Arizona Diamondbacks
Established 1998
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Team Logo |
Cap Insignia |
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| Major league affiliations |
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| Current uniform |
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| Retired Numbers |
42 |
| Name |
- Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–present)
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| Other nicknames |
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| Ballpark |
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| Major league titles |
| World Series titles (1) |
2001 |
| NL Pennants (1) |
2001 |
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| National League West Division titles (4) |
2007 • 2002 • 2001 • 1999 |
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| Wild card berths (0) |
None |
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| Owner(s): Ken
Kendrick |
| Manager: Bob Melvin |
| General Manager: Josh
Byrnes |
This article is about the baseball team. For other uses, see
Diamondback.
The Arizona Diamondbacks (also referred to as the D-backs) are a Major
League Baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They play in the
West Division of the National League.
Franchise history
The desire for baseball in the desert
Between 1940 and 1990, Phoenix jumped from the 99th
largest city in the nation to the 9th largest. As such, it
was frequently mentioned as a possible location for either a new or relocated MLB franchise. Baseball had a rich tradition in
Arizona long before talk of bringing a big-league team even started. The state has been a frequent spring training site since 1946. With the large number of people
relocating to the state from the Midwest and the Northeast, as well as from California,
many teams (most notably the Chicago Cubs and the Los
Angeles Dodgers) have normally had large followings in Arizona.
The first serious attempt to land an expansion team for the Phoenix area was mounted by Martin
Stone, owner of the Phoenix Firebirds, the city's Triple-A minor league baseball team and an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. In the late 1980s Stone approached St.
Louis (football) Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill about sharing a proposed 70,000 seat
domed stadium in Phoenix. It was taken for granted that a domed stadium was essential for a prospective baseball team to be a
viable enterprise in the city. Phoenix is by far the hottest major city in North America; the average high temperature during
baseball's regular season is 99.1 °F, and temperatures above 120 °F in July and
August are not unheard of.
Bidwill, with plans already in the works to leave St. Louis, opted instead to sign a long term lease with Arizona State University to use its Sun Devil
Stadium as the home of his soon-to-be Arizona-based NFL franchise. Since baseball-only stadiums were not seen as fiscally
viable during that era, this effectively ended Stone's bid.
In the fall of 1993, Jerry Colangelo, majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, the area's wildly popular and successful NBA franchise, announced he was assembling an ownership group, "Arizona Baseball, Inc.,"
to apply for a Major League Baseball expansion team. This was after a great deal of lobbying by the Maricopa County Sports Authority, a local group formed to preserve Cactus
League spring training in Arizona and eventually secure a Major League franchise
for the state.
Colangelo's group was so certain that they would be awarded a franchise that they held a name-the-team contest for it; they
took out a full-page ad in the sports section of the February 13 1995 edition of the state's leading newspaper, the Arizona
Republic. First prize was a pair of lifetime season tickets awarded to the person who submitted the winning entry. The
winning choice was "Diamondbacks," after the Western diamondback, a rattlesnake native to the region known for injecting a large amount of venom
when it strikes.
Colangelo's bid received strong support from one of his friends, Chicago White Sox
and Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, and
media reports say that then-acting Commissioner of Baseball and
Milwaukee Brewers founder Bud Selig was also a
strong supporter of Colangelo's bid.[1]Plans were also made for a new retractable-roof ballpark, Bank One Ballpark, nicknamed the
BOB, (renamed in 2005 to Chase Field) to be built in an industrial/warehouse district on the
southeast edge of downtown Phoenix, across the street from the Suns' America West Arena (now US Airways Center).
On March 9, 1995, Colangelo's group was awarded a franchise to
begin play for the 1998 season. A $130 million franchise fee was paid to Major League Baseball. The Tampa Bay Area was also granted a franchise, the
Devil Rays (to be based in St.
Petersburg), at the same time.
