"The 6-foot-10 left-hander with perhaps the most menacing sneer and imposing mound presence in baseball history had to take a few exaggerated breaths to keep from breaking down Thursday night.

Sitting before reporters at Nationals Park after becoming the 24th and newest member of Major League Baseball's 300-win club, San Francisco Giants left-hander Randy Johnson's face reddened as he struggled to explain what he was feeling after the Giants' 5-1 win over the Washington Nationals.

"This is kind of a long-term thing that has been going on for 21 years, and you finally get to this day," said Johnson, who at age 45 is the second-oldest pitcher to reach the 300-win milestone. "And you know that if your team plays well, you pitch well, that something can happen that's only happened [23] other times."

The five-time Cy Young Award winner paused.

"I think I am actually more nervous now than I was pitching. It's kind of a loss for words."

Johnson became the sixth left-hander to reach 300 and the fifth overall to do it in a first attempt. He accomplished it despite winning only 64 games before he turned 30 and despite undergoing three back surgeries in his career, the most recent in 2007.

"The past few years, 300 wasn't on my mind," Johnson said. "It was just a matter of I wanted to get through surgery, be healthy and prove that I could still pitch That was much more important to me, because 300 really wasn't on the horizon when I was going through all these surgeries."

With the game and his peace of mind on the line in the ninth inning Thursday, Johnson sat stoically in the visitor's dugout watching Giants' closer Brian Wilson strike out Nationals catcher Wil Nieves.

Johnson then walked deliberately onto the field, hugged each teammate and waved his hat in a circle to the soggy crowd of only a few thousand that had braved a rainout on Wednesday and a 36-minute delay of the doubleheader to witness Johnson achieve baseball immortality.

"We watched history today," said Nationals manager Manny Acta. "He's probably going to be the last guy to ever do this. It was impressive to see. His longevity and everything he's done for the game paid off today."

Afterward, Johnson was asked if he'd be the last to ever reach the milestone.

"There's a lot of talented pitchers out there, and the next 300-game winner might be signing this week with an organization," Johnson said.

The active pitcher with the most wins behind Johnson is Philadelphia Phillies' 46-year-old lefty Jamie Moyer, who has 250.

"Don't overlook Jamie Moyer," Johnson said.

Given his injury history, perhaps it was fitting that Johnson was forced to leave Thursday after six dominating innings because of a bruised left shoulder.

On the first play of the sixth, Johnson fielded a grounder and successfully shoveled the ball to first while falling to the ground.

"My senior moment, where I thought I was 25 and made th