As a crowd of 40,512 stood and cheered on Saturday at Chase Field, Randy Johnson made the slow walk from the left-field bullpen to the mound – the first time, he later noted, he’d undertaken that journey since coming in as a reliever in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.
Awaiting in front of the mound was a podium decorated with his No. 51, which in a few minutes would join Luis Gonzalez’s No. 20 in retirement. Framed Randy Johnson jerseys from both the purple and red eras of Diamondbacks history flanked the podium, joined by Johnson’s newly-minted Hall of Fame plaque and the World Series trophy he helped secure for Arizona nearly 14 years ago.