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| Photograph by Brian Lanker |
Theirs is not only a triumph of teammates. It is also a triumph of friends. What is athletic greatness if it doesn't have contagious properties? Only as evanescent as the smoke of a fine cigar. The truly great ones in team sports make those around them better and, ultimately, make them champions. What Johnson and Schilling did this year was take that force and raise it to the power of two.
Text by Tom Verducci
Issue date: December 17, 2001
Video Box: Behind the scenes at the Sportsman photo shoot
After making their major league debuts eight days apart back in September of
1988, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson both went on to pitch for four different
teams over 14 seasons, eventually winding up as teammates on the Arizona
Diamondbacks, a club they would jointly lead to a World Series victory in only
its fourth year of existence. You could say the D-Backs' championship run began
in earnest on July 26, 2000, when they acquired 34-year-old Schilling from the
Phillies, forming a virtually untouchable dynamic duo. During the 2001
regular season Johnson, a 38-year-old left-hander, reached a career high in wins
with a 21-6 record and led the majors with a 2.49 ERA and 372 strikeouts, the
third-most thrown in a season. He reached the 300-K mark for the fourth
consecutive year, a major league first, and climbed to ninth (3,412) on the
all-time strikeout list. Despite these stellar numbers, Johnson's 2-6 record
from postseasons past left some wondering whether he could perform when it
mattered most. Going into the playoffs, it was the right-handed Schilling, with
his 22-6 record, 2.98 ERA and 293 strikeouts, who was considered Arizona's go-to
guy. Schilling was brilliant in the Division Series against the Cardinals, going
2-0 with 18 Ks and one earned run in 18 innings of work. The 6-foot-10 Johnson
finally got the monkey off his back in the NLCS against Atlanta, going 2-0 with
a 1.13 ERA and 19 strikeouts. The pair may have dealt some lethal blows in the
first two rounds of the playoffs, but it was in a thrilling World Series against
the defending champion New York Yankees that the most devastating one-two punch
in baseball scored the knockout. After Schilling shut down the Bombers to get
the Game 1 win, Johnson emerged as the D-Backs' dominator. With victories in
Games 2, 6 and 7, the Big Unit became the first pitcher to secure three wins in
the Fall Classic since Detroit's Mickey Lolich in 1968 and the first ever with
five victories in a single postseason. With ERAs of 1.04 and 1.69, respectively,
Johnson and Schilling were named co-World Series MVPs, only the second time in
history the award has been split. The pair also finished 1-2 in the NL Cy Young
voting, the first time since 1956 starting pitchers from the same team have
taken the top two spots. Receiving 30 of 32 first-place votes, Johnson won in a
landslide to take the honor for the fourth time in his career and become only
the second pitcher to win three consecutive Cy Youngs. Said Arizona manager Bob
Brenly of his pair of aces, "I don't believe there have ever been two
pitchers who dominated all season long the way they
have."
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