Amid the tribute articles, video montages, and picture slide shows, we are always reminded of Randy Johnson mean streak that made him the force he was in his glory days with the Mariners and Diamondbacks.
The man who has been branded "The Most Intimidating Pitcher of Our Era" wouldn't have even been recognized as he captured his 300th winning against the Washington Nationals in the rain on Thursday night.
The side Johnson has shown during his time in San Francisco would be one that doesn't even come close to the one that basically clothes-lined a video cameraman on the day he marked his arrival in New York.
Since he has become a Giant, he's been the man that everybody turns to, and he has fully embraced that role. He's been saying since day one that he's not with the Giants just to win 300 and then call it a day. He wants to not only win, but also teach the kids, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, what it takes to get to his level of pitching.
And as the kids have progressed this season so far, you can just tell that The Unit has rubbed off.
He's embraced the father roll to the youngsters on the pitching staff and he just seems to be a whole lot more humble because of it.
You just get a sense when Johnson speaks he's being 100 percent sincere. When it was Bonds it was like, "Yeah okay, we'll believe it when you stay for the remainder of the game when you get pulled early."
Johnson stuck around the entire game in the dugout, something that can't be said the last time they were involved with a pitcher getting their 300th win. Unlike Greg Maddux, Johnson pulled a Lincecum and rooted on the boys from basically the top step of the dugout.
Not with the same kind of intensity, but he was there.
Maybe it's because he knows he is almost touching the light at the end of the tunnel or just because he's not the same 6'10" stick figure that debut for the Mariners 20-plus years ago, but the way he has conducted himself and surely will continue to do so is just a sign that he knows that he is a the father figure to an otherwise baby-like pitching staff in terms of experience.
It certainly is a different kind of record than the one Bonds broke a few years back. Winning games a itching is just not based on what kind of stuff you have. It is a collective team effort, based not just on strikeouts being racked up
Johnson's 300th win was the perfect example of that.
If not for the best play Giants fans have seen this year by second baseman and DC native Emmanuel Burriss, a diving stop, sweet flip The game, as Johnson said himself, could have turned out totally differently if not for the spectacular efforts of Burriss.
But it wasn't just the defense that shined along with his two-hit outing over six innings.
Because he is 45, complete games aren't an option for Johnson anymore. Six innings is what he goes, and how far he went Thursday, that means the bullpen had to play almost as big of a role as his own effort.
Like the third strike call or not against Adam Dunn in the eighth inning, the bullpen did its job and ensured Johnson got No. 300.
And he let his teammates, past and present, know that when he was on the podium.
He thanked them more than once in the opening moments of the press conference. Johnson never made it just about himself, rather making it a team accomplishment, which just shows what kind of class act Johnson is.
"I get more gratification out the way I'm doing now than how I did things ten years ago."
It's no surprise that with a career entering its twilight that the man who used to be so defiant and quiet put everything into perspective after his biggest outing.
And the best part was the he did it with his son alongside him in the dugout.
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