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.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
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