season he pitched 30 starts, 184 innings, 3.91 ERA, 2 complete games. The man wasn't just dominant, he was absurdly reliable once he found his stride in the MLB. Relief in the World Series, relief in game 5 of the ALDS in 1995, could near guarantee you quality innings.
Barry Bonds vs Randy Johnson
15-49
HR 3
RBI 12
walks 13
Juicer!😊
Great video. My son is a sophomore 16 years old he is 6'10" tall and left handed . He wears number 51. Might be the next Randy Johnson but Dr's say he will probably be around 7'2" .
AND Randy is a MASSIVE Rush fanatic, which, in my book, makes him even more awesome.
I still think the Mariners trading him is one of the worst trades in MLB history. Yes, Freddy Garcia became an all star twice and Carlos Guillen was a decent shortstop, but Randy winning the Cy Young four years in a row, throwing a perfect game, and winning a world series just makes that trade absolutely painful
You know the stat that kinda grabbed my attention? 8 complete games. That's wild. I mean, the most complete games by a pitcher recently was a few years ago with 6, but that was an outlier. Usually, the top of the complete game stat sheet is filled with guys that got 2 or 3 complete games. Johnson, while closer to age 40 than 30, put up 8 complete games in a season. That's insane.
When he got to Arizona he got a handle on his walks - made him so much more effective.
The most intimidating pitcher ever. The 2nd best lefty of all time. So happy to have him in AZ
Honestly the bird story is so weird. I feel like that would have happened to any pitcher on the mound at that time but the fact that it was Randy just further built up his legend as a dude who was vicious on the mound.
The fact that the batter in the box at the time is the uncle of Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray is comical serendipity.
The first thing I noticed was the fact the one I had was the same thing as my other one that was a little bigger 9:52
Great video bro, however, what happened to his 20 strikeout game?