[Highlight] Randy Johnson on why he doesn’t sign jerseys: “It’s the one thing that can raise money for charity”
Loves charitable causes of all kinds. Hates birds.
Thats the other thing he wont sign. Nothing with the bird
Which is kind of interesting because he used the dead bird as a logo for his photography website
It’s a warning to other birds.
Ah the old Vlad the Impaler strategy
Did Guerrero kill birds too?
No but he’s not been allowed back in Anatolia for several centuries.
lol I read that initially as pornography website and was like why the fuck would he use a dead bird as the logo that’s fucked
the logo that’s fucked
Sounds perfect for a pornography website.
And Randy Johnson is a definitionally perfect porn name
That explains why he acted so weird when I approached him on the street with a dead crow for him to sign.
I thought he was just being a prima donna
You probably just caught him on a bad day. Keep trying, friend!
damnit he wont sign my Orioles hat?
That’s not because he hates birds, he just dislikes the blackface logo.
This sub probably peaked with that post.
can you link? i’m so curious
https://old.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/3j1rvt/as_a_baseball_noob_can_someone_please_explain_to/
It’s really sad to be linked to old threads from when Reddit didn’t suck so much and notice that a ton of the accounts have been banned. Big Brother doesn’t like that kind of creativity anymore.
What a classic.
Omg I can never unsee it now
OMG, maybe it will help me unsee this then: ¯\(ツ)/¯
Because that’s what the Orioles logo always reminds me of.
Fair.
If it’s a hat that you put on your pet orioles, maybe
My dog’s name is Oriolés
He doesn’t hate birds. He hated that one bird. They settled their dispute and moved on.
*The bird settled and Randy moved on.
Neither party has disputed the result since.
I’m still not sure all of it actually settled
They left it out on the field.
“I didn’t mean to kill no bird… I just meant to hit the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord.” - Randy Johnson
I hate birds and like Randy Johnson.
Your flair tho
Spent my childhood in Calgary Canada where the AAA Cannons were the Mariners affiliate, got to meet a lot of the 90’s Mariners as a kid at that time.
I live in the US, the Blue Jays are my other team out of National pride.
Flair is in order of my fandom and was there far before this series started.
I still feel “meh” today, I wanted to see the Mariners in the WS so badly.
When I say I hate birds, I have a literal phobia of birds, I HATE them.
Yeah I figured that’s what you meant, just found it funny since you had the jays in your flair lol. I recognize you fellow ornithophobe
Bruh
You going to Monday Night Rehabilitation????
It’s so interesting how different people can be. I love birds and find great pleasure in observing them and watching them do their thing; many are incredibly smart and have very unique habits and traits. Totally respect that some people might have a phobia though.
I don’t wish or want them dead, I just don’t want them close to me…..
that bird had it coming to him…. crowding the plate versus Randy Johnson who the fuck do you think you are?
Big Unit, Big Heart
Why does he hate sweet Dee?
Birds aren’t real.
I know things weren’t perfect but I really fucking miss this time on the internet
Randy Johnson was the originator of the “birds aren’t real” conspiracy.
Did you think he’d sign my bird for charity
Loves Cheetos
That’s a pretty good rule to have. Making that specific type of memorabilia special.
Yeah, I hadn’t heard of this kind of self-imposed restriction before but it’s a really sensible idea.
Also, continue to get a kick out of Randy Johnson’s retirement career as “gruff dad with heart of gold”.
Did you see the video of his daughter (?) asking him if he wished he was more athletic? lol
That’s a good one.
I like his post-baseball career of rock photographer. Must be a huge advantage to be that tall.
One of his photos graces a Rush live album cover.
Wonder if that’s intentional. Geddy Lee is a huge baseball fan. A portion of his signed ball collection is on display at the negro leagues museum in KC
IIRC its the largest single donation they have ever gotten. And some of those autographs are the only copies that the museum has.
If you read the album notes for some of the early 80’s albums, they’ve got several baseball references, back of Signals, has a plan, with “Line Drive” and a reference to Warren Cromartie. Another has a “thanks” to a baseball game that was played on an Atari type system (which was played while they toured).
Retirement career is also accomplished photographer. Dude captures great nature scenes and live music shows
I find it hilarious that he said photography was always his true passion and baseball is just a hobby that happened to work out well. So his entire baseball career was essentially a means to return to photography
Imagine being an opposing hitter, finding out that baseball is just a hobby, yet is dominant on the mound. lol
Professional photographer and baseball enthusiast Randy Johnson, casually achieved the 2nd most strikeouts all time, nbd
Imagine being a dead bird, finding out you were killed by a hobby baseballist.
