Two class acts in one event

Randy Johnson pitches for the San Francisco Giants now, but he earned his reputation as a great pitcher when he was up here with the Seattle Mariners in the 1990's. Last night was the first night in inter-league play (National League vs American League), and the NL Giants were in town to play the Mariners. And Randy Johnson was on the mound for the Giants.

Randy left Seattle under a bit of a cloud. He was having contract issues with the team and they traded him in the middle of the 1998 season. His stats up to that point that season were mediocre, but for the rest of the season he was lights out in Houston, so some accused him of tanking the first half.

In the ten years since the trade, he pitched for Houston, Arizona, the New York Hankies (and George Whinebrenner), Arizona (again), and this year, the Giants.

Randy is closing in on a milestone that few pitchers (just twenty-three) have achieved - three hundred career wins. He has 298 wins now, so its likely he'll achieve that goal sometime this season. There was some speculation earlier this season that last night's game might just be the one, but he was still 2 wins away when he took the mound last night. In all likelihood, this was his final appearance in Seattle. He's 45 years old, and definitely in the twilight of his career. Randy's fastball isn't quite as fast as it was when he pitched here, and his slider doesn't quite have the bite it once had. But for six innings last night, he showed flashed of his old brilliance. He left the mound in the sixth inning last night, obviously spent, with the game tied 1-1. He'd given up just six hits and struck out seven in his gutty 115 pitch effort.

The title of this topic is "two class acts in one", so here's the first class act. When Randy left the mound, even though he was now pitching for the opposing team, the Mariner fans (all 30,000 of them, a really good crowd this year) stood up and cheered for him.

Here's the second class act. Johnson reacted to the cheers by tipping his hat to the fans. He seemed to really enjoy the moment, turning around with his hat raised to see the whole stadium cheering for him.

Randy's a sure-fire inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's an honor he richly deserves. I hope that after last night, he chooses to go in wearing a Mariner uniform.

Here's to Randy Johnson. You're a real class act.

And here's to the Mariner fans. You are, too.