Number 51

A few months ago, I bought packs of lucky bags in an online sports card shop. When I opened those lucky bags, I found an interesting relic card. On the front, it’s Randy Johnson’s photo while he was pitching for the Diamondbacks with a piece of jersey worn by the big unit. However, I was just thinking about a question.

Is it a piece of his Diamondbacks jersey? I don’t remember any D-backs jerseys in the color. Then, I checked the description on the back. It is shown that it’s an authentic piece of a jersey worn by Randy Johnson in an official Mariners game. A piece of the Mariners jersey, that’s pretty interesting. And, I’m thinking of his career in Seattle and the number 51. After checking on the great baseball reference website, 4 players used to wear number 51 of the Mariners. They are Bill Wilkinson, Rey Quinones, Randy Johnson and Ichiro Suzuki.

Bill Wilkinson played 3 seasons in the majors. He played for the Mariners in 1985, 1987 and 1988. During his career, he made 2 starts and 86 relief appearances. He earned 5 wins and took 8 losses, posting a 4.13 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP in 113.1 innings.

In addition, Rey Quinones spent 4 seasons in the big leagues. He made his MLB debut in the Red Sox uniform and he was traded to the Mariners in August 1986. He played 318 games for the Mariners, slashing .251/.289/.371 with 24 home runs, 115 RBI and 2 stolen bases. Quinones was traded to the Pirates in April 1989.

The Mariners acquired Randy Johnson from the Montreal Expos in May 1989. The big unit had been very important in the Mariners rotation from 1989 to 1998. During these 10 years, Randy Johnson made 266 starts and 8 relief appearances. He recorded 130 wins and 74 losses. Meanwhile, he owned a 3.42 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP. Interestingly, Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Randy Johnson and James Paxton each posted a 3.42 ERA while playing in the Mariners organization. Furthermore, the big unit struck out 2162 batters in 1838.1 innings. Moreover, he tossed 19 shutouts, most in the Mariners franchise history.

Randy Johnson was traded to the Astros in July 1998 and Ichiro Suzuki arrived in Seattle in 2001. Ichiro played for the Mariners from 2001 to 2012 before being traded to the Yankees and he returned to the Mariners in 2018. Ichiro announced his retirement after playing 2 games at the Tokyo Dome in 2019. During these 14 seasons with the Mariners, Ichiro slashed .321/.365/.416 with 99 home runs, 633 RBI and 438 stolen bases. Additionally, he’s the Mariners’ all-time leader in hits (2542).

Randy Johnson was inducted to the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2012 and in 2015, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot. Later this summer, Ichiro will be inducted to the Mariners Hall of Fame and there’s little doubt that he will become a first ballot Hall of Famer.

In 2016, Ken Griffey Jr.’s number 24 became the first-ever retired by the Mariners and Edgar Martinez’s number 11 was retired by the Mariners in 2017. Soon, we shall see the number 51 be retired by the Mariners.