Randy Johnson touches on family, career in Hall of Fame induction speech

Calling it a “fraternity among baseball’s best,” Randy Johnson took his spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday afternoon.

Johnson, who played eight of 22 total MLB seasons as an Arizona Diamondback, becomes the first D-back in the Hall of Fame.

“I’m so honored and privileged to be here,” Johnson said in his Hall of Fame speech. “I never thought I would be on this stage of baseball’s greatest fraternity.”

Johnson’s speech occurred shortly before the Diamondbacks were scheduled to take on the Milwaukee Brewers and was broadcast over the Chase Field video board.

Johnson was joined in the Class of 2015 by fellow inductees Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros, John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves and Pedro Martinez, who became just the second player from the Dominican Republic to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

He thanked the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America for voting him into the Hall of Fame. He was the top vote-getter in the class, receiving 97.3 percent of the vote, which ranks ninth-highest on the all-time list.

Johnson said the trade that sent him from Montreal to Seattle set his career in motion and said his time as a Mariner was a 10-year apprenticeship that eventually led to his success in a Diamondback uniform.

A success that stared on Dec. 10, 1998, when he signed with the Diamondbacks as a free agent after meeting then owner Jerry Colangelo.

“He had a vision and I bought into it,” Johnson said.

The vision resulted in him winning four of his five Cy Young awards including four straight from 1999-2002 while leading the Diamondbacks to the 2001 World Series title.

“Sure individual accomplishments are great but in 2001 we had a team that led us to the World Series.”

As a Diamondback, Johnson won 118 of his 303 career wins and recorded 2,077 of his 4,875 career strikeouts — second most in MLB history. His career includes one night in May 2001 when Johnson tied a Major League record for strikeouts in a game with 20.

“Those are some memorable moments there in Arizona,” he said.

Johnson touched on his family and how after he pitched a no-hitter for the Mariners in 1990. His dad was quick to point out he wasn’t perfect — “you walked seven batters.”

“I was perfect that one day, dad,” Johnson said of his 2004 perfect game against the Braves, while looking up to the sky. “Dad would finish up his shift as a police officer to watch me play in high school. I never forgot those moments.”

In a common theme that was touched on by the previous speeches from Biggio and Smoltz, Johnson talked about how baseball is a long sport and thanked his wife and kids. He ended his speech talking about his son who served as batboy the day he got his 300 win.

“Winning the 300th game was great. But watching how emotional my son was, was even better,” Johnson said. “I know I no longer have a fastball, I no longer have a mullet and the scowl is long gone.”