That bird was getting shot by Randy one way or another
I was on a layover in Phoenix a couple years ago and wound up sitting next to him at the airport bar. Said hello and told him I was a fan and that my wife and I had recently seen his photo exhibit in Cooperstown at the art museum.
He got all fired up about that and started talking about all the equipment he had in the bags at his feet as he was heading to Africa to photograph on safari there.
We didn’t mention one word about baseball but he talked nonstop about his photography while we had our beers. Got a photo with him and anyone I showed it to couldn’t believe he was actually smiling. Was actually a really nice guy and I didn’t want to piss him off bringing up baseball at all once he started talking photography and his equipment, so we had about a 20 minute conversation about his artwork and zero do do with his baseball career.
He wrote the foreword to a baseball photo book that was put out by the Hall of Fame. I imagined if I ran into him, I’d compliment him on that rather than his achievements on the mound; figured he’d like that more. Thanks for confirming.
I’ll tuck that away for the 1⁄1,000,000 chance I also sit next to him at an airport bar.
I remember reading something once, might have been on his old website, where he basically said as much, that photography was his real passion but that he was just “busy during the summer for about 20 years or so”
One of my uncles is incredibly smart and worked himself up to a very high executive position inside one of our countries biggest companies. What he always wanted to become since a little kid? A bus driver. Now that he’s nearing retirement he’s starting to work less and has a side gig doing tours in a bus in Rotterdam. In my uncles case he actually dislikes his job but the money is too good, you know.
It’s cool that he’s so humble and cool about explaining it as well.
Another way people do it is they will only autograph an item to someone. Like it will say “To My Fan Dave, Randy Johnson”. Because autographs where its just their signature are worth a ton more.
A lot of players have this rule. Jordan had rookie cards that he would never sign.
I’m somewhat surprised he uses blue sharpie.
It’s commonly thought it’s notoriously easy to fake a signature when it’s blue sharpie. And it’s why a lot of athletes and famous people will absolutely never sign with a blue colored sharpie.
Even though it’s a myth it’s a very common myth.
Randy Johnson is fucking awesome. Noted. ✔️
If you’re on TikTok, his daughter has an account and she frequently posts with him. Dude is about down to earth as they come.
But is he athletic?
Source
“I’m not saying I was athletic, I’m saying there were years that I was the best in my sport at what I did” something a guy like Randy Johnson can causally say and mean it
That is an incredible bar
This is one of my all time favorite Randy videos. Man is trying to stay humble like he always does while being so flabbergasted that his own daughter doesn’t recognize that he had one of the greatest left arms in the history of mankind.
Just a little additional context, I’m sure she knows how “athletic” he was as this was just a tiktok “meme” from over the summer. There’s one with Jorge Posada and his daughter asking the same question.
Yeah I’ve seen the daughters of like, 4 or 5 different 30+ WAR guys do this trend.
There was a celeb who talked about that when their kids realize that everyone knows their dad and assume it’s like that for everyone until it’s apparent it’s not
One of my favorite internet videos lol
God what a cute dynamic. Great vid
I live in AZ and have run into him a few times, including at a grimy dive bar in Phoenix. He’s a fan of metal bands from the 80’s and 90’s and will show up to their concerts when they come through town. He looks intimidating but seems like a pretty cool guy.
How can you spot him in the crowd?
His shoes
Look up.
I saw him at a Coheed & Cambria show in Phx 2017. At first I thought “who the hell is this tall ass guy taking pictures” then I realized “oh shit, that’s Randy Johnson”. The band released a vlog video for that stop and they were tossing the ball with him out in the lot. The drummer was starstruck. Pretty cool.
Alright, now we gotta know which dive bar this was. I have a few candidates in mind.
For real. Just a badass in all aspects.
His Instagram is a great follow for those who don’t. Occasionally posts photos from long ago assignments, like covering a fucking Dio concert, as he was a photojournalism major at USC.
He seems to have softened as he’s gotten older
I used to work in DC Ranch Scottsdale area at a place he frequented and people would dread when he came in lol. Nothing crazy but he was just a major hard ass.
Everything I’ve seen from him in recent years has been super cool
Goalies and pitchers. Major defense players in sports are weird.
I think, for the most part, they’re extremely detail oriented, value effort, and typically expect perfection from themselves, which leaves them with incredibly high expectations for themselves and others.
