June 2, 1990: Randy Johnson throws first no-hitter in Seattle Mariners history

In 1990, 26-year-old Randy Johnson was in his third year as a big-league pitcher and his first full season with the Seattle Mariners. He was better known for his lack of control and unprecedented height than as someone who could win multiple Cy Young Awards and become a Hall of Famer. At 6-feet-10, the “Big Unit”1 had mechanical issues with his delivery, resulting in wildness and inconsistent performances.2

During the previous season, the Montreal Expos, Johnson’s original major-league organization, had packaged him with two other players in a trade for Seattle’s ace, Mark Langston.3 Initially, the trade was unpopular with Mariners players and fans and Seattle sportswriters. Langston, a 28-year-old All-Star, had led the American League in strikeouts in 1986 and 1987. The Mariners said the Expos coming to Seattle had a lot of potential. Over the years, Mariners fans had heard enough about “potential.” There had been too many disappointing teams, players, and trades in Mariners history. The fans were impatient for on-field success.4

On Saturday, June 2, 1990, the Detroit Tigers were in Seattle for the second game of a three-game series. The Tigers were in sixth place in the AL East Division with a 21-29 record. The Mariners were 23-27 and held fifth place in the AL West.

Johnson was the starter for the Mariners, slightly more than a year to the day after the trade from Montreal. Coming into this game, he had a 3-3 record and a 4.73 ERA. In his previous start, he had been roughed up by the Toronto Blue Jays, yielding five earned runs before being pulled after 5 2/3 innings.5

As part of his game preparation, Johnson practiced on a new drum set, playing along to songs by Rush. The quirky California native had also put yellow tape across his locker printed with “Police Line – Do Not Cross.”6

A crowd of 20,014 settled in at the Kingdome.7 Johnson, a southpaw, took the mound. The leadoff batter, second baseman Tony Phillips, a switch-hitter, struck out swinging on four pitches. Alan Trammell grounded out to short. Gary Ward sent one to deep center; it was caught right in front of the warning track by Ken Griffey Jr.8

Detroit’s starter, right-hander Jeff Robinson, had a 4-4 record and an ERA of 6.09 entering the game. In the bottom of the first, leadoff batter Harold Reynolds walked on a full count.9 One out later. Alvin Davis walked, bringing up cleanup batter Jeffrey Leonard. The runners advanced on a wild pitch, then Leonard’s groundout to third scored Reynolds. Griffey was intentionally walked, but third baseman Edgar Martínez – emerging as a major-league regular with a .333 average at age 27 – reached on catcher’s interference, loading the bases.

With two outs, Jay Buhner stepped into the batter’s box. The day before, in his first at-bat of the season after a spring-training ankle injury, he had hit a first-inning grand slam off Jack Morris. Now, the Mariners’ faithful hoped for a repeat performance from the 25-year-old right fielder, who had bounced between the majors and Triple A for the past three seasons. But it wasn’t in the cards; Buhner lined out to left. Seattle 1, Detroit 0.

The second and third innings were uneventful, other than a 6-4-3 double play turned by the Mariners in the top of second; and in the bottom of that inning, Reynolds stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Tigers catcher Mike Heath. Through three innings, neither pitcher had surrendered a hit. Johnson had walked two, and Robinson surrendered six bases on balls (one intentional).

In the fourth, with one out, Detroit’s Ward reached on an error when Mariners shortstop Mike Brumley bobbled a grounder. Johnson fanned Cecil Fielder (who had hit a grand slam of his own a day earlier, his 19th homer of the season since returning from a year in Japan) and Chet Lemon grounded out to third. In the bottom of the inning, Brumley ripped a liner up the left-field line for a double. While facing Reynolds, Robinson threw another wild pitch, advancing Brumley to third, from which he scored on Reynolds’ sacrifice fly to left. Mariners 2, Tigers 0.

Going into the sixth, the fans and broadcasters sensed that Johnson might have a shot at a no-hitter. Although three Tigers had reached base on walks and an error, Johnson hadn’t given up a hit. The Big Unit seemed to wobble in the sixth, walking Phillips, Ward, and Fielder to load the bases. Owing to the team’s mediocre history, Mariners fans in 1990 were all too familiar with disappointment. But Johnson got out of the inning when Lemon went down swinging for the third out.

