September 10, 1963 Hall of famer Randy Johnson was born in Walnut Creek, CA. He lived in California through his college years and was a teammate at USC of Mark McGwire.
Nicknamed “The Big Unit,” he is one of the best left handers in baseball history. Johnson was a 10X All-Star, won 5 Cy Young Awards, was named the World Series MVP in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, led the league in strikeouts 9X & ERA 4X.
On Saturday, June 2, 1990, Johnson no-hit Detroit as his Seattle Mariners topped the Tigers 2-0 at the Kingdome. It was the Mariners’ first no-hitter and 14 years later on May 18, 2004 Johnson became the 17th player to pitch a perfect game when he beat the Braves 2-0 at Turner Field. It was also the Arizona Diamondbacks first no hitter.
His uniform #51 is retired by the Diamondbacks and he is a member of the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame. In his 22-year career (1988-2009), Randy had 303 wins, 4875 strikeouts (2nd all-time behind Nolan Ryan), 37 shutouts, & 3.29 ERA. Johnson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 (97.3% on the 1st ballot).
