Mariners to retire Randy Johnson’s #51 next summer

The Big Unit gets the big honor

On the 35th anniversary of the first no-hitter in franchise history, the Mariners have announced that they will be retiring the number of the man who did it. Randy Johnson, the greatest left-handed pitcher in baseball history, will be honored in a ceremony during the 2026 season, with the exact date to be announced once the 2026 schedule is finalized. It will be the second time the Mariners retire number 51, after they honor Ichiro Suzuki this August 9th.

The Big Unit wore number 51 on his back through innumberable iconic moments in franchise history. He wore it when he threw the no-hitter on June 2, 1990. He wore it through his breakout season in 1993, when he became the only Mariner to ever strike out 300 batters. (Though not on the day he actually struck out his 300th hitter, when he was wearing #34 to honor Nolan Ryan’s retirement earlier that week.) He wore it when he looked to the sky after sealing the Mariners first playoff berth on October 2, 1995, cementing the first time a Mariner won the Cy Young Award. He wore it when he struck out a still-standing franchise-record 19 hitters on June 24, 1997, and when he did it again six weeks later. And he wore it on September 23, 1997, when he sealed the Mariners’ second playoff berth.

Johnson recorded 2,165 of his 4,875 strikeouts as a Mariner. He won 130 games with Seattle, and represented the M’s in the All-Star Game five times. His 3.42 ERA is tied with Felix Hernandez for the best in franchise history among those who’ve pitched at least 1,000 innings. This is an honor befitting Johnson’s place in Mariners history.

It will be the fifth time the team has retired a number, after Ken Griffey Jr.’s 24, Edgar Martinez’s 11, Ichiro’s 51, and Jackie Robinson’s 42. It will be the eighth time a team has retired the same number twice, and it will make Johnson the 14th player to have his number retired by more than one team, after Arizona honored him in 2015.