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An all-time video that circulated through Sports Center, early internet, and now back today. It was a spring training game for the future World Series Champs. Ace Randy Johnson, "The Big Unit", was getting ready to win another CY Young. It was a normal spring training game, a normal afternoon, Johnson winds up, delivers the pitch, and poof.
The pitch was ruled dead, no pun intended, and did not count. It wasn't recorded if it was a ball or strike, and no pitch speed was recorded because it didn't cross the plate. Reports said it tipped over 100mph, which makes sense from the results.
It's one of those moments that just breaks the simulation. First being the bird itself. Not often does a bird fly that low during a live game. I've leaned both ways with birds being real or not, but this fella (RIP) kinda shows they may be real. The feathers, the explosion, insane. What's wild is that the bird stayed in tact? HOW?!
Giant's Jeff Kent holds up the bird and smiled back at Randy Johnson. Photo: Ted Warren / AP
Johnson told ESPN that he wasn't amused with Kent's joke. "It wasn't funny at all". He seemed to lighten up to the joke, because his photography business logo is the bird.
Photo: AP Photo/Paul Connors
The second being the Arizona prophecy. The batter who was up in the video, was Calvin Murray, the uncle of Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, who was only three at the time. Wild. All-in-all, just a wild video that I am happy has resurfaced once again.