The top of the seventh featured a close call when Detroit’s Tracy Jones hit a grounder to Martínez, who had tied the AL record for third basemen on May 6 with four errors in a game. Martinez’s throw pulled Davis off first, but he tagged Jones on the head – just in time.

During the seventh-inning stretch, “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsmen was played instead of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” For the first time in Mariners history, the traditional song was not played for the stretch.10

After seven innings, Robinson was replaced by reliever Paul Gibson. Robinson finished with 115 pitches, three hits and two earned runs given up, six walks, three strikeouts, and two wild pitches. In the bottom of the eighth, Gibson gave up a single to Leonard, but got out of the inning with the score remaining 2-0, Seattle.

With Johnson only three outs from a no-hitter, the crowd was buzzing entering the top of the ninth. While some fans stood for the past couple of innings, everyone was getting on their feet now. The Big Unit struck out Fielder on three pitches.11 Lemon worked the count to 3-and-2 but fouled out to the first-base side.

Only one batter remained who could spoil Johnson’s no-no: Mike Heath. Johnson got ahead with two strikes.

Here’s the final call by Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus:

“A man all alone with himself, but not all alone here. As [over 20,000] rabid Mariners fans are looking for that final strike that will set Mariner history. Here comes the left-hander’s wind, the 0-2 pitch on the way … SWING! IT’S OVER! HE HAS DONE IT! High fastball. Randy Johnson being mobbed by Scott Bradley. Down to greet him is the entire Mariners team. Here on the second of June, it ends at 9:51 Pacific Daylight Time. Randy Johnson with the first Mariner no-hitter in history,12 and they are going crazy. Everybody saluting the tallest man to ever put on a uniform in the history of baseball. Randy Johnson has done it. He has no-hit the Detroit Tigers tonight, 2-0. My oh my!”13

“He just went from being a guy with all the potential in the world to being a part of baseball history,” said Mariners manager Jim Lefebvre. “Not just Mariners history – baseball history. I’m so damned excited for him I don’t know what to say.”14

“Toward the end of the game, I felt like I could throw my pitches exactly where I wanted to and, for me, that’s saying a lot,” said Johnson.15

“I played [drums] for about an hour and a half [this morning],” said the Big Unit, who has always marched to his own drummer. “In about the seventh inning, to get my mind off the no-hitter, I started tapping the drum beats I’d been practicing. … Getting my mind off the game really helped. … I’m going to talk to [Lefebvre] about taking those drums on the road.”16

Johnson said this about his batterymate: “Scott Bradley called an unreal game. I just felt we were in a groove all night. I had my slider grip and he would call for a slider. … I had my grip on the pitch and he would call it. We were that in sync.”17

With persistence, hard work, and good coaching, Johnson improved the control issues he had as a young player. He transformed into a complete pitcher who dominated over many years, playing in the big leagues till age 46. He won the Cy Young Award five times18 and the ERA title four times,19 and was a 10-time All-Star. In 2001 he helped the Arizona Diamondbacks win their first World Series championship and was the Series co-MVP. In 2015 Johnson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.20

In 2004, as a 40-year-old with the Diamondbacks, Johnson threw his second no-hitter: the 17th perfect game in major-league history.21 In doing so, he became just the fifth big-leaguer to pitch a no-hitter in each league, and the first pitcher to throw the first no-hitters for two franchises.

Johnson’s first no-hitter – and his 1990 season – was a turning point. He gained self-assurance, becoming a first-time All-Star in 1990.22 The Mariner faithful gained confidence as well. After the no-hitter, many fans stopped griping about the Langston trade and began to adopt Johnson as their favorite Mariners pitcher. During Johnson’s no-hit game, fans saw his star power beginning to shine through, and they got a glimpse of a brighter future.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Troy Olszewski and copy-edited by Len Levin. The author thanks John Fredland for his assistance.

Sources and Photo Credits

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org for general player, team and season data.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA199006020.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1990/B06020SEA1990.htm

The Randy Johnson baseball card image was downloaded from the Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 The nickname’s origin stems from an event in 1988: Johnson’s Montreal Expos teammate Tim Raines collided with him during batting practice. The 5-foot-8-inch Raines said, “You’re a big unit.” Joseph Wancho, “Randy Johnson,” SABR Baseball Biography Project, accessed February 5, 2025, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-18-2004-randy-johnson-pitches-a-perfect-game-at-age-40/.

