Now, you won’t believe this, but there was this one time a big ol’ pitcher named Randy Johnson did something real strange on the baseball field. Now, I ain’t no expert, but I know a good story when I hear one, and this one’s a doozy! It happened back in 2001, during one of them spring training games. Randy Johnson, he was this big ol’ feller, standing about 6-foot-10, and when he threw that baseball, it was fast—real fast! They say his fastball could hit a hundred miles per hour, and I ain’t one to argue with them numbers. But, something happened that day, something nobody coulda guessed. He went and hit a bird right outta the sky!
You might be wonderin’, how in the world does a big fella like Randy Johnson hit a bird with a baseball? Well, it wasn’t like he was aiming for it, no sir! It just happened. That bird was probably just flyin’ along, mindin’ its own business, when outta nowhere, this ball came screamin’ through the air. They say the bird didn’t stand a chance—blam! It got hit right in midair, and down it went, like a little feathered missile crashin’ to the ground.
Now, you can imagine how all them folks in the stands must’ve been shocked. I mean, what are the chances of something like that happening? Ain’t no one ever seen anything like it before, and they ain’t seen anything like it since! But, from what I hear, Randy Johnson didn’t even realize he had hit that bird ’til the game stopped, and people started talkin’ about it. They didn’t even know how fast the ball was goin’ when it hit the bird, ‘cause the catcher hadn’t even caught the ball yet when it happened. But folks down in Arizona, they reckon it was about a hundred miles per hour, just like Randy’s usual throwin’ speed.
Now, I know a lotta folks like to talk about the big hitters in baseball, the ones who can smack that ball outta the park, but not too many folks talk about pitchers like Randy. He wasn’t just throwin’ for speed, he was throwin’ for power. And that fastball of his, boy, it could get to you in the blink of an eye. But nobody, not even Randy himself, expected that ball to hit a bird. That’s one of those moments that’ll go down in history, I reckon.
See, that bird wasn’t the only one to meet its end from a baseball. There’s a few other times in history where birds have been hit by pitches, though I ain’t sure if they were ever quite like this. The first time anyone can remember a bird being hit by a baseball was way back in 1981, and since then, a few more incidents have happened. But none of them got as much attention as Randy’s moment, that’s for sure.
Folks say that Randy Johnson didn’t mean to hit that bird, but you can’t deny that it sure made for a memorable moment. The video of the incident got spread all around, and folks still talk about it to this day. It just goes to show, you never know what’s gonna happen out there on that field. One minute, you’re throwin’ a fastball, and the next minute, you’re makin’ history for all the wrong reasons. But, hey, that’s baseball for ya! It’s a game full of surprises, big hits, and sometimes—unexpected bird strikes.
So, if you ever find yourself sittin’ around and someone brings up Randy Johnson hittin’ a bird, you’ll know the whole story. You’ll tell ‘em about the fastball, the bird, and how it all happened in the blink of an eye, back in 2001. It might not have been what Randy was tryin’ to do, but it sure gave us a story to tell for years to come.
Tags：[Randy Johnson, baseball, fastball, bird hit, spring training, baseball history, MLB moments, sports surprises]
