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Randy Johnson must wait: Rain stalls USC alum’s pursuit of history

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‘Had the Norse deity Thor grown his hair into a mullet, he might have looked something like Giants pitcher Randy Johnson.’

So starts a great story penned by Henry Schulman in today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

While the legendary hurler is no Viking, he is a Trojan. Johnson, drafted out of USC 24 years ago, was in pursuit of his 300th MLB win tonight. He’ll have to wait to join the elite club, as rain in Washington, D.C., postponed a scheduled game between the Giants and Nationals. Weather permitting, the teams will play a doubleheader on Thursday with Johnson pitching the opener.

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Johnson never played for a Los Angeles team after college, but he had at least one memorable encounter with some Dodgers prospects. The Chronicle story delves into a stint in the minors:

Johnson, one year removed from USC and ‘gangly,’ as [former Giants manager Felipe] Alou described him, raced off the mound to chase a pop foul that landed in the stands on the third-base side. Johnson nearly crashed into the Dodgers’ dugout, prompting all the young L.A. prospects to start laughing.

‘I guess they didn’t know how great he was going to be,’ Alou said. ‘Randy said, ‘Hey, what are you laughing at? I can take all of your team one by one. Who’s first?’ The laughing stopped right there. He spent a few seconds to see if somebody was going to come out. Nobody came out.’

It’s a great read.

-- Adam Rose

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