49 Fun Facts About Arizona Diamondbacks

Which future three-time Cy Young winner made his debut for Arizona in 2008 by retiring all 13 batters he faced?

Max Scherzer, Arizona's first-round pick in 2006, was traded to Detroit after only two seasons and won all three of his Cy Young Awards elsewhere.

Which Diamondback was named MVP of the 2023 National League Championship Series?

Ketel Marte hit .387 in the series, won Game 3 with a walk-off single, and stretched a hitting streak that reached 20 games, the longest in postseason history.

Which Phoenix Suns owner assembled the group that landed the Diamondbacks franchise?

Jerry Colangelo led the group awarded the franchise in March 1995, but the debts run up building the 2001 champions caught up with the club, and his partners forced him out in 2004.

Arizona's 2001 title in its fourth season broke which club's record for fastest expansion champion?

The Florida Marlins had won it all in 1997, their fifth season; Arizona got there a year sooner by beating a Yankees team that had taken the previous three titles.

Which ex-Yankees manager was hired by Arizona two years before its first game?

Buck Showalter built the club from scratch and managed its first three seasons; as with the Yankees before, he left just before the title came, which Arizona won the year after firing him.

Which pitcher started the Diamondbacks' first regular-season game on March 31, 1998?

Andy Benes threw Arizona's first pitch and took its first loss; he was available only because his new deal with the Cardinals was filed just after a deadline and voided.

The Diamondbacks' home opened under what name?

Bank One Ballpark kept its name until 2005, when Bank One was absorbed by JPMorgan Chase and the naming rights, and with them the name on the building, passed to the new owner.

Chase Field was the first U.S. stadium to pair a retractable roof with what playing surface?

Natural grass grew under the roof for 21 seasons, but keeping it alive in desert heat meant opening the roof and running the cooling hard, so the club switched to synthetic turf in 2019.

Which future Diamondback hit the first home run into the Chase Field pool in 1998 while visiting with the Cubs?

Mark Grace, then a visiting Cub, hit the first ball into the pool before any Diamondback managed it; he later played three seasons for Arizona and stayed on as a television analyst.

Which team infuriated Arizona by celebrating a 2013 division clinch with a swim in the Chase Field pool?

The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the 2013 division at Chase Field and several players jumped into the outfield pool; Arizona's chief executive shot back that the visitors had no pool at their old park and must have wanted to try one.

The 1999 Diamondbacks won 100 games, then lost their first playoff series to which team?

The Mets ended it in four games on Todd Pratt's 10th-inning home run; Arizona had just become the first expansion team to reach the playoffs in its second year.

Randy Johnson's nickname was what?

The Big Unit nickname came from Expos teammate Tim Raines, who collided with the 6-foot-10 Johnson during batting practice in 1988 and blurted out 'You're a big unit.'

In May 2004 Randy Johnson, aged 40, became the oldest pitcher to throw what?

A perfect game: Johnson retired all 27 Atlanta batters on May 18, 2004, finishing it on his 117th pitch with a 98 mph fastball for a strikeout.

Whose walk-off homer against Arizona, hit just after midnight in the 2001 World Series, earned the nickname 'Mr. November'?

Derek Jeter: the September 11 attacks had delayed the season, so when his extra-inning homer won Game 4 the clock had passed midnight into November, a month no major-league season had reached before.

Which Hall of Fame closer blew the save in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series on a bases-loaded bloop single?

Mariano Rivera had converted 23 straight postseason saves, but protecting a 2-1 lead in the ninth he let in two runs, the only postseason loss of his career.

Which Diamondbacks closer gave up game-tying homers with one out left in Games 4 and 5 of the 2001 World Series?

Byung-hyun Kim, a 22-year-old submariner, gave up tying homers with two out in the ninth on consecutive nights and lost both leads, yet Arizona still won the Series and he left with a ring.

Which slugger, acquired from Detroit that July, hit four home runs in one game for Arizona in September 2017?

J. D. Martinez hit all four on September 4, 2017, part of a run of 29 home runs in just 62 games for Arizona before he left as a free agent that winter.

Which Diamondbacks ace set a franchise record in 2022 with more than 44 straight scoreless innings?

Zac Gallen went from early August to mid-September 2022 without allowing a run, breaking a club mark that had stood since 2007; Arizona had landed him from Miami in 2019 for prospect Jazz Chisholm.

Who managed the Diamondbacks to the 2001 title in his first season, straight from the broadcast booth?

Bob Brenly came straight from the Fox broadcast booth and won it all in his first season; fired midway through 2004, he went back to the microphone and later returned as Arizona's own television analyst.

The Diamondbacks' original colour scheme featured purple, black, copper and which fourth colour?

Teal sat beside purple, black and copper until the 2007 rebrand dropped it, but fans never let it go: the club brought it back as trim in 2016 and as a primary colour of its 2024 uniforms.

