No pitcher in major league history stood taller than Randy Johnson. At 6'10", the "Big Unit" was an intimidating figure throughout the 1990s, terrorizing lefthanded hitters with a sidearm fastball that approached 100 mph, a biting slider, and a sweeping curve. Righthanded hitters fared little better. Johnson led the American League in strikeouts from 1992 to 1995, again in 1997, then paced the National League in 1999.

Johnson spent five years in the Montreal farm system before gaining enough control to pitch in the majors. His Expos career, however, was brief. Following a September call-up, Johnson was traded the following May to the Seattle Mariners, where he quickly established himself as a wid but effective starting pitcher.

Johnson threw a no-hitter against Detroit on June 2, 1990. In 1993 he struck out 300 in a season for the first time, lowered his walks under 100, and won 19 games. He won the 1995 American League Cy Young Award, leading the league in ERA and strikeouts with a record of 18-2 that included a victory in a one-game playoff to clinch the Mariners' first postseason berth. He then won one game as a starter in relief in the Division Series against the Yankees.

Although Johnson missed most of the 1996 season with a herniated disk in his back, he rebounded in 1997. He won 20 games for the first time while posting a 2.28 ERA and leading the American League with an .833 won-lost percentage. Twice that season he struck out 19 in a game.

Rumors of an impending trade before the season may have contributed to an inconsistent first half performance for Johnson in 1998. After Houston acquired him at the July 31 trading deadline he became virtually unhittable, going 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA. In the Division Series, however, he twice matched up with Kevin Brown of the Padres and lost.

Johnson then signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks as a free agent and helped lead the team to 100 wins and an NL West title in 1999. His 17-9 record on the way to his second Cy Young was not a true indication of his dominance. Johnson posted a 2.48 ERA, with 12 complete games. He fanned 364 in 271-2/3 innings pitched -- 19 shy of Nolan Ryan's all-time record. On 23 occasions he struck out 10 or more, matching Ryan's 1973 record. Johnson joined Gaylord Perry and Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers at the time to have won the Cy Young Award in both leagues (Roger Clemens joined that elite club in 2004).

"The one thing that was least in his control was the wins and losses," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said of Johnson, who at one point lost three games while allowing four total runs. "Scoring runs and catching the baseball, that's the thing he couldn't control. Thank goodness people realized that."

In 2009, at 45 years old, Johnson notched his 300th win while pitching for the San Francisco Giants, perhaps the final peg in a career that is sure to wind up at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.