Years of therapy unlocked TY
I think his second career in photography has allowed him to gain a good deal of perspective about various humanitarian or environmental issues and maybe realize how incredibly lucky he has been, maybe he didn’t have that perspective in his younger years. Either way he seems like a real one now
I ran into him going into a great clips WEARING the Randy Johnson retirement shirt we got for going to his retirement game. Saw him and go “Oh shit it’s Randy Johnson”. He gave me a rude look and I’m just all “sorry man I’m just a huge fan!” and he goes “uh, okay?” And got in his car and left. All the barbers inside said he’s a huge asshole lol.
All he had to do was say “hi” and I would’ve lost my shit. Instead he’s an asshole forever to me now lmao.
I met Tim Lincecum stoned out of his gourd at a Burgermaster. He just smiled and said “Yeah it’s me.” Dope interaction.
Yeah, Randy was kind of a dick from what I remember hearing.
Not a huge bag of dicks and supreme asshole, just rude.
Yeah, he was known around town for being a prickly asshole. Like you said, nothing terrible, but definitely a hard ass. My one personal interaction with him at a golf course I worked at was like that. I greeted him as he arrived and was helping him get set up and he was just so icy.
By all accounts he seems to have lightened up as he’s gotten older and further away from his competitive days.
He’s always been charitable, even back when he was being a prick, but he seems to have the day-to-day kindness to go with it now.
I met him one time when he came into the gym I worked at in NYC Everyone that comes in in supposed to pay the guest fee. I asked him for the guest fee (assumed he was cool with it because he’s, like rich). He snarled at me, then said, “Do you know who I am?”. I said yes. He then looked around and a frantic manager came out to escort him in. I muttered under my breath, “Dick.” I’m sure he just had a bad day. Probably.
He’s my favorite pitcher of all time and god I’m so glad he’s a great person too. I’m still not really over Mark Mulder and Curt Schilling.
I know Schilling is a wacko, what’s the deal with Mulder?
https://jeffpearlman.com/2021/09/01/the-radicalization-of-mark-mulder/
As an Oakland A’s fan, that makes me sad. Unsurprised (not about Mulder specifically, but I know a lot of ballplayers are idiots), but sad all the same.
I was watching highlights from 2001 ws game 7 earlier in which schilling and clemens both pitched into the 8th and randy johnson came in to relieve after pitching 100+ the night before. absolutely textbook mariner blunder losing the big unit
Mariners don’t wanna pay him and traded him to Houston cause they thought he washed. He proceeded to go 10-1 the rest of that season. Womp womp
And wins the next 4 cy youngs
And a World Series MVP
I didn’t know too much about this story but ya, the Mariners sure mucked that one up lol
Definitely wish we had kept him, I imagine things would have shaken out differently but a Randy Johnson/Roger Clemens/Roy Oswalt/Andy Pettitte rotation in 2004⁄2005, whew.
They didn’t think he was washed, but thought he was way closer to the end than he was. They got prospects for him at the trade deadline.
edit: The prospects were Freddy Garcia (18.6 bWAR in 6 seasons as a Mariner), John Halama (5.4 bWAR in 4 years), and Carlos Guillen (much better after with the Tigers, but still 9.1 bWAR in 6 seasons as a Mariner). Johnson’s 11 regular season starts were amazing, yes, to the tune of 4.3 bWAR but he took two tough-luck Ls in the Astros NLDS loss and then moved on to free agency. It’s rather hard to say that a non-playoff contender that turned a half season of a 35-year-old-to-be that they weren’t going to sign into 16 major leaguer player-years and 33.1 bWAR did poorly for themselves, right?
It, of course, has to be noted how much Johnson had left in the tank after leaving Seattle (64.7 bWAR!)… but also how insane and unexpected that is for a guy in his mid-30s.
They got prospects for him at the trade deadline.
A kind of fun but kind of sad fact is that, if they don’t trade Randy and Griffey, the 2001 record-setting Mariners probably never would have happened. Freddy Garcia and Mike Cameron were really impactful players on that squad and Carlos Guillen played his part too with a 3.3 WAR season.
Yeah, the thing about that team was, other than Ichiro and Boone being surprising, nobody was a superstar but everyone was just really good.
