4:04pm: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets that the conference call has been moved up to tonight, and that The Big Unit will indeed announce his retirement.
2:47pm: According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter), it appears that Randy Johnson will announce his retirement tomorrow morning. A bunch of other reporters are talking about tomorrow's poorly-timed conference call as well.
Johnson would finish with five Cy Young awards, 303 wins, 4,875 strikeouts, and a 3.29 ERA in 4,135.3 career innings. Baseball-Reference puts his career earnings at $175.55MM.
Great career but it’s time to go.
Agreed.
Class Guy and a 300 game winner.
Well, hey…if he retires now he’s that much closer to his HOF induction!
Too bad, there’s a lot of clubs who still need a fifth starter. I could see him slotting in well with the Cubs, Mariners, Giants, Brewers, or Diamondbacks especially
Agreed. He should retire out as a Mariner. It’d do the team some justice.
why should he retire as a Mariner?
He made himself during his tenure as a Mariner.
He became a Hall of Famer with the D’backs though.
Yeah, I guess that’s debatable.
Won the world series as a d back
Good choice Randy. You have had a great career, your hof bound, and really have nothing left to proove. Now go relax and try out for a new sport…bird hunting with 98mph fastballs.
I always hate to see the greats go but he had a great career 1st ballot hall of famer for sure. Him and Glavine will go in the same year I beleive. The two greatest lefties of our time in one shot.
2011, 2013 and 2015 will be some great years for baseball fans.
2011 sees Jeff Bagwell (hopefully), 2013 sees two of the greatest second basemen of our time (Craig Biggio and hopefully Jeff Kent) and 2015 gets the Big Unit and Glavine.
Guess we don’t get to see the greatest pitcher of our time make the HOF….Maddux?!?!?!
Plus Glavine will be inducted in 2014 he didn’t play last year…minor leauge rehab doesn’t count…
Bagwell was a steriod guy. No way does he or Mark McGwire deserve to be in the HOF.
Bagwell is NOT a HOF’er.
Bagwell is easily a Hall of Fame caliber player. His career was slightly shorter then most first ballot guys (only 15 season) but he was dominate in just about every one of them. His OPS+ never fell below 130 in his first 12 season and his career OPS is 23rd all time. He was an MVP, a Gold Glove winner, and a ROY, all things that baseball writers like to see on a resume. He might not get in first ballot since he doesn’t have any of the “magic” numbers–500 HR or 3000 Hits–but he does belong in the hall. As for the steroids, yes that might be a problem, but Bagwell wasn’t the poster boy for PEDs the way McGwire was. I don’t think the writers will block all of the steroid era from the Hall.
I agree, it’s a good choice to retire.
I wonder if he’ll go into the hall as a Mariner or Dback.
My guess is as a Mariner, because he didn’t leave AZ on a particularly good note.
I really, really hope it’s as a Diamondback though.
How about as a Montreal Expo?
Yeah, what a great job he did with a whole 55 2/3 IP there.
They drafted him, that should account for something.
The only thing it accounts for is the mistake the Expos made by letting him go to another team before he was able to prove himself.
He’ll go in as a Dback. He has no choice in the matter, and he had most of his career accomplishments as a Dback
Remember, though, that while he may have no choice in the matter, he DOES get to have an input on who he would prefer to have on his cap, whether that be Seattle or Arizona (but for a funny twist, wouldn’t it be great if he had Montreal, Houston or San Francisco?). The Hall gets final say on who goes on his cap, but the Big Unit DOES have a say.
hmm, wish he’d come back for one year and retire as a mariner. surprised he doesn’t even want to attempt 5000 strikeouts.
Hands down a HoF. Wish he would still pitch though, so he could get to 5000 K’s.
… but his mullet has announced a comeback.
nice
why is this poorly timed?
Best pitcher that I’ve ever seen. In his prime I would put him against Pedro, Maddux or Clemens.
Let not disrespect Maddux and Pedro by including that other guy along side them. Let’s leave him with those “others guys” that are NOT getting in any HoF! Maybe Clemens will get in the HoF of old guys dating really cute young girls. Cant say she was hot as she was only 15 when they went on their first date.
Can’t be bothered to check for exact numbers, but didn’t Maddux have almost as many Wins as BB’s one season. I hated the Braves (still not a fan) but man could you appreciate that guy on the mound!
Imagine if the Expos kept both RJ and Pedro into their primes? WOW.
No question about it Maddux and Pedro were both silly good. The problem with Maddux has always been that he’s hard to appreciate. You watch a game and think to yourself – why aren’t these guys hitting him? He’s always around in the zone, his speeds were relatively consistent, and he didn’t appear to have great movement. That said, he was a freak. People just couldn’t touch him. His control was outstanding (as you pointed out) as was his defense. Guy was even decent with the stick. Just a great all-around player.
Pedro in his heyday was very close to Johnson in terms of sheer dominance. I just think Johnson did it better at his peak and did it for much longer.
