Retired Numbers - Arizona Diamondbacks

The Arizona Diamondbacks came to life in 1998, so it's not unreasonable to see that they don't have a lot of historic players to honor with a number retirement. God willing, if this project of mine lasts that long, I can edit in another 25 years to amend the "youthful" status of the franchise, but until then we can marvel at the duo to be honored.

#20 - Luis Gonzalez

There are numerous instances in baseball history where one good season can define a players existence and garner immortality for their team. Roger Maris and Bill Mazeroski are a couple of prime examples, as such is Luis Gonzalez. In 2001, Luis has the season of his life (as covered by his official Showdown card) where he launched 57 homers. Like Roger Maris, that was a huge blip in an otherwise modest career for homers. His 224 homers as a D-Back is a franchise best, but lets not beat around the bush.
His bloop single to win Game 7 of the 2001 World Series is the real reason the team immortalized him. For a team like the Cardinals or Yankees, helping them win just one World Series may be just a bit lacking in the "retire my number" criteria, but when you hit almost 60 homers and walk-off the World Series in just a teams *fourth* year of existence, it makes quite the impression.

#51 - Randy Johnson

Like Gonzalez, Randy Johnson was also aided by winning the 2001 World Series, but his resume was a little more well rounded. Being the first person to wear a Diamondbacks hat on his Hall of Fame plaque sure helped. He was co-MVP of that 2001 WS. Of his 5 Cy Young awards, 4 of them came consecutively between 1999-2002 (all those amazing seasons covered by official Showdown cards) with Arizona. He well represented the team at numerous all star games, and there was also that perfect game he pitched in 2004.