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All the Quirky Things the Mariners Did to Celebrate Randy Johnson's Jersey Retirement

Seattle found some fun ways to pay homage to Johnson’s legendary career there.
Madison Williams|
The Mariners retired Randy Johnson’s No. 51 on Saturday.
The Mariners retired Randy Johnson’s No. 51 on Saturday. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

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Seattle Mariners

The Mariners honored one of the team’s all-time greats Saturday night at T-Mobile Park by retiring the No. 51 jersey for five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson.

Johnson’s jersey was just the fifth retired by the Seattle franchise. Ichiro Suzuki also wore No. 51 for the Mariners and has his jersey retired. Johnson spent the most time with the Mariners in his MLB career, playing from 1989 until he was traded mid-season in 1998.

The Mariners showed out for Johnson’s celebration on Saturday, providing fun and quirky ways to pay homage to his 10 seasons in Seattle.

The bird that Johnson hit with a baseball is resurrected

One moment in Johnson’s MLB career that most people associate with the pitcher is when he struck a bird with a pitch in 2001 when he was with the Diamondbacks. The fastball thrown by Johnson unfortunately killed the bird instantly. Johnson has noted that he is constantly asked about this incident.

Even though the bird incident didn’t happen while Johnson was in Seattle, the team still made light of the memory during his celebration. At every Mariners home game, there’s a race of salmon mascots on the field. The organization added someone on the field wearing a white bird costume sporting crutches for a hilarious callback.

Mariners players sport Johnson on their jerseys

In honor of Johnson’s jersey retirement, the Mariners players all sported a picture of Johnson as a jersey patch during Saturday’s game.

Johnson’s logo seen on game-used balls

The same logo the Mariners sported on their jerseys on Saturday was also seen on the baseballs used in the matchup vs. the Royals.

Mariners erecting statue of Johnson

During Saturday’s celebration, the Mariners announced that T-Mobile Park will erect a statue of Johnson outside of the ballpark in 2027. The only reason this announcement comes as a surprise is because the Mariners have only built statues of players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame as Mariners players—as a 2015 inductee, Johnson was honored as a Diamondbacks player.

The other statues outside of T-Mobile Park include ones of Dave Niehaus, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Suzuki and one of Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore raising the American flag in 2001.

Johnson brings back ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ entrance

During his playing days, Johnson notably used the iconic Guns N’ Roses song “Welcome to the Jungle” for his entrance song. He of course had to bring back the song when making his electrifying entrance onto the field ahead of his retirement ceremony.

Johnson’s number is officially retired in the Mariners’ organization

Saving the best moment for last. After all the pomp and circumstance on Saturday night, the Mariners of course unveiled the official number retirement inside T-Mobile Park. As the cape came off of the number, the packed crowd went wild cheering for the organization’s legendary pitcher. All that hard work and memories made in Seattle nearly three decades ago all made it worth it now that Johnson can see his number forever hang in T-Mobile Park.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University.

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