Big Unit Bound for Cooperstown: Randy Johnson Retires

Posted on January 5, 2010

Randy Johnson of the San Francisco Giants walks up the stairs into the dugout before the game against the New York Mets at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on Saturday, May 16, 2009. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Five-time Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson will officially announce his retirement in a conference call this evening. Johnson’s career record of 303-166 and 4,875 career strikeouts put him in a unique category that will make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer in five years. I had the chance to photograph the Livermore, California native many times over his 22-year career that ended in San Francisco in 2009. I first remember shooting Randy Johnson in 1994 during a day game in Oakland on assignment for Sports Illustrated. He was always fun to shoot, and sometimes difficult as his 6’10” frame was hard to keep in the frame sometimes during his left-handed delivery.

John was having a decent season in San Francisco last season that saw him win his 300th game until he was injured during a game against the Astros on an overcast Sunday afternoon at AT&T Park on July 5, 2009. I photographed Johnson during the last game he pitched at home on October 1, 2009 (he pitched his final game in San Diego on October 4). I knew then that he would never pitch again as at age 45 he had done everything he could in a Big League uniform, and he had proven that he could go out on his own terms and not because of an injury.

The Big Unit came a long way from being the wild-throwing lefty the Expos sent to the Mariners in exchange for Mark Langston in 1989. He made 10 All-Star teams and earned over $175 million in his career. Not bad for the tall kid who once laced’em up for the Livermore Cowboys.

Randy Johnson Retires – Images by Brad Mangin