Randy Johnson Elected To Hall of Fame and Hired By Diamondbacks
Former Diamondbacks’ Pitcher Randy Johnson has been elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot. It was always a given that Johnson would make the Hall, but as of Tuesday, it’s official.
Johnson led the 2015 class with 97.3 percent of the votes, but fell short of breaking Tom Seaver’s record of 98.8. Johnson’s 97.3 is the eighth-highest percentage of all time. Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio accompanied Johnson in being elected on Tuesday.
"When asked about which team’s cap he will wear on his Hall of Fame plaque, Johnson said, “That is the Hall of Fame’s decision. We’ll cross that bridge in the next couple of days.” He also added that all six of the teams he pitched for were important to him in different ways."
Of the six teams, Montreal, Houston, Seattle, Arizona, New York Yankees and San Francisco, there are only two that are part of the cap debate, Seattle and Arizona. Johnson had great years in Seattle, he won a Cy Young there and some even credit him with saving baseball in the northwest. He also had great years in Arizona and that is where he collected most of his personal achievements. He threw a perfect game, won four of his five Cy Youngs and of course, won a World Series.
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As if winning four Cy Young awards wasn’t impressive on it’s own, he won them all consecutively. Those four Cy Young awards also came with his home ballpark in Arizona being considered a hitters park that is very hard to pitch effectively in.
That wasn’t all that was in store for Johnson on Tuesday as the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that they have hired Randy Johnson to serve as special assistant to the team’s president and CEO Derrick Hall.
There weren’t many details announced about his new job duties, but in his press conference at Chase Field on Tuesday, Johnson said he was looking forward to spending time with the team’s young pitchers in all levels of the minor leagues. He also said that he wouldn’t be a coach, but that he wanted to help develop the young arms in the organization.
After the press conference, the Diamondbacks also announced that the team will be retiring Johnson’s number 51 during the upcoming 2015 season. There was no official date given on the jersey retiring ceremony just yet.