Q&A with Big Unit: Johnson talks D-backs tenure, '01 World Series, more

This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter, written this week by Bill Ladson. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

In a recent phone interview with MLB.com, Hall of Famer Randy Johnson answered questions on a wide range of topics from his career with the D-backs to his love for photography.

MLB.com: Twenty-five years ago this past December, you were a free agent and decided to sign with the D-backs. Is it hard to believe you made that decision so long ago?

Randy Johnson: Sometimes I look at it that way. I also realize I’m 60 years old and time flew by since I retired. I guess … when the years are brought up, it’s hard to imagine that it was that long ago.

MLB.com: What made you decide to sign with Arizona at that time?

Johnson: I was coming off a pretty good two months [in August and September with the Astros]. I was traded from Seattle to Houston in 1998. I was going from a third-place team to a first-place team. The Astros had a great offense, No. 1 bullpen, great defense and a big ballpark. I was pitching in the Houston Astrodome. I had a lot of fun. When the season was over, I became a free agent. I was talking to the Astros. When the Astros didn’t work out, I branched out and talked to the Dodgers, Angels, Rangers and the Diamondbacks.

What it came down to was, all the teams were essentially in the same ballpark as far as the years, money and all of that. … It took convincing from [then-managing general partner] Jerry Colangelo that the Diamondbacks were the team [to play for]. He just had that way of convincing me that things would start to fall in place. They would go out to get more players. It took me a while, but a very persistent Jerry Colangelo was able to get me to sign with the Diamondbacks.

MLB.com: During your time in Arizona, you won four straight Cy Young Awards and a World Series ring in 2001. Why did it work so well with the Diamondbacks? You are a Hall of Famer because of your time with them.

Johnson: Even though the team was a new franchise, it wasn’t a roster of [young players]. It was a bunch of veteran players with some younger players mixed in as well. … It was just a fun run individually for a lot of players there. It was a franchise that won a World Series in four years. That was pretty exciting.

MLB.com: Was winning the World Series against the Yankees your best moment?

Johnson: Well, obviously. Every time you go to Spring Training, it’s your motivation to work hard enough and be lucky enough at times to get to a World Series. When you get to a World Series like we did … you want to win it. It was pretty magical how we won it. We had a veteran team, and they kept the team together. You saw the World Series when we came back [to beat] Mariano Rivera. The little things kind of manifested. That’s what kind of happened in 1999 -- my first year there. Then 2000, 2001 and 2002 -- there was positive, good energy and a lot of great things that happened.

MLB.com: Twenty-five years later, the D-backs are the defending National League champions. How bright is the future for them?

Johnson: It’s extremely bright. There is a lot of special stuff here happening in Arizona, much like there was in 2001. The current team is a much younger team. I think anything is possible. I think the Dodgers were able to get a little bit better, and I think the Diamondbacks were able to get a whole lot better. They believe they can compete with anybody. I think the National League West is going to be competitive. It’s going to be possibly a three- [or] maybe four-team race.

The Dodgers and Padres have a [big] payroll. San Francisco has new management with Bob Melvin, and he always seems to make players play better. The Diamondbacks, like you said, are the National League champions. We are still the champs until we get knocked down. I think the young players are excited about defending the title. Spring Training is around the corner. We’ll see what happens. Without a doubt, there will be a lot of optimism based on the results last year. That’s all you can have. Everybody starts even.

MLB.com: As a special assistant to Derrick Hall, the team’s president and CEO, you spend time with pitchers in the Minor League system. What is the biggest thing you want them to learn about pitching?

Johnson: The biggest thing is how good they can be. … It’s just getting them to understand what pitching is all about. It’s not about necessarily throwing 100 miles an hour. That’s great, but you have to utilize all of your pitches. That’s what it’s all about. You have to change eye levels, change speeds and you can’t expect to be successful at throwing one pitch -- 100 miles an hour -- and think you are going to be successful. That’s not pitching. I learned that early in my Minor League [career] as well.

Over time -- four years in the Minor Leagues, a couple of years in the Major Leagues, getting help from Nolan Ryan and understanding consistency and mechanics -- pitching evolves. You have to evolve, because hitting evolves. As soon as you become successful out there, hitters start dissecting why you are successful -- are there patterns? Things like that. You just have to be evolving. That’s what pitchers need to know. They need to know how to pitch.

MLB.com: You are passionate about photography. In fact, you are a photojournalist. Of all the exhibits you have had on display since you retired, what are you most proud of?

Johnson: There was an exhibit in [Cooperstown,] New York, called Storytelling with Photographs. It was 30 photographs that were taken in Ethiopia. … Just being out in Tanzania, seeing the lions and wildlife, I enjoyed all of it. I’ve been to Rwanda. I’ve been to the mountains up there to see the silverback gorillas.

MLB.com: What made you get into photography?

Johnson: I did it in high school. I needed a major [at USC], so I worked for the college newspaper -- The Daily Trojan -- in 1983, ‘84 and ‘85. So I learned a little bit more about photography. I had opportunities to do things with my camera and develop film. It was fun. I played baseball there and focused on that because that’s what I thought I would be doing with my life. Luckily, I was right.

When I’m out there taking photos by myself, I have the mindset like I’m pitching. I’m extremely focused, having fun and knowing what I want to do. I have my blinders on. It’s me and the subject that I’m taking the picture of. It could be an animal. It could be up Monument Valley [in Arizona]. It could be someone at a concert that I’m taking pictures of.

MLB.com: You also took photos of rock stars. Do you have an idea who the first was?

Johnson: I don’t know who the first one was. I was working for the Daily Trojan. If there was a concert on campus and they needed a photo, [I would go] because they were writing a concert review. Eventually, whenever I needed a photo pass to a concert that I wanted to attend, I would say I was shooting for the Daily Trojan. Back then, in the ‘80s, it wasn’t that big of a deal to get a credential. I got to see concerts that I enjoyed and take pictures for a couple of songs. It was kind of cool.