Seattle Mariners Broadcaster Explains Heartfelt Moment Between Ichiro and Randy Johnson
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Last Saturday at T-Mobile Park, Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki had his iconic No. 51 retired by the organization. With that, Ichiro became the fourth player in franchise history to have his number retired, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (24), Edgar Martinez (11) and Jackie Robinson (42).
On Sunday, Ichiro provided another special moment, as he threw out a ceremonial first pitch to Randy Johnson, who also wore No. 51 for the organization. Johnson will have his version of the number retired in a ceremony in 2026.
According to Mariners broadcaster Brad Adam, it was actually Ichiro's idea to have Johnson catch the first pitch. He made that known on the most recent episode of the 'Refuse to Lose' podcast:
"...And Junior is always fun. And for me, it was really cool to see the connection that Ichiro has with Randy Johnson and that 51 number. He talked about it in his speech, and then Ichiro had the idea, when he's throwing out the first pitch on Sunday, he said, 'hey, why doesn't Randy catch me? 51 to 51?' It was great. So Randy comes out, in full catcher gear, gets down, and Ichiro kind of lobbed one in there.
I was hoping he'd just rear back and fire, but, they take all their selfies. You know, one does five, one does one. I mean, it just kind of explained how Ichiro told him he would honor 51 when he came here in '01. And Randy gave us blessing. And to see him kind of come full circle now retiring 51 for Ichiro this year, 51 for Randy next year. I thought that was really, really, touching and special and just shows you just how generous of a Ichiro is and how thoughtful he is. He's very, very thoughtful and respectful people in baseball..."
You can listen to the full episode with Adam in the podcast player below.
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