The Big Unit

I can promise you there are some in baseball that think Johnson was on the juice.

 

We'll see more 300-game winners. What we won't see again is the rare penis-joke name double of Randy Johnson, the Big Unit.

 

As for RJ being a prick ... I always thought that until I got about a 15-minute one-on-one with him for a story I was writing about Bob Brenly earlier in the aughts. Couldn't have been nicer or more engaging. Even cracked a few jokes. He certainly could get surly, especially after bad starts, but I always thought he got a bad rap in that regard.

 

I think in 10 years we'll be able to more accurately place Randy amongst the league's all-time elite southpaws. Obliterating that bird with a fastball may have moved him up a notch in my book!

Big Unit is at No. 2 on my list behind Spahn, who was not only durable, adapted when he couldn't overpower folks any more, but who sacrificed several peak years to serve his country in WWII just like Ted Williams and others. He even led (or tied for the lead) in the NL in wins from 1957-1961 (a streak started when he was 36) and had a baker's dozen number of 20-win seasons. He was a machine and I would have loved to have seen him pitch live.

 

Big Papi, anyone? (I never realized the sexual connotations of that nickname until I dated a Latina).

 

It's funny, I read the Verducci story and it sounded like Johnson said he "may have" taken some substances that are now banned in the past.

 

Agreed. That's why I said (at the time).

He certainly admitted tried all sorts of shit from GNC and the like.

And I'm OK with that. If it wasn't banned and wasn't illegal, it should have been fair game.

 

In 20 years, maybe. Take a look at the active career wins list. No one's even close.

 

I was supposed to join the SJ gang tomorrow but my loving wife gave me whatever it is she has so I have a 100 fever as I type. Driving five or six hours sick probably isn't the smartest thing. Oh to be 22 and stupid again. Hope he doesn't get it you bastards!

I, for one can't believe the lack of buzz around his push for 300. As many have noted here, at the very least, he's almost certainly going to be the last 300-game winner for 20 years, unless Jamie Moyer pitches until he is 56 (a real possibility, granted). You'd think there'd be more coverage and anticipation of/for it.

 

As to Johnson being a prick, please see his time in Seattle where he essentially quit on the Mariners before being dealt to Houston and his handling of the daughter he fathered by a woman he dated early in his years with Seattle. That said, the guy is an impressive pitching specimen considering how much work he had to do to control his gift. He was Nuke Laloosh at one point.