Former Arizona Diamondbacks ace Randy Johnson is expected to announce his retirement from baseball in a conference call with reporters tonight, according to multiple media sources.
In 22 Major League seasons, "The Big Unit" won 303 games and has a career ERA of 3.29. Johnson is second all-time on the MLB strikeouts list -- just behind the Robin Ventura-tossing Nolan Ryan.
Johnson started his career with the Montreal Expos in 1988 and began dismantling American League hitters the following year, when he was traded to the Seattle Mariners.
The Unit came to the Valley in 1999, where he won four of his five Cy Young awards -- not to mention being a huge factor in the D-backs 2001 World Series win, when Johnson and co-ace Curt Schilling beat up on the New York Yankees and shared the series MVP award.
Johnson stayed with the D-backs until 2004, when the girth of the Yankees checkbook lured him away from the desert.
Johnson struggled with injuries while he was with the Yankees, as well as having a tough time handling the New York media, and seemed nothing but thrilled to leave New York in 2006, when he came back to the D-backs for two more seasons.
The Big Apple seemed to have taken its toll on Johnson, though, and injuries combined with age seemed to slow his fastball and keep his infamous slider from, well, sliding.
Johnson spent last season playing for the San Francisco Giants, where he became only the 24th pitcher in baseball history to win 300 games.
News of Johnson's likely retirement probably means one thing: The folks in Cooperstown better start clearing some space.
