Big Unit has his number retired in Seattle, but this Royal had his number

SEATTLE -- Randy Johnson became the second player to have his No. 51 retired by the Mariners on Saturday, and more than a couple of Royals took the chance to watch the pregame ceremony for one of the game’s most decorated lefties from the dugout.

One of them was more connected to the Big Unit than you might expect.

Marcus Thames is in his first year as a hitting coach for Kansas City and a decade into his coaching career. Before that, he spent 10 years as a player, debuting with the Yankees and collecting 115 career home runs in 640 career games.

And it all started on June 10, 2002, when Thames went yard in his first career game, in his first career at-bat, on the first pitch he saw -- from Johnson, who was on his way to winning his fourth consecutive Cy Young Award.

“Before I got in the box, I was like, ‘He put his belt on just like I put mine on,’” Thames said. “It was an amazing thing for me that night, to be able to accomplish that.”

At the time, Thames was just the second player in Yankees history to homer in his first career at-bat, after John Miller in 1966.

Thames finished his career 2-for-12 vs. Johnson, who racked up 4,875 strikeouts over 22 seasons and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. The other hit? It came in 2006, when Thames played for the Tigers and Johnson was the one wearing Yankees pinstripes -- and also left the yard.

“It’s actually pretty cool to be here,” said Thames, who said that Johnson signed his first home run ball for him a year later. “He was an amazing pitcher. It’s well-deserved. I thought he had already retired his number. I didn’t know until I got the memo the other day. But it’s cool that I’ll be out to watch.

“He was one of those pitchers who as a kid, you always watched him. He had nasty stuff, punching everybody out. You get the call to the big leagues, and that’s your first Major League at-bat?”