Larry Stone - Randy Johnson, Arizona Heat! (Baseball Superstar)
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Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson has had to overcome many barriers during his successful career, both on and off the field. These barriers include being nearly seven-feet tall, making him the tallest person to ever play in the Major Leagues. Author Larry Stone writes about Johnsons perseverance, and how he uses his towering presence to be an intimidating force on the mound, which has led to some great achievements in the game.
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SPORTS PUBLISHING INC. www.SportsPublishingInc.com
1999 Sports Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.
Production manager: Susan M. McKinney Cover design: Scot Muncaster Photos: The Associated Press and the University of Southern California
ISBN: 1-58261-042-8 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-61951
SPORTS PUBLISHING INC. SportsPublishingInc.com
Printed in the United States.
Contents
1 Standing Tall
1
2 Growing Up
9
3 Breaking In
21
4 Moving West
27
5 Peaks and Valleys
31
6 Breaking Through
41
7 Turmoil and Triumph
55
8 Moving On
63
Statistics
77
Randy helped lead the Mariners to their first playoff appearance in 1995. (AP/Wide World Photos)
Page 1
Chapter One Standing Tall
Randy Johnson knew the game on October 2, 1995, was one that would forever shape his stature as one of baseball's premier pitchers. He barely slept the night before, awakening every time he heard his 10-month-old daughter, Samantha, make a sound over the baby monitor on a nightstand next to his bed.
When Randy showed up at Seattle's Kingdome, his teammates on the Mariners noticed immediately the bad look on his faceand they were delighted. They had learned long ago that the crankier
Page 2
Randy was, the better he usually pitched. And they had never needed him more than they did on this day.
"It was the biggest game of my career, and I knew I had to rise to the occasion," Randy said later. "This is the kind of game you find out a lot about yourself."
It was easily the most important game in Mariners history. The Mariners and California Angels had finished in a tie for the American League's Western Division title, just the third tie in AL history. The Mariners, who trailed the Angels by 13 games on August 2, had mounted one of the greatest comebacks in history, but after building a three-game lead over the Angels in the final week, they had fallen back by losing their final two games in Texas.
The Angels, meanwhile, won their final five games to catch Seattle and force the one-game playoff
Page 3
at the Kingdome. The winner would advance to the playoffs against the Yankees. The loser would go home, its season finished.
The Mariners had never made the playoffs in their 19-year history, but it was crucial that they do so now. The team was losing millions of dollars each year at the Kingdome, and management claimed that without a new stadium the team would have to move to another city. The Mariners' sensational performance late in the season had ignited baseball fever in the community, but many feared that their drive for a new ballpark would fail if they were eliminated by the Angels.
More than 50,000 noisy fans crammed into the Kingdome to watch Randy go up against Angels ace Mark Langston. Ironically, the two pitchers had been involved in the biggest trade in Mariner history in 1989. Langston, at the time Seattle's most successful pitcher ever, had gone to the
Page 4
The tallest player in major-league history at 6-10, Randy is nicknamed "The Big Unit." (AP/Wide World Photos)
Page 5
Montreal Expos for three young pitching prospects. One of them was Johnson, whose only claim to fame at the time was being, at 6 feet, 10 inches, the tallest player in major-league history. Most Mariners fans had hated the trade, believing the team had practically given away the popular Langston.
For awhile, it looked like they might be right. Because of his height, Randy had trouble learning proper pitching mechanics, and his control was poor. For three consecutive years (199092), he led the league in walks. He could be terribly inconsistent, pitching a shutout one start and then getting bombed the next.
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