Catching up with Mariners legend, 12th Man flag raiser Randy Johnson

Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson joined Dori Monson, Paul Moyer and Dave Wyman on the the Seahawks pregame radio show about an hour before he raised the 12th Man flag Sunday at the Seahawks-49ers game at CenturyLink Field.

“I know how special this is,” he told the crowd. “It’s a privilege and I am honored to do it. I am going to have a lot of fun with it.”

Johnson, who played his last game with the Mariners in 1998, has fond memories of the time he spent in Seattle.

“My moments here in Seattle were unbelievable. To play with Junior, Edgar, Omar, and Jay. I played 10 years here and really, feel like I was part of something special,” he said, name-dropping former teammates Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Omar Vizquel and Jay Buhner.

Randy Johnson arrived in Seattle a 25 year old who had yet to harness his pitches and the emotion that would drive him through not just his starts but the days in between as well. He was talented but raw. He became the Big Unit while in a Mariners uniform, but his biggest accomplishments came with the Arizona Diamondacks, which is why there was little question in his mind which cap he would wear at his induction in Cooperstown.

“People here in Seattle have to understand my moments were memorable here, but I was hitting my stride when I left,” he explained. “I won four Cy Youngs, finished second a couple of times in Arizona and I won a World Series.”

That said, Seattle still holds a special place in his heart.

“This is my home away from home. I love coming here. I can only say it for two cities. I live in Arizona but when I come back here this is my home away from home. I have friends that I stay in touch with, I have stomping grounds that I go to. When I walk the streets here it doesn’t feel like it is 45 degrees here because of the people, the atmosphere.”

Johnson is looking forward to returning to Cooperstown this summer to sit onstage as Ken Griffey Jr. is inducted into the Hall of Fame, who is a near-lock to be voted in early next year. Johnson would like to see him go in with another ex-teammate, though.

“I’ve always said I would really like to see Junior get there but also Edgar,” he said. “In my eyes, I pitched against a lot of Hall of Fame people, and I believe with all the players that I played with and against, Edgar would be the one person that if we needed a base hit I would call on him.”

It has been a busy year for Johnson, who now works for the Diamondbacks as an assistant to team president Derrick Hall. The position keeps him involved in baseball as he spends time in spring training with the club and makes short trips to the minor-league affiliates during the season. Away from baseball, he continues to pursue his passion for photography and also has taken numerous USO tours traveling to Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, South Korea and Cuba.

“USO, it’s the most rewarding thing I have done,” he said. “Nobody wants war obviously. I’m just thankful these young men and women volunteer to do this. It all came full circle to me when we all witnessed what happened in 9/11. We had the opportunity to walk Ground Zero about a month after it happened. The ground was still smoldering. To shake the workers’ hands, it left a lasting impression.

“Just like I was in Paris six weeks ago, I was walking the streets taking pictures. We live in different times now. When you have young men and women that are willing to put their lives on the line to protect us, to come to a football game, or walk the streets and do what we love to do, there is a lot to be said for that because they volunteer to do that. Any time I am asked, I drop everything and I get on a plane and I go support.”

As fulfilling as supporting the troops and photography has been in his post-playing days, his days in the game are never far from his thoughts.

“I miss it a lot, but only the part between the lines,” Johnson said. “I don’t miss working out. It was really hard. I don’t miss the mentality I had to have; it was draining. But I loved everything about it. It ran its course. I did it far longer than I ever thought I would do. Twenty-two years in the major leagues and another four in the minors, twenty-six years professionally, I never thought I would play that long.”

It was a career that was certainly appreciated by those in Seattle.

“I’m just glad and very lucky to have been a part of the big first surge of the Mariners.” said Johnson. “The Mariners, they never blew up until about ’95. The Seahawks were there too. Now it’s 12 everything when I am walking the streets and all the jerseys. I think that is great. Great for Seattle. I was there for those special moments (with the Mariners) and younger generations are here for those special moments too.”