2 Andrew Simon, “#TBT: Big Unit Throws Mariners’ First No-Hitter,” mlb.com, June 1, 2016, https://www.mlb.com/news/mariners-randy-johnson-threw-first-no-hitter-c181624666. Entering this game, Johnson had these career stats over 43 games: a walk-rate of 5.0 over nine innings and an ERA of 4.54. For the 1990 season, he led the majors with 120 walks.

3 Along with Johnson, the Mariners received two other pitchers from the Expos: Brian Holman and Gene Harris. The Expos received Langston and a player to be named later. The trade was executed on May 25, 1989, and completed on July 31, 1989, when pitcher Mike Campbell was selected by Montreal as the player to be named later. The Seattle-born-and-raised Campbell was sent to the Expos’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis.

4 Many previous trades had been frustrating for Seattleites. All too often, players traded by the Mariners went on to flourish with their new teams. Instead of the Mariners reaping the rewards, fans got used to seeing former Mariners doing spectacular things on the nightly highlight reels.

5 He had also surrendered 12 homers so far in the season, the most in the majors.

6 The Canadian band Rush was well known for playing hard rock that featured impressive percussion by their drummer, Neil Peart. Regarding the police barrier tape, Johnson said, “I just put it up there and didn’t think anything about it. … People think I’m a flake, or something. But there’s really no story behind it, or anything. I just did it.” Steve Kelley, “Wild Man! – Flake? Naw, Johnson Just Plays to a Different Beat,” Seattle Times, June 4, 1990: C1.

7 The Kingdome was a multipurpose indoor stadium that opened in 1976 for NFL football (Seattle Seahawks) and soccer (Seattle Sounders). Known as “The Tomb,” the concrete dome had a cavernous and dreary interior that was not esthetically pleasing for baseball, but at least there were no rainouts. It was home of the Mariners from 1977 until partway through the 1999 season, when the club moved to Safeco Field, a new, retractable-roof ballpark. The Kingdome was demolished via controlled implosion in 2000. “Remembering the Kingdome: 24 Years Since Iconic Seattle Stadium’s Implosion,” fox13seattle.com, March 26, 2024, https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/kingdome-24-years-implosion.

8 Associated Press, “Mariner Fires 1st No-Hitter,” Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, June 3, 1990: C1. In 1990, 20-year-old center fielder Griffey was a first time All-Star and won a Gold Glove. In August his father, Ken Griffey Sr., came to the Mariners and the father-son duo played for 51 games until Griffey Sr. retired during the 1991 season at age 41. They were the first father and son to play together on the same major-league team.

9 Second baseman Reynolds won a Gold Glove in 1990 and finished the season with the most plate appearances (737) and at-bats (642) in the major leagues.

10 Bob Finnigan, “Johnson No-Hits Tigers – Detroit’s Free Swinging Contributes to M’s Cause,” Seattle Times, June 3, 1990: C1. It’s not clear if the songs were switched to set the tone for something new at the Kingdome, such as a no-hitter. Regardless, the upbeat “Louie, Louie” is a longtime Pacific Northwest favorite. The song was originally composed and recorded in the 1950s by Richard Berry and was made famous as a hit by the Portland, Oregon-based Kingsmen in 1963.

11 In this game, Johnson struck out Fielder twice and walked him twice. Fielder entered the game with a major-league-leading 19 homers (tied with the Oakland Athletics’ Jose Canseco) and an OPS of 1.111. He went on to be the runner-up for the 1990 AL MVP Award (Oakland’s Rickey Henderson was that year’s MVP). Fielder finished the 1990 season with the most homers (51) and RBIs (182) in the majors.

