To commemorate Randy Johnson's retirement, here are some details about his earliest days in the majors, pitching for the Expos. The Big Unit made his major league debut on September 15, 1988 as the tallest player ever to play in the majors, supplanting 6-foot-9 Johnny Gee, a left-handed pitcher who played for Pittsburgh and the New York Giants during the Second World War.
A newspaper reported:
For Johnson, the road he hopes will lead to the Hall of Fame began at 7:35 PM last night when he threw a fastball for a strike to 5-foot-7 Pittsburgh leadoff hitter John Cangelosi.
Cangelosi, who would be looking uphill at Johnson without the pitcher’s mound, got in his licks before the game.
“I hope he doesn’t hit me (with a pitch)” Cangelosi said. “I’d hate to have to charge the mound.”
As it turned out that wasn’t necessary. Johnson’s control was less than perfect— he threw 96 pitches in his five innings of work – but he walked only three batters while striking out six, hit no one.
Johnson admitted he spent a restless night—“I didn’t get to sleep until 4 AM,” he said—but insisted that he wasn’t nervous.
“Well, maybe a little,” he said. “Then I came to the park and I was a little more nervous. But I was really nervous when I finished warming up in the bullpen and was walking in."
“But when that first pitch was a strike, I was comfortable.”
“I don’t think my size means anything, except that some batters might find it intimidating,” said Johnson. “I’d like to be able to use my height to give me that advantage.”
“The big thing was that my slider was working,” Johnson said. “Everybody knows that I’m a power pitcher, but you can’t throw fastballs past these hitters. Glenn Wilson [who hit two homers off Randy] proved that.”
Johnson has been widely touted as the top left-handed pitching prospect in the minors and his debut was widely heralded. Montreal fans managed to ignore it for the most part, however. Only 9,494 fans turned out.
The Expos won Randy's debut, 9-4, to give him his first win. A few days later, on September 20, came news of improvement by Johnson, pitching in one of the first night games at Wrigley Field. The Associated Press reported:
Randy Johnson, the tallest player in major-league history, made short work of Chicago Tuesday night.
Johnson, a six-foot-10 left-hander making only his second major-league appearance, allowed six hits and struck out 11, leading Montreal over the Cubs and a split of their doubleheader.
"I think being tall gives me an advantage,” said Johnson. "And I’m kind of animated; I show enthusiasm out there. I think that gives me an advantage."
"I think tonight they [the Cubs] were intimidated from the get-go. I had intensity, and I felt like I was in command of the game. That’s important. But I was more nervous tonight than in my first game, though I don’t know why. Maybe because it was a night game and it was outside.”
The nervousness didn’t seem to bother him—he walked just one and retired 11 straight between the fifth and ninth innings.
"He pitched well tonight,” said Expos manager Buck Rodgers. "He’s got good stuff."
"He throws about 95 miles per hour. Tonight I was happy with his command. If he has control of his stuff, he’s going to win a lot of ballgames.”
“Tonight I was just wild enough to keep ‘em off the plate,” said Johnson—who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the face of punk rocker Sid Vicious under his uniform. “I know I need my breaking stuff to be good. And I keep feeling more confidence about it with each outing.”
Johnson said it was his second complete game in four seasons as a professional. “I got one against Rochester. I also made it to the ninth my last game in Triple-A before things got pretty hairy, too."
“I don’t know what happened tonight. I think I just lost my concentration.”
By "hairy," Randy meant that in the ninth, he allowed two hits and threw a wild pitch to lose the shutout in his second game. He still came away with the complete game and a 9-1 win over the Cubs. The Big Unit was traded to the Mariners in May 1989 before he had the chance to do much for the Expos. You probably know the rest of the story.
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