Spring Training 1996: One of baseball's biggest pitchers reports to camp
With pitchers and catchers reporting in just about one week, we wanted to highlight one of the game's biggest hurlers to report to Spring Training back in 1996. Not only because he was coming off a big Cy Young Award-winning year in '95, but also because, well, he was just really big:
That's 10-year-old kid reporter Sean Freeder interviewing 6-foot-10 Mariners ace Randy Johnson. That is quite the picture.
The 31-year-old Johnson was coming off one of his best seasons ever, compiling an 18-2 record and leading the league in ERA (2.48), strikeouts (294), WHIP (1.045) and K/9 (12.3). Seattle also won its first division title in franchise history. Here's a little 16-strikeout taste of his dominance during a July game against the Blue Jays: