A Salute to Randy Johnson

On Tuesday, Randy Johnson retired from the major leagues after 22 seasons at age 46. He started his career in 1988 with the Montreal Expos, and finished in 2009 with the San Francisco Giants.

"The Big Unit" had a 303-166 career record (a .646 winning percentage) along with a 3.29 career ERA, and became the 24th pitcher to reach the 300-win milestone in June 2009. His 4,875 career strikeouts rank second all-time to Nolan Ryan, and his 1.17 career WHIP is truly remarkable to go along with his career K/9 rate of 10.6.

Johnson also won five Cy Young Awards (1995, 1999-2002) was a 10-time All-Star and threw two no-hitters, including a perfect game in 2004. Johnson also teamed with Curt Schilling to help the Arizona Diamondbacks upset the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series.

Among some of Johnson's underrated, and perhaps obscure, accomplishments are 100 complete games, 37 shutouts, three times finishing runner-up for the Cy Young Award, 4,135.1 innings pitched and 603 games started. He also hit 190 batters in his career.

Johnson was one of the most physically imposing pitchers of all-time, due largely to his 6'10" frame and unique appearance. Of course he had incredible stuff to go along with it.

With the specialization in today's game Johnson could be the last 300-game winner, at least for awhile. He is a shoe-in first ballot Hall of Famer, no doubt about it.