03/24/2001 • 7 views
Randy Johnson's 2001 Pitch Strikes and Kills a Bird Midflight
On March 24, 2001, during a spring training game in Tucson, Arizona, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson threw a fastball that struck and killed a dove in midair after it flew across home plate.
Randy Johnson, known for his towering height (6'10") and high-velocity fastball—often topping 95–100 mph—was pitching to Giants batter Eric Young at the time. The play was scored in the official game records as a ball; the dove's sudden appearance and the strike were widely reported in the immediate aftermath by contemporary news outlets and sports media. Video footage from the broadcast circulated on sports highlights and news programs, making the unusual event one of the more widely noted oddities in baseball history.
The scene prompted a mixture of astonishment and dark humor among fans and commentators. Johnson later acknowledged the incident in interviews and was quoted reflecting on its strangeness; the event has since been remembered as an unusual convergence of sport and wildlife. Newspapers and broadcasters from the era reported the basic facts consistently: the date (March 24, 2001), location (Tucson Electric Park), teams involved (Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants), and participants (Randy Johnson pitching to Eric Young).
The incident fed into broader public perceptions of Johnson’s intimidating presence on the mound. Sportswriters and broadcasters invoked the episode when discussing his velocity and overpowering pitching style, sometimes using the anecdote as an emblem of his dominance. Over time the image of a pitcher’s fastball intersecting with a bird in flight became one of the more frequently cited oddities in baseball lore, appearing in lists of bizarre sports moments and in retrospectives about Johnson’s career.
From a factual standpoint, this event is well-documented: multiple contemporaneous news reports and the televised footage substantiate the core details. Some later retellings have exaggerated aspects—such as the exact pitch speed at that moment or dramatic embellishments about the bird’s species—so relying on primary reports and the broadcast tape is advisable for precise information. The species involved is commonly described as a dove in contemporaneous accounts; no formal scientific identification accompanying the event was published.
The episode remains part of Randy Johnson’s public narrative as a vivid, if macabre, footnote to a Hall of Fame career. It also stands as a reminder of the unpredictable intersections between outdoor sports and local wildlife, especially in open-air stadiums where birds and other animals can unexpectedly cross play areas.
Sources: Contemporary newspaper accounts and broadcast footage from the March 24, 2001 spring training game at Tucson Electric Park between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants; subsequent sports retrospectives referencing the televised incident.