Mariners to retire Randy Johnson's No. 51: Big Unit threw first no-hitter in Seattle franchise history

No. 51 will be retired for Ichiro this season but Johnson will be included next year

The Seattle Mariners are retiring No. 51 this coming summer for Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, but there will be two names attached to the retired number from the 2026 season on. Randy Johnson, who also wore No. 51 with the Mariners, will have his own number retirement ceremony from the Mariners in 2026, the team announced Monday. 

"Randy is both one of the greatest pitchers in Major League Baseball history and one of the most important figures in our organization's history," Mariners chairman John Stanton said in a statement. "During the 1995 season that changed the future of this franchise, his 18-2 record (in a 145-game season) was properly recognized with his first Cy Young Award.

"More importantly, and somewhat lost to history, the Mariners were an amazing 27-3 in his 30 starts that season, an incredible 24 games over .500, compared to a record of 52-63 when any other starter took to the hill for the club. His domination that year carried the Mariners to our first-ever postseason, which led directly to the construction of T-Mobile Park and the Mariners remaining safely in Seattle forever.

"Randy's extraordinary accomplishments will forever be remembered and recognized with the retirement of his number 51." 

The No. 51 is the third number retired for the Mariners after 11 (Edgar Martinez) and 24 (Ken Griffey Jr.). As with all teams, the Mariners have also retired Jackie Robinson's No. 42.

Johnson spent parts of 10 seasons with the Mariners, growing from a bit of an anomaly with high walk rates into an utter force. He finished in the top three of Cy Young voting four times with the Mariners, including his 1995 win. He also led the league in strikeouts four times and ERA once. In his time with Seattle, he went 130-74 with a 3.42 ERA (128 ERA+) and 2,162 strikeouts in 1,838 ⅓ innings. He threw the first no-hitter in franchise history, exactly 35 years before Monday's announcement, and sits in the top three in club history in wins, ERA, strikeouts, complete games and shutouts.

Johnson later went on to win four more Cy Youngs and a World Series ring with the Diamondbacks and he has a D-backs logo on his Hall of Fame cap, but he certainly had a monster impact on the Mariners and this is a well-deserved honor. 

No date has been announced for the Johnson ceremony, other than that it'll be at some point in 2026.