According to the original press release from Colangelo's group (which remained posted on the team website during the first few
seasons) the chosen team colors were Arizona turquoise, copper, black and purple. "...Turquoise was chosen
because the greenish-blue stone is indigenous to Arizona, copper because Arizona is one the nation's top copper-producing states
and purple because it has become a favorite color for Arizona sports fans, thanks to the success of the National Basketball
Association's Phoenix Suns."[2]
In the earliest days, the Diamondbacks operated basically as a subsidiary of the Suns; several executives and managers with
the Suns and America West Arena were brought over to the Diamondbacks in similar roles. [3]
Preparing for launch: AL or NL?
There was some talk (which actually persisted for a few years after the awarding of the franchise) about the Diamondbacks
being placed in the American League West.
Colangelo strongly opposed this, pushing baseball officials to allow the new team to play in the National League West. Colangelo
cited the relative close proximity of Phoenix to the other NL West cities; the similarities between the two fast-growing cities
of Phoenix and Denver (home to the Colorado
Rockies); the long history of Arizona tourism to San Diego; the Firebirds'
long history as the Giants' top farm team; and the fact that Dodgers, Giants and Padres
games were broadcast in the Phoenix and Tucson markets for many years.[4]
A regional team
From the beginning, Colangelo wanted to market the Diamondbacks to a statewide fan base and not limit fan appeal to Phoenix
and its suburbs. Even though every Major League Baseball team cultivates fans from outside their immediate metropolitan area and
even though metro Phoenix has 2/3 of Arizona's population, Colangelo still decided to call the team the "Arizona Diamondbacks"
rather than the "Phoenix Diamondbacks," lending a "small market" tincture to the team's name, despite the fact that, with more
than 4 million people, Phoenix is the 12th most populous metro area in America. Tucson, Arizona's second largest city, located
about a 90-minute drive southeast of Phoenix, was selected as the home for Diamondbacks spring training as well as the team's top
minor league affiliate, the Tucson Sidewinders. Radio and television broadcast deals
were struck with affiliates in Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott, and Las Vegas; among others. A series of
team-sponsored fan motorcoach trips from Tucson to Bank One Ballpark were inaugurated for the opening season and are still in
operation to this day (it is now known as the "Diamond Express"). The Diamondbacks are also known for the "Hometown Tour", held
in January, where selected players, management and broadcasters make public appearances, hold autograph signings, etc., in
various locations around Phoenix and Tucson, as well as many small and mid-sized towns in other areas of Arizona.
Two seasons before their first opening day, Colangelo hired Buck Showalter, the
American League Manager of the Year in 1994 with the New York Yankees.
Their lower level minor league teams began play in 1997; the expansion draft
was held that year as well.
1998-2002: Early success and a World Series championship
The Diamondbacks' first major league game was played against the Colorado Rockies on
March 31, 1998, at Bank One Ballpark before a standing-room only
crowd of 50,179. Tickets had gone on sale on January 10 and sold out before lunch. The
Rockies won, 9-2, with Andy Benes on the mound for the Diamondbacks, and Travis Lee being the first player to hit, score, homer and drive in a run.
In their first five seasons of existence, the Diamondbacks won three division titles (1999, 2001, & 2002) and one World Series (2001). In 1999, Arizona won 100 games
in only its second season to win the National League West. They lost to the New York Mets
in four games in the NLDS.
Colangelo fired Showalter after a relatively disappointing 2000 season, and replaced him with Bob
Brenly, the former Giants catcher and coach, who had up to that point been working as a color analyst on Diamondbacks
television broadcasts.
In 2001, the team was led by two of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball: Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. Arizona had postseason
victories over the St. Louis Cardinals (3-2 in the NLDS) and the Atlanta Braves (4-1 in the
NLCS) to advance to the World Series where, in one of the most
exciting series ever, they beat the reigning champions, the New York Yankees, 4 to 3,
to become the youngest expansion franchise to win the World Series (in just their fourth season of play). That classic World
Series is chronicled in Charles Euchner's book The Last Nine Innings (Sourcebooks, 2006). The series was also seen as the
beginning of the end of the Yankees' stranglehold on baseball glory, as profiled in Buster
Olney's book The Last Night of the Yankee
Dynasty.
