The Seattle Mariners are one week removed from honoring one of the greatest players in franchise history and one of the greatest starting pitchers in the history of the game.

The Mariners retired the No. 51 worn by left-handed starting pitcher Randy Johnson, who pitched in the major leagues from 1988-2009 and was inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, before a game against the Kansas City Royals on May 2.

Johnson, who was nicknamed the "Big Unit" due to his height (6-foot-10), pitched with Seattle from 1989-98. During that stretch, he earned five of 10 career All-Star selections ('90, '93-95, '97), won the first of five career Cy Young awards ('95) and led the major leagues in strikeouts four times ('92-95).

Johnson also threw the first no-hitter in a game against the Detroit Tigers on June 2, 1990.

Current Seattle manager and former team catcher Dan Wilson caught a lot of Johnson's highlight moments with the franchise. The current skipper played with the Mariners from '94-2005.

Another backstop who caught for Johnson was Scott Bradley, who was a guest on a recent episode of the Refuse to Lose Territory podcast.

Bradley had a nine-year major league career from '84-92. He spent nearly seven of those seasons in the Pacific Northwest from '86-92.

On the podcast, Bradley (who's also the current head coach of the Princeton baseball team) expanded on what made the "Big Unit" so great.

"The big thing with Randy, it's not just the sheer velocity. It's the angles," Bradley said in a recent episode of the Refuse to Lose Territory podcast. "He's 6-foot-10. So, his release point is that much closer to home plate. So, his velocity plays up several miles an hour just because of his extension and his ability to release the ball closer to home plate. He also threw (low three-quarters) a ton. It wasn't like he was just coming right over the top. It was all the factors that they now have with Trackman and Hawkeye and some of these other great technologies out there. They can measure all those things. But I just know, listening to the great hitters talk about Randy, you just never got a good look at it. Yeah, the velocity was incredible, but you could never really get a sense of where the ball was coming from and when you see somebody that big on the mound and then you put them on a slope, it really changes the perspective. You're not used to facing guys that big."

The full podcast episode and conversation with Bradley can be seen below:

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