6/2/25

(Seattle, WA) In the span of twelve months, the Seattle Mariners will retire the same number for two different players. The team announced on Monday morning that they will be retiring the #51 for Randy Johnson in August of 2026, becoming the fifth player to have their number retired by the team. This will come twelve months after the Mariners retire the same number for Ichiro this August.

The Big Unit spent parts of 10 seasons with the Mariners from 1989-1998, winning a Cy Young for the club in the special 1995 season that saved baseball in Seattle. Johnson was one of the most feared pitchers in all of baseball in his career with the Mariners and beyond after he was acquired from the Montreal Expos in 1989. Seattle would then trade the lefty to Houston in 1998 due to the team being worried about his back issues. He would go on to win four Cy Youngs in a row from 1999-2002 with the Arizona Diamondbacks as well as winning the 2001 World Series.

In 2015, Randy Johnson was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame with a 97.3% approval on the ballots, the third highest ever for a starting pitcher. Johnson would go into the Hall of Fame as a Diamondback later that summer.

Johnson went into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2012, alongside his longtime battery partner and current Mariners manager Dan Wilson. In 274 career games with the Mariners, Johnson threw 1,838 1/3 innings with 2,162 strikeouts and a 3.42 ERA.

Randy Johnson will become the fifth player to have their number retired by the Mariners, joining Jackie Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Ichiro Suzuki. It has been a longtime debate to who the Mariners would retire the #51 for, but both Ichiro and Johnson will have the honor as Ichiro will have his number retired when he goes into the MLB Hall of Fame later this summer.

elisportsnetwork.com