The Seattle Mariners have already introduced their plans to retire No. 51 in honor of Ichiro Suzuki. Now, they plan to do it once more for a special participant.
The Mariners introduced Monday that they are going to honor No. 51 a second time in honor of Randy Johnson. Johnson wore the quantity whereas pitching for the group between 1993-98. A ceremony will happen sooner or later through the 2026 season.
Mariners chairman John Stanton referred to as Johnson “one of the crucial essential figures in our group’s historical past,” and identified the significance of Johnson’s 1995 AL Cy Younger marketing campaign in serving to preserve baseball within the metropolis of Seattle.
It’s extremely uncommon for any group to retire the identical quantity twice for 2 totally different gamers, although not unprecedented. The New York Yankees retired No. 42 in honor of Mariano Rivera, although the quantity had already been retired league-wide in honor of Jackie Robinson. That also is just not fairly the identical factor as this.
Often, issues by no means get thus far as a result of the quantity merely wouldn’t be reissued, even when it isn’t formally retired. Regardless of that, Ichiro was given No. 51 upon his debut in 2001, whereas Johnson was nonetheless an lively participant with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Mariners have but to formally retire the quantity for Ichiro, as that ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 9. The group seemingly opted to attend till he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, although he has been retired since 2019 and was inducted into the group’s official Corridor of Fame in 2022.