An estimated orderly crowd of over 300,000 celebrated at the Diamondbacks victory parade, held at Bank One Ballpark and the
surrounding downtown Phoenix streets on November 7, 2001. This
was the first major professional sports championship for the state of Arizona and the first for a team (in the four major North
American professional sports leagues) owned or controlled by Colangelo, whose basketball Suns made it to the NBA Finals in 1976 and 1993
but lost both times. (Colangelo's Arizona Rattlers won the Arena Football League championship in 1994 and 1997.) Colangelo’s willingness to go into debt and
acquire players through free agency would ultimately lead to one of the quickest free falls in major sports history when in just
three years, the Diamondbacks would record one of the worst losing records in all of major league baseball by losing 111
games.
The team would win the NL West again in 2002, but would be swept out in the NLDS by the Cardinals. They would then return to
the NLDS in 2007, defeating the Chicago Cubs in 3 straight to move on to the NLCS against the Colorado Rockies.
For a detailed look at the 2001 series please see 2001 World Series.
2003-2005: Tough times and the end of the Colangelo era
Original Diamondbacks logo, used from 1998-2006. The purple was influenced by the
Phoenix
Suns, also owned by Colangelo.
By the 2004 season, however, the Diamondbacks had dropped to a dismal 51-111 record, the worst in Major League Baseball that year and also one of the 10 worst records in the past 100 years of MLB,
despite Johnson pitching a perfect game on May 18 of that
season. Brenly was fired partway through the season and was replaced on an interim basis by coach Al Pedrique. Before the season co-MVP (with Johnson) of the 2001 World Series Curt Schilling had been traded to the Boston Red Sox, who won the
World Series in 2004.
By this time Colangelo and the other partners were embroiled in a dispute over the financial health and direction of the
Diamondbacks (and notably including over $150 million dollars in deferred
compensation to many players who were key members of the 2001 World Series winning team and others). He was forced to
resign his managing general partner post in the late summer of 2004.
Colangelo sold his interest in the General Partnership of the Diamondbacks to a group of investors who were all involved as
partners in the founding of the team in 1995. The investors include equal partners Ken
Kendrick, Dale Jensen, Mike Chipman, and Jeffrey Royer. Jeff Moorad, a former sports
agent, joined the partnership, and was named the team's CEO; becoming its primary public face. Ken Kendrick became the managing
general partner.
Colangelo was sharply criticized for plunging the team into over $150 million in debt to secure the services of expensive
veterans in order to field a competitive team quickly. In a 2004 interview with columnist Hal
Bodley of USA TODAY, Colangelo defended his actions:
| “ |
I understand where some people felt I wasn't doing it appropriately. The only analogy
I can use is that Tampa Bay (the other '98 expansion team) went one direction and
where did they end up? (Six last-place finishes and low attendance)...We went another direction to establish a fan base because
our investment was much larger than Tampa Bay's. And we put so much money into our own stadium ($130 million). After the first
year and the decrease in season tickets, I was convinced we had to build a fan base...We bought three division titles, a World
Series and established a fan base...
- ...I believe what we did will last a long, long time...Right or wrong, a number of teams today are in the $50 million payroll
range and competitive — Oakland, Minnesota, Texas are examples. Our goal was to get returns from our farm system. We built into
our cash-flow that we would be paying out the deferments and that our payroll could drop to $50 million for a few years...A few
things hurt us...The economy was bad, and I was hoping for more national money (from baseball's central fund) coming in.[5]
|
” |
Also a factor in Colangelo's leaving his post was his advancing age: Colangelo was 64 years of age in 2004, and had he not
sold his sports franchises, upon his death, his family would have been faced with having to pay high estate taxes based on the
value of the Diamondbacks as well as the Suns (which he sold to Robert Sarver in the
spring of 2004).[6]
Following the 2004 season, the Diamondbacks hired Wally Backman to be the team's
manager. Backman was formerly manager of the Class A California League
Lancaster JetHawks, one of the Diamondbacks' minor-league affiliates. Backman was fired after management learned of legal troubles and
improprieties in Backman's past, and former Seattle Mariners manager and Diamondbacks
bench coach Bob Melvin became the new manager after a ten-day tenure for Backman.