I mean in hindsight that was a good trade for both teams. The Mariners got Freddy Garcia, John Halama, and Carlos Guillen, who all contributed heavily to 2000 and 2001. Freddy Garcia was also from Venezuela and was the favorite player of a young pitcher there named Felix Hernandez. I think it worked out
I’m not a mariner fan but why you gotta bring that up today of all days lol
because I am a mariner fan and the ghosts of the past never stop haunting you…
Traded Griffey, traded Randy, traded Tino, traded Adam Jones, traded Varitek. You guys. Get it together! 👀
Traded Ketel Marte, although they did get Haniger and my king Jean Segura in that trade (and who knew he’d become as good as he is after hitting 3 homers in 700 PAs on the Mariners)
aren’t we hurting enough
Thank you for reminding me about this. Completely forgot about it but I watched it live at 13 years old lol
He accumulated 60 additional WAR at age 35+. Sixty. Fucking bananas, and unheard of.
I think people underestimate how much supply of a signature affects its worth.
I worked sports retail in the early 2000s, and we sold Pete Rose autograph baseballs for \(49.95. People would always ask why they were so cheap, and other players like Joey Votto were \)100+.
Rose signed everything he could touch to get paid. His autographs are everywhere.
Good on Randy for doing this.
Pete Rose never met something he wouldn’t do for a quick buck. Hell, the only reason why he even admitted to betting on baseball was because he could write a book saying so and make money on it.
The only reason he cared about getting in the hall was to potentially profit off it, not because of the honor.
Pretty sure the joke is that a clean baseball is worth more than one with Bob Feller’s autograph
Heh. He autographed my glove one day at Spring Training. Mom was awestruck when I showed he the glove when I got home.
Rose charged i think like 400 dollars though to sign his rookie cards.
Well yeah, that’s because in that particular case his supply (the number of rookie cards available to sign) was still limited despite his best efforts.
Also when comparing it with modern players vs players of long ago. I recently acquired a signed Trout bat. I would never sell it because of its sentimental value to me as an angels fan, but out of curiosity I checked and some are going from \(700 to a few thousand online. Compare that to a babe Ruth bat that is listed at over \)100k. Players today sign so much stuff. A close friend of mine is in a different sport and he has days where he goes into the team facility and there are tables lined up with literal thousands of things for him to sign. Signed memorabilia just wasn’t always as big as it is today.
Lol its not just cause babe Ruth signed less stuff, though Im sure he did. You have to wait 70 years after trout dies and the supply dwindles to really compare prices.
Seems like its a bit reductive to attribute the difference in worth between Trout and Ruth signatures to just quantity.
Good dude
It’s that big USC Trojan brain of his, fight on ✌️
✌️✌️✌️✌️
The MFing 🐐 🫡
It’s still such an unbelievable moment. If it wasn’t recorded, no one would believe this happened. A bird flying that low directly interacting with a pitch in that exact split second that it’s there?
What makes it even more astronomical is that this pitch was thrown by Randy freaking Johnson. Not some shlub playing cactus ball trying to make the team. That bird flew in the exact spot of a ball that happened to be thrown by arguably the greatest pitcher in the history of the game. Absolutely insane.
I actually want a math wizard to calculate the exact odds of this happening.
It’s, uh, 7. Am genius, no need to recheck.
i mean if you multiply the actual odds by 7 it’s technically 7 in something, if not just an unreduced fraction.
crazy unbelievable moment
but whenever this clip pops up, i’m always surprised how casual he looks when he throws it lol crazy leverage
Fowl ball
I still can’t believe they are using the feathers in that Ken Griffey Jr. Organ commercial haha
He seems like a really decent dude. I always loved watching him pitch when I was a kid…I might like post-playing Randy even more.
Good job unit.
Its funny, I remember how he was portrayed back then, especially his new york days and either that was all horseshit or as he’s aged hes just totally chilled. Either way, always one of my favorites
He just hated the NY media. Can’t blame him tbh
Apparently he’s mellowed out significantly since his playing days
We expect these guys to be intense competitors then are surprised when they’re a bit intense off the field too. It’s not surprising that they mellow out when they retire.
I’ll never forget watching his first video with the local media after signing his contract. He walked out of the building and the first thing he did was shove the camera and the first thing I said was “ohhhh no this isn’t gonna work out at all”.
He definitely seems way more relaxed and enjoying life in retirement. He was so intense and focused on the mound which is part of what made him one of the best flamethrowers ever but he was extremely surly during his playing days.
There’s a video where his daughter is giving him shit about not being very.athletic. She seems to just be getting a rise out of him and it’s pretty funny. I just wish she would have broken character before the video ended.
https://youtube.com/shorts/2IEQLmgJnNQ?si=KYM1gs33Bcb74Pjy
He’s really come out of his shell/persona since retiring. He’ll join the Diamondbacks booth on occasion and it’s always entertaining!
I’ve also said hi to him multiple times at concerts in Phoenix (don’t want to bother him) and he’s always friendly. He’s just a totally different guy now than he came across when pitching.
