Never Read the Script

Power pitchers aren't supposed to age well. The fastball fades, the margin for error disappears, and the story usually ends somewhere in the mid-thirties. Randy Johnson never read that script.

In 1989 he was a 6-foot-10 lefty with a fastball few could touch and control that came and went. The Expos traded him to Seattle that May, and for the next few years he led the American League in walks as often as he dazzled. Then in 1992 he sought out Nolan Ryan, the patron saint of aging power arms, who suggested a few tweaks to his delivery. Something clicked.

What followed still doesn't seem real. Starting in 1999, the season he turned 36, Johnson won four straight Cy Young Awards. Four of his six 300-strikeout seasons came after his 35th birthday. At 40 he threw a perfect game, the oldest pitcher ever to do it. At 45 he won his 300th game.

Most careers peak and then fade. Johnson's took years to find its footing, then refused to come back down.