And he will almost certainly be the last.

With the 5-man rotation, starters just don't get enough chances to win 300 any more.

Johnson pitched 2-3 years more than he should have to reach 300.

Still, it is a glorious sight to see a pitcher reach one of the old benchmarks.

The Hall of Fame awaits.

Congrats Randy Johnson!

San Francisco Giants vs. Washington Nationals - Recap - June 04, 2009 - ESPN

 

Congrats to him! Another proud USC grad.

Fight on!

 

Major props to the "Big Unit"

 

Caught bits and pieces of this game earlier. Good for him! Unfortunately it was in a rainy game with a piss poor fan turnout.

 

MASN is running some good commentary from various folks throughout his career. One of the more humorous:

Randy used to wave off the throw over sign (when a runner was on first). I finally asked him about it one game and he said "They can't steal home. They might steal second or third, but I'm striking out the next three batters so they aren't getting home." Gotcha Randy. There won't be any more throw over signals.

 

The best Big Unit moment:

YouTube - WTF BOMB: RANDY JOHNSON BIRD PITCH

 

Its well deserved for him....I remember watching him pitch a no hitter against the tigers growing up and coming out in relief to beat the yankees in the playoffs with for the mariners. Now that was a game!

 

What I remember most about Randy Johnson was the World Series in 2001 between the Diamondbacks and the Yankees.

Johnson pitched the Diamondbacks to a win in game 6. And then, he came out of the bullpen to win game 7! He is the only pitcher to ever do that. It's like Peter Gammons said, from that moment forward, the term "toughness" in sports meant "Randy Johnson."

Don't forget that he also has nearly 5,000 Ks and a great career ERA of 3.28 and a .647 winning percentage.

Compare that to pitching legend Nolan Ryan whose winning percentage was only .526. While both are now 300 game winners (Ryan was 324 - 292 in his career) Johnson lost almost 150 fewer games than Ryan going 300-162. You might blame this on the fact that Ryan played for bad teams. On the other hand, you may want to look at the fact that Ryan walked more batters than any pitcher in MLB history (2795) while Johnson had great control walking only 1487 batters in over 4,000 innings.

If you ask me, Johnson is every bit the pitcher that Ryan was. This is especially true when you factor in that Johnson struggled for the first 4 years he was in the majors.

He is most deserving and a first ballot HOFer IMHO.

 

Nolan Ryan was awsome but overrated IMO when compared to other HOF pitchers

 

I agree. Ryan was great and his ability to pitch effectively until nearly 50-years old makes him a bonofide legend.

I thought that Ryan was a solid first ballot HOFer but not a slam-dunk.

Consider: He lost more games than any other 300-game winner and is 3rd all-time (292), he walked the most (2795), threw the most wild pitches (277) and had the highest hits per 9 innings as well (6.6). He is also in the top 10 in hit batters and home runs allowed. Ryan never won a Cy Young award whereas Randy Johnson won 5 - including 4 in a ROW.

Ryan did win 300 games and had the 5,386 Ks. The Ks are particularly amazing. His total gave him a per season average of 246 Ks!! That's enough to lead the league almost every year today. This translates into nearly 10 Ks per 9 innings across his career. Also, the 7 no hitters is a nearly unmatchable feat.

Much like Ryan, Johnson has that "mean" streak that made him great. They both intimidated the hell out of opposing batters and just had that winning attitude.

I love them both. But Johnson gets my vote as the better overall pitcher.