SEATTLE -- The Big Unit is getting a big statue.
As part of his No. 51 retirement ceremony on Saturday, the Mariners revealed their plans to erect a statue outside T-Mobile Park recognizing Randy Johnson.
Club chairman and managing general partner John Stanton made the announcement during an extended pregame speech, which was followed by an 11-minute address from Johnson himself.
“Seattle has always been a big part of my family and my career, and it always will be,” Johnson said.
Johnson will join Dave Niehaus (2011), Ken Griffey Jr. (2017), Edgar Martinez (2021), and Ichiro Suzuki (2026), as well as Mike Cameron and Mark McLemore raising the American flag in 2001 statue, set for later this season, as Mariners legends to be immortalized with a statue at this ballpark.
Notably, this represents a shift from precedent for the organization, as each of the ballpark’s individual player statues have been exclusively of those elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame as Mariners.
Johnson, a 2015 inductee to Cooperstown, went in as a member of the Diamondbacks, where he pitched for eight seasons after his nine and a half years in Seattle.
“He changed the trajectory of this franchise and fully put Seattle onto the national baseball map,” Stanton said.
The statue will represent an extended effort between the club and Johnson to bridge a relationship that, during his playing days, ended somewhat sourly, after he was dealt to the Astros ahead of the 1998 Trade Deadline.
Johnson did not call attention to that transaction or how his playing tenure here ended, and instead focused his scripted speech on his accomplishments, as well as the Mariners during that epic run in the 1990s.
Johnson also played for the Yankees, Expos, Giants and Astros -- but his 10 seasons with Seattle were his most with any over his 22-year career.
His No. 51 is only the fifth in Mariners history to be retired, along with Griffey (No. 24), Martinez (No. 11) and Suzuki (No. 51) -- as well as Jackie Robinson, whose No. 42 is retired by all MLB teams.
During the ceremony, Johnson was flanked by every living member of the 11-man group of the franchise’s Hall of Fame, other than fellow southpaw Jamie Moyer and former manager Lou Piniella. Both sent in congratulatory videos that were shared on the scoreboard. Johnson was selected to that group in 2012, three years after he retired.
Directly to Johnson’s right during his speech was Suzuki, who had the same No. 51 retired last August in conjunction with being elected into Cooperstown. And Johnson recognized Ichiro by recounting the letter that the Japanese sensation penned to him back in 2001 requesting to don the same number that he made iconic in Seattle.
“I am grateful and honored that there's room for another No. 51 to be retired,” Johnson said. “One number, two players -- representing one team.”
The Mariners have done a masterful job of tapping into their past through the years, and Saturday was a continuation.
Among those who provided congratulatory videos, and aside from the club’s Hall of Famers, were Cameron, McLemore, Norm Charlton, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Harold Reynolds, John Smoltz, his idol Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez, who called Johnson “my brother from another mother.”
The day also featured a pop culture blast from the past, with a shoutout from the band Soundgarden and Duff McKagan, the bassist for Guns N’ Roses -- as he was marching on stage to perform in front of a massive crowd. McKagan has long been a fan, for Johnson using the band’s iconic song, "Welcome to the Jungle,” as his walk out music.
Johnson also hit all the right local tunes, even after nearly three decades since his last pitch in a Mariners uniform.
“Who can forget about the SuperSonics, Mount Rainier, Rainier beer and the music scene?” Johnson said. “I learned a lot here, on and off the field. And I will always be thankful for my time playing here.”
Johnson arrived in Seattle in 1989 in arguably the biggest trade in franchise history, with the Montreal Expos, and blossomed into arguably the best left-handed pitcher of all time.
Overall, he posted a 130-74 record with 2 saves, a 3.42 ERA and 51 complete games with Seattle, striking out 2,162 batters in 274 games (266 starts). He remains among the all-time franchise leaders in strikeouts (second) and wins, starts and innings pitched (third), among other categories.