He’s a good guy as long as you aren’t a bird
he’s the only guy I’ve ever seen get teary talking to the press right after pitching a no-hitter. He was talking about how together in a zone that he and his catcher Scott Bradley were in. And he was choked up.
I think it’s Marshawn Lynch’s YouTube channel, but there’s an episode where he hits BP off Randy and they talk sports and photography.
At the beginning, Marshawn is visibly in starstruck talking to him and a little later Randy says “I pitched 10 seasons in Seattle” and Marshawn gives the biggest “ Yeah, I know, man haha”.
Pretty cool to see someone as big as Marshawn be “just a fan” for a few moments.
Edit for video: https://youtu.be/WLAj7ULRMB4?si=02eR-ndvoTB7C1q2
Marshawn telling everybody watching him take bp that they need to put on the pads and try to tackle him next was fucking hilarious
I think that was a Thursday night football pregame thing. Didn’t know I could like this guy more than after that but here we are.
Marshawn wants to “photographer the shit out of some ass cheeks.” A noble goal if there ever was one.
Saw this the day it was uploaded. I laughed when Johnson was like “So you ready to take some BP off me? I’ll throw a couple of 99’s under your chin”
“If I throw 99 now, it doesn’t have a lot of accuracy. You ever see what I did to that bird?”
Marshawn was like yeah naw I’m good on that lol
Bruh went on a booty cheeks rant and I am for it
I’m bummed I missed this signing, but its cool to see this video from it. I can appreciate his perspective. He tries to strike the balance between making his autos affordable and accessible to many (not all, of course) collectors but still tries to retain the value for certain items specifically for charitable purposes. I think it’s a worthy effort.
This guy is forever my favorite pitcher
Too bad we didn’t get him earlier in his career.
Taken from Razzball on bsky
Forever Giant Randy Johnson - this was cool to hear.
Yeah I mean he’s not getting any shorter
Why are the dimensions so bad of this video?
Because he’s pitching from the stretch.
He’s also a huge sneakerhead and has a crazy collection. He’s well aware how the secondary market/resellers operate.
For someone who was an absolute psychopath on the mound, it’s cool to see him so mellow
Good on Randy
A lot of the stuff he already signs no doubt finds it’s way onto the resale market already
Better to keep some items special
This is now my second favorite Randy Johnson fact
The first is he keeps baseballs by his bed incase of an intruder
The Big Unit
Why is a photographer signing baseballs and jerseys
RJ is awesome
That baseball looks tiny in those hands. Those are some mittens.
Sounded like the fan was about to go into an ad read for the charity.
“ where can we find the charity, your website?”
Yeah this whole thing seems a bit suspiciously planted. Separate cameras on both the fans and Randy?
But it’s for a good cause and raises awareness for it.
Just wish they didn’t need to do things like this to make it go viral when “hey, Randy Johnson does great stuff for charities, find out more here” should be just as good but I understand why it doesn’t trend the same.
/My niece works in viral marketing and the stuff she’s showed me that is manufactured is incredible these days.
Quit making me love this man more damn it.
I’m sure he’s been asked that a lot. Good social media team getting this post out not only will get this question asked a lot less. But now people know the only way to get a signed Johnson jersey.
This might be a dumb question but wouldn’t him signing it make it worth more and thus raise more money for charity? I guess I don’t get the reasoning
The idea is to limit the supply of signed jerseys, so that when he does sign one for a charity fundraiser it raises more than if there were a bunch of jerseys with his signature on them.
Ah makes sense, thanks
If you’re a charity, he’ll sign it and as you state, the price will be high.
What he won’t do, is dilute the market by signing for non-charities.
Randy seems like such a chill dude
I went to 1989 Mets Spring Training in Port St Lucie. Gary Carter wouldn’t sign his card because he had a deal with Easter Seals where you had to send a donation to get a signed card.
Good on randy for understanding the worth of his signature and using that for good
Respect 👊
Legend
He’s one of those guys that you hated when he pitched against you, but you loved once he retired, but for different reasons
My man!
This dude was absolutely terrifying in his playing days, but comes across as so kind a lovable in his retirement
Randy is a good dude.
Just not a good dude to birds. He’s a bad bird man.
Just a classy guy
Classy move Randy, classy move.
What a legend
I too dont sign jerseys for the same reason
Charity is his favorite stripper
[deleted]
Randys good people
So the idea is that by making them rare, on the occasion that he does sign them, he does so for charities so they can raise even more money? That’s pretty awesome.