I’m not a huge Clemens fan, and doping up certainly doesn’t help. That said, there is no denying that he was amazingly good.
Not exactly a great guy (of course, only from what we hear as fans) but one of the greatest of all-time. Peace Randy.
Yeah not the nicest guy, but he was a competitor. Unless you knew him he would turn his back to him, i have the luckiness to actually know him and find him not hating everyone… and if your wondering yes.. all his kids have mullets haha
Great left-hander. Greatest ever? He should go into the hall as a Diamondback imo, his greatest success was there if not his most years.
Should wait till Thursday so the players that get elected to the Hall can have their day.
uh no. as a Mariner. besides, he had like the perfect game with the D’backs. and then nothing else happened.
Uh Ok?
Randy Johnson retiring won’t take any of the spotlight away from anyone that gets in. If anything, it will take some of the attention away from him announcing his retirement. Jesus the media will try and make something out of any little thing
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I’m going to miss seeing a man who was 6’5 and looked like he was 95 pounds who has a mullet and a biker mustache.
Too bad, I was hoping he would go for 5,000 strikeouts with Seattle this year.
Hats off to the greatest I’ve ever watched pitch. His 2001 line with Arizona was one of the filthiest seasons I’ve ever witnessed a pitcher have. 21-6 2.49 ERA 1.01 WHIP 372 Ks 13.4 SO/9 I can’t fathom being a batter in the NL West that year. I still think he’s got more left than some other guys out there, but if the guy wants to hang em up, I gotta respect that.
Great pitcher. First ballot HOF. But along with his strikeouts, wins, ERA, and other numbers, you forgot one: 1 exploded bird. (Not going to provide a link, but YouTube has it, if you search “Randy Johnson bird”) I suppose if Dave Winfield can go in for his fowl ball, so can Randy J.
Good luck after baseball. It will be good to be with your family. One of the best lefties.
Great career, one of the top 10 leftys of all time, and he had some wicked nasty stuff in his prime.It is a shame that most big leaguers will not stay with one team there whole career anymore. Clemente is always a pirate, Campanella a dodgers, you get the picture. Johnson could go in as anything from a Montreal expo to a san francisco giant. Anyway I am so glad I had a chance to see him in his prime. Those seattle teams with AROD, Griffey, Bhuner, Martinez and yet they won nothing.
…? ya he’ll definitely be going in as a giant
I can only imagine how cool it was to be in the stadium when RJ came out of the bullpen against the Yanks…That must have made the hair on your neck stand up.
What tune did he come out to? Was is Welcome to the Jungle?
Anyway, I have to imagine that was quite a night at the ballpark!
Good career best pitcher along with Nolan Ryan but know he gets too sit down on his couch,relax,and remember the old days congrats johnson you earned it
Nolan Ryan isn’t one of the best ever. But that’s another discussion.
RJ, you were one of the best. Now let the lettuce grow long. Business in the front, party hard in the back.
The best left pitcher in MLB History!!!!!………Randy you’re the BEST baby!!!!!!…Thank you for all the histories that you give us……….Now to enjoy all the money that you took out in contracts to the teams. I believe that they are $175,550,019 M. Enjoy them HOF!!!!!!!!……..jejejejejejejejeje.
125 strikeouts away from 5000. I wish his body had a little more left in it so he could try to reach that plateau.
Its tough to say but I would agree he goes in as the first Diamondback—3 Cy Youngs and a WS ring. But still ill always remember him as a mariner with Griffey. And crazy I just saw the guy had 100 comlete games and 37 shutouts—now that is true dominance, no one else has done anything like that in 30 years.
Why is Randy Johnson retiring less than half a season away from getting 5,000 strikeouts? That’s a really nice accomplishment to achieve. He’s only 125 away…
what did he do to you
What is your problem? You sound like a misrable wretch.
HE’S a sour, unhappy, bitter guy? Pot, meet kettle.
Any proof that he’s a “poor father”–or rather, what that accusation has to do with his terrific career?
Of course lets not forget Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax. and Babe Ruth who was on his way to a HOF career before he was switched from a pitcher to an everyday player. He won about 100 games in his career.
Here is a short list of “very good players” who’s career OPS+ is lower then Bagwell’s: Ralph Kiner, Willie McCovey, Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell, Hack Wilson, Harmon Killebrew, Eddie Mathews, Reggie Jackson, George Brett, Al Kaline, Billy Williams, and Jackie Robinson.
If you think we should throw all these bums out of the Hall I can’t argue with you.
[quote]Yes, some of those players should never have been put in.[/quote]
I only listed players that I know deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. I can’t believe you’d take anyone one of them out. But I do agree that Pete should be in. His performance is the only fair judge, his character–and everyone’s character–is open to endless interpretation, and baseball writers should not be the final judge on morality. But, here, I’m interested more in who [i]will[/i] get into the Hall of Fame, not who [i]should[/i]. About mensurable qualifications, not moral judgments.
And either I suck at html or the board doesn’t allow it?