D i a m o n d b a c k s 5 CONTENTS CHAPTERS A Hot Start 6 Climbing to the Top 16 Rebuilding Mode 24 Comeback Kids 36 AROUND THE HORN The Diamondbacks Debut 12 Four-Year Formula 22 Deep Pockets 29 The Perfect Game 32 Baseball at the BOB 38 Coming Back from Cancer 43 ALL-TIME DIAMONDBACKS P Randy Johnson 8 C Damian Miller 13 1B Mark Grace 14 2B Craig Counsell 18 3B Matt Williams 21 SS Tony Womack 26 LF Luis Gonzalez 28 CF Steve Finley 35 RF Danny Bautista 39 M Bob Brenly 40 Index 48
6 D i a m o n d b a c k s A HOT START he heat is almost always on in Phoenix Arizona Tem peratures in the desert city soar to 100 F or higher on an average of 90 days each year sometimes reaching up to 120 F or even more scorching So arid is the city that the Navajo American Indians called it Hoozdo which translates to the place is hot During the winter months that heat is appreciated by the many people who travel south to escape the cold and snow of more northerly states The dozen Major League Baseball teams that start their spring training camps in the state of Arizona in February each year also appreciate it Until 1998 the end of spring training meant the end of the big league baseball season for Arizona fans But on March 31 of that year Phoenix celebrated the start of a new season with a major-league team of its own the Arizona Diamondbacks named after the region’s native rattlesnakes The newest addition to the National League NL had been almost four years in the making as baseball had decided to expand by two franchises in 1994 T
Bank One Ballpark later renamed Chase Field made sports history as the first stadium in America to feature a retractable roof