12 This was the first no-hitter in 2,101 Mariners games, dating to 1977. Johnson’s no-hitter was also the first no-hit game in the Kingdome by any major-league team. Johnson had never had a big-league shutout and had pitched only three complete games prior to his no-hitter. Of the 136 pitches he threw (87 strikes, 49 balls), 50 were at 94 mph or higher. The last pitch of the game was his fastest (97 mph). Johnson threw sliders with lots of movement, but mostly fastballs. He also mixed in three changeups. John Lowe, “Johnson’s Hard-and-Fast Rule Finished No-Hitter vs. Tigers,” Detroit Free Press, June 4, 1990, 1D.  This was the 12th no-hitter pitched against Detroit and the first since Nolan Ryan no-hit the Tigers on July 15, 1973. During the 1990 season, there were seven major-league no-hitters, including two on the same day: On June 29, Dave Stewart of the Oakland A’s no-hit the Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodger Fernando Valenzuela crafted a no-no over the St. Louis Cardinals. Prior to Johnson’s no-hitter, four one-hitters had been thrown by Mariners: Jim Beattie in 1983, Mike Trujillo in 1986, Mark Langston in 1988, and Brian Holman on April 20, 1990, when the Oakland A’s pinch-hitter Ken Phelps homered with two outs in the ninth inning to spoil a perfect game.

13 “Classic Mariners Games: Randy Johnson’s No-Hitter,” marinersblog.mlblogs.com, April 3, 2020, https://marinersblog.mlblogs.com/classic-mariners-games-randy-johnsons-no-hitter-43173f17f75a. Johnson threw both of his arms in the air immediately after the final out. After he went to the dugout, the crowd continued a standing ovation for almost two minutes until Johnson came out and tipped his hat (in a big, upward thrust) to the delight of the fans. Johnson struck out eight batters and walked six. Johnson finished strong: Of the last 11 batters he faced, he struck-out five.

14 “Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners Pitches the First No-Hitter in the History of the Franchise,” thisdayinbaseball.com, accessed January 22, 2025, https://thisdayinbaseball.com/randy-johnson-of-the-seattle-mariners-pitches-the-first-no-hitter-in-the-history-of-the-franchise/.

15 Steve Kelley, “Wild Man! – Flake? Naw, Johnson Just Plays to a Different Beat,” Seattle Times, June 4, 1990: C1.

16 Kelley, “Wild Man! – Flake? Naw, Johnson Just Plays to a Different Beat.”

17 “Classic Mariners Games: Randy Johnson’s No-Hitter,” marinersblog.mlblogs.com. “He pitched backwards,” said Detroit’s Tony Phillips. “He threw fastballs in breaking-ball situations and breaking balls in fastball situations.” Tom Gage, “For Mike Heath, It Was the Loneliest Feeling in the World,” USA Today / Detroit News, June 3, 1990.

18 Johnson’s first Cy Young Award was as a Mariner, in 1995. He won four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards with the Arizona Diamondbacks, 1999 through 2002. He came in second in Cy Young Award voting three times.

19 He won the AL ERA title in 1995 (2.48). He won the senior circuit title three times: in 1999 (2.48), 2001 (2.49, which was the best in both leagues), and 2002 (2.32). He also was first in his league in WAR for pitchers over six seasons, and was a league leader for strikeouts over nine seasons.

20 In the 2001 World Series, Johnson shared the Series MVP with teammate and fellow starting pitcher Curt Schilling. Johnson was inducted into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot with 97.27 percent of the vote. Other future Hall of Famers who played in this game include Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, and Alan Trammell. The Tigers’ manager, Sparky Anderson’ is also a Hall of Fame inductee. Johnson’s career stats: 303 wins and 166 losses (.646), a 3.29 ERA, 603 starts in 618 games, 100 complete games, 37 shutouts, 1.17 WHIP, 4,135 1/3 innings pitched, and 4,875 strikeouts. His strikeout total is the most by a lefty and put him in second place after Nolan Ryan, who fanned with 5,714. In, 2002, as an Arizona Diamondback, Johnson won the NL pitching Triple Crown (24 wins, 334 strikeouts, 2.32 ERA).

21 Johnson also threw a perfect game in his final start with Livermore (California) High School.

22 “Classic Mariners Games: Randy Johnson’s No-Hitter.” After the no-hitter, Johnson won his next five outings. For the remainder of the 1990 season, he had an 11-8 record and an ERA of 3.25 over 23 starts. As his confidence and pitching prowess grew, he won the AL strikeout crown in four consecutive years (1992 through 1995), leading both leagues for the last three of those seasons.