Randy Johnson Hit a Bird with a Pitch on March 24, 2001

In 2001, Arizona Diamondbacks’ Randy Johnson destroyed a bird with a baseball. While that might not strike with the impact of the temporal distinction of “a century ago,” it’s still long enough ago that the footage is grainy, pre-HD, and even before the Internet was a daily resource for most of us.

For Johnson, the incident stands as arguably the most mythologizing moment of his entire, storied career. He’s a five-time Cy Young winner, he possesses 303 wins, he owns the record for most strikeouts by a lefty, and he is second to only Nolan Ryan for most strikeouts in MLB history. Yet, for baseball fans of a certain age, “he nuked a pigeon with a pitch” is the most defining moment.

The man’s durability and staying power in the majors are practically unheard of in this day and age of pitch counts and “saving the arm.” But when Johnson broke into The Bigs with Montreal back in the late 1980s, MLB managers were far more of the belief of “ride ’em until the wheels come off.” Johnson worked his arm and his giraffe-like frame through the abuses and nicks and dinks that come with primarily four-man rotations and short rest cycles. Through all of it (and with the consistency of a freight train), Johnson delivered the heat, fanning entire sides and silencing the mighty Yankees’ bats alongside Curt Schilling in the 2001 World Series.

Opponents, avian or man, had to contend with the heat from the Big Unit’s devastating left arm as much as they had to fear the psychological warfare he wreaked with his intimidating glares punctuated with that utterly Johnsonian grimace and temper. We salute you, Big Unit, and may the bird you nuked rest forever in peace.