51 retired again

the seattle mariners are retiring number 51, again, tonight. it was retired last year for ichiro, and now they are going to recognize the "other" 51 in franchise history, randy johnson. i've had his 2022 topps stadium club chrome xfractor

at the ready for this event, and it is now tucked away in my retired number collection.

johnson was part of the mariners' core in the 1990s that secured the club's future (now present) in seattle when there was concern about the viability of the franchise in the pacific northwest. along with ken griffey jr, edgar martinez, and jay buhner, johnson led the team to their first postseason berth in 1995 and the funding for a new ballpark was committed shortly thereafter.

johnson sits at or close to the top of many mariner all-time franchise pitching leader lists, with felix hernandez the only one surpassing him in many of those categories. of course, hernandez made 145 more starts as a mariner than did johnson.

the mariners' number 51 is the latest number to be retired by a single franchise for multiple players, joining the yankees (number 8 for bill dickey and yogi berra), the expos (number 10 for rusty staub and andre dawson), the cubs (number 31 for greg maddux and fergie jenkins), and the a's (number 34 for rollie fingers and dave stewart). i would expect the angels' number 27 (mike trout and vladimir guerrero) to join that list someday.