This Day In Baseball
History: June 29, 2004
It was on this day in 2004 that
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher, Randy Johnson, became the fourth pitcher in MLB
history to reach 4000 strikeouts in a 3-2 loss to the San Diego Padres at Bank
One Ballpark in Phoenix. Padre third baseman Jeff Cirillo would be the batter
Johnson struck out to reach the milestone. For the game, Johnson would pitch
eight innings, strike out eight batters, but surrender all three of San Diego’s
runs and take the loss.
The other three pitchers who
reached 4000 strikeouts were Nolan Ryan (who did it in 3844 2/3 innings
pitched), Steve Carlton (4991 1/3) and Roger Clemens (4151). Johnson needed
only 3237 1/3 innings.
When Johnson retired after the
2009 season, he had struck out 4875 batters, second only to Ryan’s 5714. But
keep in mind that Ryan broke into the Majors at the age of 19, pitched in 27
big league seasons and threw 5386 innings while Johnson didn’t see a Major
League mound until the age of 24, pitched 22 seasons and tossed 4135 innings.
One can only imagine what kind of total Johnson would have attained if he had
developed into a Big League pitcher a few years sooner.
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