Those feathers tend to come out much more easily than the larger stronger tail and wing feathers. ball, dead ball, no pitch, or foul)?-- L. Crowder. Looking back, I am just in awe of the incredibly poor luck that bird had. This has only happened two times in my memory [once in the majors, once in the minors]. A mourning dove is about the same mass, but larger and much less dense. The infamous day, March 24, 2001, when Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson hit a bird with a pitch. How fast would a ball have to be going to knock off a bird's feathers like this? Streby: Probably not that fast. What had just happened? They have evolved to fly through and around dense vegetation and to evade predators. Since there are about 2,400 Major League Baseball games per season and about 250 pitches per game between both teams, and if we limit ourselves to thinking that this happened once in the last 20 years that we can be sure of—that amounts to 1 pitch in 12,000,000 pitches. On March 24, 2001, Randy Johnson did what was probably thought of as unimaginable before: he hit a bird in mid-flight with a pitch intended towards home plate. like July 6, 2014 10:04 pm. WATCH: Randy Johnson Hits Bird With Pitch in 2001. The 6-foot-10 power thrower, one of the best to ever play the game, let loose a fastball that likely reached into the triple digits. We've all seen this video of the Randy Johnson pitch that hit the bird in mid-flight. He's also the only player in recent memory to pulverize a mourning dove with a fastball. It's been 15 years since former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson hit a bird with a pitch during spring training. Johnson was 25 years old when he broke into the big leagues on September 15, 1988, with the Montreal Expos. 3 of 15. Not much different though from getting hit by a peregrine falcon—which in a dive can approach 200 miles per hour! March 24, 2001. The dove never knew what hit it. Jerry Jackson, emeritus researcher at Florida Gulf Coast University: I vaguely remember when it happened. The one-in-a-million pitch is such an odd occurrence that MLB didn’t even have a rule for what to do if a ball hit a bird in midair. Justin Lehman, ornithology graduate student at the University of Tennessee: I was 11 at the time, so I'm sure I found this event incredibly funny. MLB pitcher Randy Johnson destroys a seagull with a 95 MPH fastball. How well are birds equipped to avoid these kinds of projectiles? Hagstrum: Just how fast a ball must be going to knock one feather off a pigeon could be determined experimentally (if you could get permission), but the explosive nature of the event—the puff of feathers in all directions—indicates the extreme force of the ball compared to that of the flying bird. Henry Streby, researcher at the University of Toledo: Based on the video and pictures I've seen, I'm reasonable certain it was a mourning dove (Zenaida macroura). That bizarre play is not covered in the Official Rules. Minor-league pitcher pulls a Randy Johnson, hits bird with pitch. Mourning doves have soft feathers that they can shed when they are frightened. Millions of birds die to human caused events each year (building collisions, feral/outdoor cat depredation, habitat destruction, etc. On March 24, 2001, Randy Johnson threw a pitch that would end a life — and change the life of one flock forever. Search, discover and share your favorite Randy Johnson Hitting A Bird GIFs. See why nearly a quarter of a million subscribers begin their day with the Starting 5. When a situation is not covered, Rule 9.01(c) comes into play. The bird is always going to lose a collision like that even with an off-speed pitch, and a poof of downy feathers would always be the result of a direct hit. Randy Johnson was born on Tuesday, September 10, 1963, in Walnut Creek, California. Like fighter pilots attacking out of the sun, I expect that falcons attack pigeons from behind, within their blind spot. 2. (Twitter/willow7778) Can you tell me what was called when Randy Johnson hit the dove with the ball (i.e. Share this article share tweet text email link Nate Scott. His Second-Oldest Daughter Is a Volleyball Star. It's absolutely amazing! Third, millions of birds are killed each year by outside cats, glass windows, wind turbines, airplanes and other human-related problems. Johnson had blossomed once he hit 30, an age that nowadays gets a pitcher a sideways look when he asks for a contract … The bird was killed amid the explosion of feathers. I'm also reminded of the time [male supermodel] Fabio got hit in the face by a goose while he was riding a roller coaster. Hagstrum: Like all prey animals, the [dove's] eyes are on the side of their head, giving it about a 340-degree horizontal field of view, while humans have a 180- to 200-degree field. … On this day 16 years ago Randy Johnson exploded a bird. If they do catch sight of a falcon diving on them, they wait until the last minute before "sidestepping" the dive, but if they miss the falcon incoming at over 200 mph, it's all over. In a sense, a fright molt is akin to a lizard leaving its tail behind to escape a predator. Pigeons rarely fly in a straight line, which I expect has something to do with them changing the direction of their blind spot and not giving falcons the chance to dive on them, kind of like a maritime convoy zigzagging in submarine territory. In honor of Randy Johnson's induction into the 2015 Hall of Fame, take a look back at one of his most memorable, crazy moments. Johnson's career elite rankings also include first in strikeouts per nine innings pitched (10.67), third in hit batsmen (188), and tenth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings pitched (7.24). If we consider the minors, then that's about another three to four times as many pitches. The Hall-of-Famer was so good he pitched a baseball in the most ruthless way possible 15 years ago today. The star? Randy Johnson hits a bird!!! The Conservative Case for a $15 Minimum Wage, Democrats Are Wrong: A $15 Minimum Wage Will Hurt the Marginalized, Songbirds Avoid Storms by Hearing Them, Hundreds of Miles Away, Birds Can Spread Wildfires, Research Suggests, City Birds May Be Smarter Than Rural Ones, Small Songbird Makes One of the Longest Flights for All Birds. It was the day Randy Johnson beaned a bird. I feel worse thinking it was probably a breeding bird that time of year, with a nest of eggs or hungry nestlings somewhere nearby. First, the mourning dove is one of the most common species in urban areas of Arizona and across the country, and it is not a species of conservation concern. Doves forage on the ground and eat mostly seeds. Time flies. Born: September 10, 1963 in Walnut Creek, CA us Draft: Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 4th round of the 1982 MLB June Amateur Draft from Livermore HS (Livermore, CA) and the Montreal Expos in the 2nd round of the 1985 MLB … April 4 Hideo Nomo hurls a 3-0 no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles in his Boston Red Sox debut. The official call is a "no pitch". Not about his five Cy Young awards, his 4,875 strikeouts, his no-hitter in 1990, his perfect game in 2004, but that dang bird. Were you aware of this when it happened, and what did you think about it as somebody who studies birds? His 303 career victories rank as the … The body feathers of birds are attached only to the skin and are replaced normally by an annual molt. So that's something like 23,500 pitches per team per year. Elvers managed to hit a passing bird with one fastball during a high-school game but amazingly the bird survives the blow and flies away. So the probability is like one in 50 million or so over the past 20 years. The bird in question exploded into a cloud of feathers after being struck by the 100 mile per hour pitch, leaving us with one of the weirdest, yet most … The odds against such a thing happening must be astronomical. Braun: Several species of gulls have also been hit and died or had broken wings from being hit with baseballs, usually as a result of the ball being first hit by a bat. There are conflicting reports. It looks like the bird exploded. On March 24, 2001, during a spring training game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants, Randy Johnson, now a Hall of Famer, stood on the mound facing Giant’s Calvin Murray. I found another video of a bird being hit by a pitch [in the minors], but it appears to be a swallow of some sort, which would probably be flying back and forth collecting insects instead of just flying through like the dove. Johnson later reported that not everyone was amused by the incident. “I was considered a bird killer,” Jonson said, “and they were actually considering filing charges on the bird’s behalf.”. It was a similar explosion of feathers. April. The bizarre play is not covered in the official rules, and as instructed to do in such cases, the ump used "common sense and fair play" to make that call.). Randy Johnson. Randy Johnson: Pos: QB, Career: 75 G, 51 TD, 55.1 Rate, 111.1 Y/G, Falcons/Giants/.. 1966-1976, born TX 1944, died 2009 Lehman: I would have to think this is well over a one in a million shot. First of all, what kind of bird was it? I was appalled, as I study mourning doves. SportsArizona DiamondbacksCalvin MurrayMLBRandy JohnsonSan Francisco Giants. On this date in 2001 one of them truly was. So in perspective, it is just an amazing coincidence that got caught on camera. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston. Second, although he did hit the bird outside of the dove season in Arizona, which happens in September, it is a game species, and there are plenty of hunters who wish they could get off such a clean shot. Many hitters thought Randy Johnson‘s fastballs were deadly. However, I'd imagine it probably had a very quick death and probably didn't feel much pain. It was one filled with memorable achievements. This is a reflexive action called a "fright molt." On March 24, 2001, future Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson stood on the mound, facing down Calvin Murray of the San Francisco Giants in a spring training game. But the quality of the video isn't the greatest. Five Cy Young Awards, 303 career victories, a no-hitter and a perfect game, 4,875 career strikeouts — including 20 in a single game — and a World Series championship with the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. Apparently animal rights extremist group PETA threatened to file charges against Johnson for killing the bird. Johnson has the second-most strikeouts of all time, a total of 4,875, and is in the Hall of Fame. Randy Johnson had a Hall-of-Fame career as a pitcher. His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats (where applicable), career totals, uniform … Wunder: Consider about 33 spring training games and 162 regular season games per team per year. In either case, the bird wouldn't have known what hit it. It probably flew through that same area plenty of times without any issues. It is Nomo's second career no … Michael Wunder, associate professor at the University of Colorado, Denver: I didn't feel bad for the bird. Have you ever seen anything else happen even remotely like this? Streby: Most birds have excellent vision and very fast response times and are pretty good at avoiding collisions with objects they encounter in nature. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images. There are 30 teams, so about 700,000 pitches per year, just for the majors. The bird met its fate on March 24, 2001, as Hall of Famer Randy Johnson did his wind up and let loose a typically blistering fastball toward home plate where Murray waited to take his swing. However, this dove was in a very unique environment and probably never saw the ball coming from less than 60 feet away. ©Randy Johnson Photography, 2020. The left-hander commonly threw pitches that clocked in at 100 mile per hour, so it isn’t any surprise that even a bird was unable to shift its flight pattern to avoid the ball. Not being much of a baseball fan, this is the first time I've heard of or seen the event. Lehman: Obviously I feel bad for the bird. Jonathan Hagstrum, research geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey: [Regarding being asked to reply: "Just for the record, I'm not an ornithologist, but a research geophysicist interested in the geophysical underpinnings of avian navigation."] Hit Counter. Archived. So he didn't impact the future of a species or anything like that. Randy Johnson. But Johnson seems to have made peace with the event. The infamous day, March 24, 2001, when Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson hit a bird with a pitch. But a split second after Johnson let loose, the ball hit the bird in mid-flight resulting in a puff of feathers that had the whole stadium slack jawed in shock. Position: Pitcher Bats: Right • Throws: Left 6-10, 225lb (208cm, 102kg) . Just think of the hundreds of thousands of baseballs being pitched each year.... From my experience, most of the time pigeons and doves don't fly that close to the ground. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. ... WATCH: Randy Johnson Hits Bird With Pitch in 2001. A son, Daryl Dove, was tragically taken in a freak accident that would shock the baseball community, and become irrevocably linked to Johnson.