Following the Backman incident, the Diamondbacks spent heavily on free agents in order to re-build into a contender. The club
signed 3B Troy Glaus, P Russ Ortiz, SS Royce Clayton, and 2B Craig Counsell, among others. They then
traded Randy Johnson to the New York
Yankees, for Javier Vazquez, Dioner
Navarro, and Brad Halsey. They then turned around and dealt newly acquired catcher
Dioner Navarro to the Dodgers for Shawn Green, and
sent Shea Hillenbrand to the Toronto Blue
Jays. Finally, they traded Casey Fossum to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for José Cruz, Jr.
The Diamondbacks, led by Melvin, finished the 2005 season with a record of 77 wins and 85 losses. However, this was a 26-game
improvement over 2004, and actually good enough for second place in the woefully weak NL West, five games behind the
San Diego Padres.
The Diamondbacks were considered by some to be the favorite to win the division after spending big money on the aforementioned
free agents; however, injuries hurt the team's chances of reaching its expected potential.
Starting pitcher Ortiz was out for some time which really hurt the pitching staff.
Glaus played with a hurt knee all season. Of all the free agents that signed before the
season, no one had a better season than first baseman Tony Clark. Clark started the season as
a bench player and ended the season starting and being an important part of the team. Clark was rewarded with a new contract at
the end of the season.
In October 2005 the Diamondbacks hired 35-year-old Josh
Byrnes to replace the out-going Joe Garagiola, Jr. as General Manager. Garagiola
took a position in Major League Baseball's main offices in New York City.
The 2006 season: Rebuilt and reloaded
- Further information: 2006 Arizona Diamondbacks season
In a weak NL West division, the Diamondbacks failed to improve on their 2005 performance, finishing fourth with a slightly
worse record than the year before. The season did include two excellent individual performances, however. 2B Orlando Hudson became the recipient of his second career Gold
Glove Award, as announced on November 3. Hudson became only the sixth infielder in
major league history to win a Gold Glove award in both the American and National Leagues. He first received the award after the
2005 season as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, and was traded to the Diamondbacks
later that offseason. On November 14, it was announced that RHP Brandon Webb was the recipient of the Cy Young Award for the
National League. Webb, a specialist in throwing the sinkerball, received 15 of 32
first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of
America. Webb went 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA and in the 2006 season was named to his first All-Star team. San Diego Padres
relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman was second place in the voting with 12 first-place votes
and 77 points.
In preparation for the next season, the Diamondbacks made several significant trades during the offseason. The Diamondbacks
and Brewers made a trade on November 25, 2006. Johnny
Estrada, Greg Aquino, and Claudio Vargas were
dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers for Doug Davis,
Dana Eveland, and Dave Krynzel.[7] On Sunday January 7, it was announced
that Randy Johnson would return to the Diamondbacks on a two year contract, pending a physical. He was obtained from the Yankees
in exchange for Luis Vizcaino, Ross Ohlendorf,
Alberto Gonzalez and Steven Jackson. The Yankees will pay $2 million
of Johnson's $26 million salary. The Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins made a deal
March 26 to acquire RHP Yusmeiro Petit in exchange for
Jorge Julio and cash.
2007 season: A new look and a return to the playoffs
Alternate logo 2007-present.
- Further information: 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks season
The Diamondbacks announced in early September 2006 that their uniforms, which remained largely unchanged since the team's
first season, would be completely redesigned for the 2007 season.[8] Details were supposed to be kept from the public until after the 2006 postseason as per MLB rules,
but the Diamondback page from the 2007 MLB Official Style Guide was somehow leaked around September 25, and local media broadcast printed the new design for all to see.
While some fans applauded the redesign, most of the reaction to the new color scheme, which included dropping the historical
purple and traditional Arizonan colors of copper and turquoise
for a reddish color known as "Sedona Red", has been pointedly negative.[9][10][11]
The official unveiling of the uniforms came at a charity event on November 8th in nearby
Scottsdale, where several of the players modeled the uniforms on a runway, and posed for publicity photos.
The distinctive "A" design remained unchanged save for the colors. The stylized snake-like "D" logo, also used since the early
days for the road uniforms, was slightly redesigned and a completely new shoulder patch introduced. The lettering on the jerseys
was completely redesigned.
