303-game winner Randy Johnson (above) celebrates his 48th birthday today , and while most rational persons wouldn’t be psyched to spend it attending an Arizona Diamondbacks game, Johnson seems a tad grumpy, even though the Arizona Republic’s Dan Bickley claims “time has soothed most of the anger he felt toward the organization.”
“It was (Jeff) Moorad and a couple of other people who were running the organization at the time,” Johnson said. “They thought that wasn’t enough of a hometown discount. At the time, San Francisco was more than willing to have me come and win that game there. I was extremely torn that an organization I gave so much to on and off the field – and was willing to take a 50 percent pay cut – just kind of shunned me. There’s a little bit of bad feelings, but we’re two years removed from that now.”
That lingering animosity is likely to blame for Johnson’s reluctance to fully embrace the organization. He remains coy on whether he’d prefer to wear a Mariners hat (where he won more games) or a Diamondbacks hat (where he won four consecutive Cy Young Awards and a World Series) in the Hall of Fame. He says it’s presumptuous to assume such an honor (yeah, right), and that he’ll “cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“I don’t think I’m going to have as much control as some people think when it comes to choosing a hat,” Johnson said.