The Grand Old Game

Johnson Cemented Hall Status Years Ago

MAY 28th, 2009-Talk about icing on the cake.

Twenty years ago, there was a relatively unknown, wisp-thin lefty in Montreal who was doing his level best not to walk every third batter he faced. Of course, in the process he also managed to strike out a few guys, here and there. He was young, relatively inexperienced, and playing baseball in a city which stood in the immense shadow of a sports franchise that had arguably been every bit as dominant in its league as any other team, in any sport, anywhere. Montreal was not a baseball town then, and it certainly isn’t now. The Expos’ move to Washington, D.C., simply reinforced that well-known fact, just in case there was any remaining doubt. They would, however, gain a degree of respectability in the early 90’s, winning 94 games in 1993 and topping the NL East in a strike-shortened ‘94. While the fans didn’t always turn out (note the understatement), the talent was surely there, with players such as Delino Deshields, Mike Lansing, Marquis Grisson, Moises Alou, Henry Rodriguez, and Larry Walker, among others, their game was a speed and power combo all but impossible to match. One wonders what more they could have accomplished if they had only had a bit more patience.

As it turned out, Johnson found himself heading west to Seattle as part of a trade which brought LHP Mark Langston to the Stade Olympique and sent the unproven but immensely talented rookie to another team which had little to show for its efforts, the Mariners (neé Pilots). One lefty with a reputation for power and dominance, for another with a reputation for walks and wildness.

And then the 90’s began, and the unproven rookie became the dominant veteran.

He had just began to put it all together in 1990, finishing 14-11, 3.65, with 194 strikeouts in 219 2/3 innings. Of course, he also walked 120, and while he didn’t quite lead the league in K’s, he most certainly led in walks.

1991 was more of the same: 13-10, 3.98, 201 1/3 innings, 228 K’s, 152 walks. Again, he led the league in walks, easily. He also struck out every fourth batter he faced, a portent of far greater things to come.

1992, again he led in walks, 144. No surprise, right? Also leading the league in hit batsmen, eighteen of those batters who faced him thanked whatever god they believed in that his blazing fastball didn’t shatter their ribcage or rupture a vital organ.

He had started the decade putting up numbers reminiscent of Sudden Sam McDowell. He ended it drawing frequent comparisons to the legends of the game. From 1990-1999, he compiled a 150-75 record, having struck out an extraordinary 2,538 batters, leading the league five times in that category. After 1990, Johnson averaged double digit K/9 ratios eleven times. Eleven.

He hasn’t slowed down since. And now, 20 years later, Randy Johnson is staring down baseball immortality.

And when he wins that 300th game, there will be much fanfare, probably a lot of fireworks, and big, bold headlines in all the national sportspages.

But it won’t matter. Even without that magical 300th win, Randy Johnson is, by every standard, a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Ten-time All Star, five time Cy Young Award winner (four of those were consecutive), 2001 World Series MVP (co-MVP with Curt Schilling), four ERA crowns, three 20-win seasons, the aforementioned eleven K crowns, and the larger-than-life mound presence he brought to each and every game he has pitched, even now, at a point where his fastball is only a shadow of its former self. Even without his best stuff, he’s a winner. One way or another, he’s gonna beat you.

If his career had ended at win #250, we’d still be talking about how amazing he was, how he left a lasting imprint on the game, and how he’s a virtual shoe-in for the Hall. Believe it. You don’t loom so large over a sport as steeped in history and nostalgia like baseball without eventually taking a seat among its immortals. Certainly, in this case, that seat is well-earned. In a sport in which numbers paint such a vivid portrait of its stars long past that it seems to come alive for those who were far too young to have experienced that past first hand, Randall David Johnson is a masterpiece, a rare find, and perhaps one of the last 300-game winners of our time.

And as he nears the end, we can say, without question, that this particular work of art lacks only a finishing touch, before it is ensconced along with the greatest artists of all time.