Not only did the Diamondbacks uniforms change, but many faces of the organization changed as well. In addition to the trades
detailed above:
- Fan favorite and Diamondbacks stalwart Luis Gonzalez did not return as
the left fielder for the Diamondbacks. The most popular player in franchise history, "Gonzo" signed a one-year contract worth
just under $7 million on December 7 to play for the rival Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2007 season.
- Craig Counsell, another popular player, signed a two-year contract with his hometown
Milwaukee Brewers and did not return to the Diamondbacks in 2007.
- Pitcher Miguel Batista did not return in an Arizona uniform (he signed a three-year
contract with the Mariners in December 2006).
- Jay Bell, a longtime Diamondback as both a player and coach, relinquished his duties as
bench coach to spend more time with family; he will remain in the organization as an adviser to Bob Melvin.
- The original Diamondbacks play-by-play man Thom
Brennaman moved on to the Cincinnati Reds organization to work with his father
Marty Brennaman in the booth.
In the 2007 regular season, the Diamondbacks enjoyed a relatively high degree of success with a young team including
Brandon Webb, Conor Jackson, Stephen Drew, Carlos Quentin, Chad
Tracy, Chris Young, Miguel
Montero, Mark Reynolds (called up from Double-A in May) and Justin Upton (called up from Double-A in August). The Diamondbacks in the regular season posted the best
record in the NL with 90 wins and 72 losses. On September 28, the Diamondbacks beat the
Colorado Rockies to secure a position in the 2007 playoffs. After the Padres' defeat at
the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers on September 29, the Diamondbacks secured both the NL
West title and home field throughout the NL playoffs. After taking the first two games at home against the Cubs, in the
National League Division Series, they took the series to
Wrigley Field, where they completed their sweep, earning their first berth in the National
League Championship Series since 2001. They dropped the first four games and were swept by the Rockies in the NLCS... being out
scored 18-8
Pitching Position Players
In their short history, the Diamondbacks have been known to invite position players to pitch an inning in games that have
already been blown-out. The first of which occurred on August 30 of their 2001
Division-winning season, where Manager Bob Brenley decided to pitch veteran outfielder Steve
Finley for an inning of relief. Although Finley pitched a shut-out, no-hit inning, he walked a batter and also hit a
batter. Brenley did this twice, as well as current manager Bob Melvin.
Diamondbacks broadcasters
The primary television play-by-play voice for the team's first nine seasons of play was Thom
Brennaman, who also broadcasts baseball and college football games nationally
for FOX Television. Brennaman was the TV announcer for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds (along with his father
Marty Brennaman) before being hired by Diamondbacks founder Jerry Colangelo in 1996, two
years before the team would begin play.
In October 2006, Brennaman left the Diamondbacks to call games with his father for the Reds beginning in 2007, signing a
4-year deal (his FOX duties will remain unchanged).
The Daron Sutton era
On November 1, 2006, the team announced that the TV voice of
the Milwaukee Brewers since 2002, Daron Sutton,
would be hired as the Diamondbacks primary TV play-by-play voice. Sutton was signed to a five-year contract with a team option
for three more years. Sutton is considered one of the best of the younger generation of baseball broadcasters. Sutton's father is
Hall of Fame pitcher and current Washington Nationals broadcaster Don Sutton.[12]
Diamondbacks radio voices and color commentators
Greg Schulte is the regular radio play-by-play voice, a 25-year veteran of sports radio
in the Phoenix market, also well known for his previous work on Phoenix Suns, Arizona
Cardinals and Arizona State University (ASU) broadcasts. In February
2007 he agreed to a contract extension through at least the 2011 season.
Jeff Munn is a backup radio play-by-play announcer; he served as the regular public address
announcer at Chase Field in the early days of the franchise. He is well-known to many
Phoenix area sports fans, having also served as the public address announcer for the Suns at America West Arena (now
US Airways Center) in the 1990s. He is also the play-by-play radio voice for ASU
women's basketball.
