Randy Johnson's 300th Win - 9th Anniversary

It's that time of year again. It's the day that I get together and celebrate a pitching milestone that I'm perhaps the only person to care about. It is the ninth anniversary of Randy Johnson's 300th win. Last year I didn't prepare anything because I didn't want to rehash what I had posted in the past, and I was traveling to New York anyways. However, after the anniversary last year I had stumbled upon a fascinating relic. Somebody on YouTube had posted the full Comcast SportsNet Bay Area broadcast of the 300th win game, and that includes both the pre-game and the post-game show that was truncated when the broadcast made it onto the iTunes Store. I quickly saved the videos (and thankfully I did, because the account was shut down due to copyright violations) and I decided to transcribe the pre-game and the post-game, very much what I did four years ago for the fifth anniversary. And it will be presented to you after the break.

And frankly it's kind of scary that we are at the 9th anniversary of the amazing milestone. It means that next year will be the 10th anniversary. And I do have something special for the 10th anniversary, but that will come next year. Meanwhile, have the pre-game and post-game, with Duane "Kuip" Kuiper, Mike "Kruk" Krukow, Scott Reiss, Bip Roberts, and the man himself: Randy Johnson.

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part V: The Moment

Well here it is...July 30, 2017. The date of the biggest milestone of Adrian Beltre's career, and the moment we have been working up to over the past few days. Of course, unlike with Randy Johnson's 300th win which had to encompass the entire game, the hit is only a small moment of a much longer game. Would this include a play by play of the game up to and maybe after that point? You betcha. Would it have the stuff I did up to the start of the game? Of course. But clearly the 3,000th Hit will be the highlight.

Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up
Part IV: The Letdown
Part V: The Moment (you are here)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part IV: The Letdown

We've gone through almost 28,000 words in the past three days and has gone through three different types of history. When we left off, Adrian Beltre is at 2,998 hits, and I had just gotten the day off for Saturday and was preparing to go watch him make a chance at history on July 29, 2017. Can he do it? Find out next, on...

Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up
Part IV: The Letdown (you are here)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part III: The Set-Up

Welcome to Part III of my incredibly insane six-part series on a baseball milestone y'all probably don't care about. I've already submitted you to 20,000 words worth of stuff over the past two days, and we still have four more parts to go. After two days of mostly haphazardly-researched material, I am going to focus this time on my personal experiences. This time it's going to be about my personal history with the 3,000 hit club, my own personal memories on Adrian Beltre as well as his chase for 3,000 hits, up through July 28, 2017. Why specifically that date? Well you'll find out soon.

Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up (you are here)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part II: The Player

Welcome to Part II of my crazy and insane project to document seeing one of the greatest milestones of my lifetime. Part I had already taken me more than 12 hours and a couple of freak-outs, and several sleepless nights. there are five more parts to go. This one will be about the life and career of Adrian Beltre, and I’m sure it will run on too long and make me miserable. But hey, Adrian Beltre!

Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player (you are here)
Part III: The Set-up (January 28)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)

Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part I: The Introduction

Eight and a half years ago, on June 4, 2009, I had witnessed Randy Johnson winning his 300th game. It was a transformative moment for me, and every year on June 4, I celebrate the anniversary milestone as though it was an actual holiday. I also wrote over 25,000 words on the milestone in a six-part series posted on the six month and the one year anniversary of that 300th win. I put all that work in because I thought it would be my only opportunity to witness a key milestone moment, but as it turns out I was wrong. Almost six months ago I got a chance to watch another milestone moment, and it was (almost) as awesome as the Big Unit's 300th win. And just because I want to be fair, I figured I should give this milestone the same treatment. So sit back and enjoy (because I know none of you is going to read this so I'm sure you're sitting back and enjoying whatever you're doing), and prepare to learn more than you ever wanted to know about

Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball

Like for the Randy Johnson's 300th win series, this one is going to be six parts

Part I: The Introduction (you are here)
Part II: The Player (January 27)
Part III: The Set-up (January 28)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)

Randy Johnson's 300th Win - 6th Anniversary

Well, it's that time of year again, the time when I drop everything and dedicate my time and energy to celebrating the anniversary of the biggest moment in baseball history that I had the fortune to witness: the 300th win of Randall David Johnson. Each year I've taken a look back at this significant moment and reflect on where life has taken me since then and the monumental challenge of getting to 300 wins. This year is quite significant because this would be the first anniversary where Randy Johnson will celebrate it as a Hall of Fame elect*. It just goes to show the passage of time. In 2009 Randy was in his final season, and now he had waited out his eligibility period to win his 300th game. And in 2009 I was preparing to start medical school. Now I am in my second year of residency. Yes, time waits for no one.

*Although I'm pretty sure he doesn't celebrate this milestone. Last year he was in Vietnam pursuing his photography career, and this year he is doing concert photography with the band Rush. Oh well. Hope he's having fun.

Anyways, I'm sure you people that follow my blog (the number is probably zero) are probably tired of seeing me write about this milestone, so this year I might as well do something different, to explore the experiences of other people that attended this historic game (or some poor unfortunate souls that couldn't quite make it.)