In case you haven’t heard, Randy Johnson will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for Seattle’s home opener on April 12th.  Writes Larry Stone:

It’s a great move by the Mariners and verification that no bad blood lingers from Johnson’s messy departure in 1998. Armstrong said the original idea came to him from marketing VP Kevin Martinez shortly after Johnson’s retirement announcement. Armstrong liked it, and so did CEO Howard Lincoln. Armstrong put in a call to Johnson’s agent, Alan Nero, who ran it by Johnson.

Indeed, it’s great to hear that the ill feelings are fading.  Over the last year or so we’ve gotten some quotes from RJ that showed his willingness to bury the hatchet, and it’s nice to see that the Mariners are on board as well.

One thing this does is it increases the possibility of Seattle retiring number 51 for not just Ichiro but RJ as well, as they should.  I’ve always figured it would work out that way in the end– after all, the Mariners wouldn’t have to make that call until Ichiro is in the Hall of Fame, giving plenty of time for wounds to heal or, more likely, the effected parties to move on from the Mariners making the whole debacle moot– but it’s nice to add some level of certainty.  In a couple years, we should get RJ back to Seattle for his induction into the Mariners Hall of Fame.

I’ve got to think that facade will look nice with #24, #11 and #51 sitting there with #42 a decade from now.