Former Diamondback and Chicago Cub Mark Grace and former Major League knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti are the Diamondbacks primary color
analysts for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Former Diamondback player (and current Diamondbacks minority owner) Matt Williams also does color commentary on occasion, as does former Cardinals and NBC broadcast legend Joe
Gargiola, Sr., a longtime Phoenix-area resident and father of Joe Garagiola, Jr., the first GM of the Diamondbacks (as
head of the Maricopa County Sports Authority in the early 1990's, Garagiola, Jr. was one of the primary people involved in
Phoenix obtaining a Major League Baseball franchise).
Starting in 2008 the Diamondbacks announced that all TV games will be on Fox Sports Net Arizona.
The team's games are currently broadcast on KTAR radio in Phoenix; roughly half the games
are televised on KTVK 3TV and half on Fox Sports Arizona.
The team is also seen and heard in other Southwestern markets such as Tucson,
Flagstaff, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
For the 2007 season, the Diamondbacks will supply a high definition video feed to KTVK-DT for home games only.
Miguel Quintana and Oscar Soria are the Spanish-language
broadcasters. Spanish-language games can be heard in Phoenix on KSUN-AM 1400.
The last few games of the 2006 season were heard on both KTAR-AM and the new KTAR-FM, but for
2007 games will be heard on AM radio only, on "Sports 620."
Diamondbacks Broadcasters Year-by-Year (English)
Season records
* As of 10:24, 15 October 2007 (PDT)
- Regular Season: 818-802 (.505)
- Postseason Games: 15-16 (.484)
- Postseason Series: 4-3, (.571)
- Regular and Post Season Totals: 833-818 (.505)
- 1 World Series Championship
Quick facts
- Founded: 1995
- Began play: in 1998 (National League expansion)
- Uniform colors: Sedona Red, Sonoran Sand, Black.
- Logo designs: HOME: a black "D" in the shape of a snake. ALTERNATE: an "A" with one leg of the "A" alternating red and
black triangles to suggest a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
- Team motto: The Future Is Now (marketing); Anybody, Anytime (Player adopted, late 2007 marketing)
- Team mascot: D. Baxter the Bobcat
- Playoff appearances (4): 1999, 2001, 2002, 2007
- General Manager: Josh Byrnes
- Victory Song: Remember the Name by Fort
Minor
- Theme Song: D'backs Swing by Roger Clyne and the
Peacemakers
- Local Television: FSN Arizona, KTVK (3TV)
- Spring Training Facility: Tucson Electric Park, Tucson, AZ
- Ballpark: Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, which was referred to as
"BOB"
- Rivals: Colorado Rockies
All Time Leaders
- Hitting
- Games Played--Luis Gonzalez (1999-2006) 1,194
- Hits--Luis Gonzalez 1,337
- At Bats--Luis Gonzalez 4,488
- Runs--Luis Gonzalez 780
- Doubles--Luis Gonzalez 310
- Triples--Tony Womack (1999-2003) 37
- Home Runs-- Luis Gonzalez 224
- Runs Batted In--Luis Gonzalez 774
- Walks--Luis Gonzalez 650
- Stolen Bases--Tony Womack 182
- Batting Average--Luis Gonzalez .298
- Pitching
- ERA--Randy Johnson (1999-2004, 2007-) 2.69
- Wins--Randy Johnson 107
- Games--Jose Valverde (2003-) 253
- Saves--Jose Valverde 98
- Innings--Randy Johnson 1446.2
- Strikeouts--Randy Johnson 1,904
- Complete Games--Randy Johnson 37
- Shutouts--Randy Johnson 14 (Perfect Game May 18, 2004)
Baseball Hall of Famers
Retired numbers
No other numbers have yet been retired by the Diamondbacks franchise. There have been rumors of retiring Luis Gonzalez's
number.
Current roster
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Arizona Diamondbacks roster
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| Active (25-man) roster |
Inactive (40-man roster) |
Coaches/Other |
| Starting rotation
Bullpen
† 15-day disabled list
Roster updated 2007-10-03
Transactions • Depth
chart
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Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Pitchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
60-day disabled list
- 51
Randy Johnson
Suspended list
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Championships
Minor league affiliations