The red shade Arizona adopted in 2007 is named after which place?

Sedona red is named for the red sandstone canyons near the Arizona town; the club unveiled it with Sonoran sand and black in November 2006, retiring its original palette for the 2007 season.

The Diamondbacks' 2021 City Connect jerseys carried which Spanish word across the chest?

Serpientes, Spanish for snakes, ran across the sand-coloured jersey in black script with the first 'S' shaped like a rattlesnake; the wordmark returned on a second City Connect jersey in 2025, redone in the club's original colours.

D. Baxter, the Diamondbacks' mascot since 2000, is what kind of animal?

A bobcat: the idea came from Brantley Bell, the son of Arizona infielder Jay Bell, and Baxter made his debut on June 23, 2000.

Which sinkerballer won the 2006 NL Cy Young Award for Arizona?

Brandon Webb won it with a 16-8 record and a 3.10 ERA, but a shoulder injury after his Opening Day start in 2009 ended his career at 29: he never pitched in the majors again.

The division-winning 2007 Diamondbacks were swept in the NLCS by which wild-card team?

The Colorado Rockies swept Arizona as part of a run of 21 wins in 22 games and reached their first World Series, where Boston swept them in turn.

Which former Dodgers World Series hero managed Arizona to the 2011 NL West title?

Kirk Gibson took over as interim manager in July 2010 and turned a 65-97 team into 94-68 division winners a year later, which made him NL Manager of the Year.

Which future MVP did Arizona draft in the eighth round in 2009?

Paul Goldschmidt, a Texas State first baseman passed over for seven rounds, was traded to St. Louis in December 2018 and won the National League MVP award there four years later.

Which manager led Arizona to the 2017 wild card and the 2023 pennant?

Torey Lovullo, hired after four years as Boston's bench coach, took a team that had lost 110 games in 2021 to the World Series two years later.

The Diamondbacks reached the 2023 World Series by winning NLCS Game 7 on the road against whom?

Arizona won Game 7 of the NLCS 4-2 at Citizens Bank Park, beating the Philadelphia Phillies after trailing the series 2-0.

The Diamondbacks lost the 2023 World Series in five games to which team?

The Texas Rangers, twice one strike from the title in 2011 before losing it, finally won their first championship by taking all three games played in Phoenix.

Which outfielder won the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year as the first rookie ever with 20 homers and 50 steals?

Corbin Carroll was the unanimous choice, months after Arizona had bet $111 million over eight years on him when he had played just 32 major-league games.

Which Diamondback hit 57 home runs in 2001 and drove in the World Series-winning run?

Luis Gonzalez hit almost twice as many homers in 2001 as in any other year of his career, then won the World Series with a soft single in the ninth inning of Game 7.

Which closer set the Diamondbacks' career saves record of 98 between 2003 and 2007?

José Valverde saved 98 games for Arizona, 47 of them in 2007 to lead the majors, and the club traded him to Houston that December, weeks after his best season.

Which pitcher shared the 2001 World Series MVP award with Randy Johnson?

Curt Schilling started three games of the Series and Johnson won three, the last in relief in Game 7 a day after starting Game 6; the pair also shared Sports Illustrated's Sportsmen of the Year.

Which broadcaster, son of Reds voice Marty, called Diamondbacks games on TV for their first nine seasons?

Thom Brennaman was the Diamondbacks' original TV play-by-play voice for nine seasons before joining his father Marty on Reds broadcasts in 2007.

The Diamondbacks' first general manager was the son of which broadcasting legend?

Joe Garagiola Jr. built the 2001 champions as general manager, while his father, the catcher turned NBC broadcaster, worked the club's telecasts as a part-time analyst.

In 2011 the Diamondbacks moved spring training from Tucson to near which Phoenix suburb?

Scottsdale borders Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, built on Salt River Pima-Maricopa land; the move left Tucson, a spring-training town for six decades, without a single big-league club.

In March 2014 the Diamondbacks opened the Major League Baseball season in which country?

Australia: Arizona served as the home team for two games at the Sydney Cricket Ground on March 22 and 23, 2014, the first major-league games ever played in the country.

Which team joined Major League Baseball alongside the Diamondbacks in the 1998 expansion?

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays entered the American League as Arizona joined the National; after a decade under that name they dropped 'Devil' for 2008 and went straight to their first World Series.

Which pitcher signed a six-year, $206.5M contract with Arizona in December 2015?

Zack Greinke left a division rival for the deal, but Arizona traded him to Houston at the 2019 deadline with more than two seasons of the contract still to run.

Randy Johnson's 16 strikeouts in 'relief' in July 2001 came after what stopped play the night before?

An electrical explosion knocked out the left-field lights two innings in; when the game resumed the next day Johnson took over, so his seven innings counted as relief and his 16 strikeouts as a reliever's record.

Which pitcher threw a 149-pitch no-hitter for Arizona at Tropicana Field in June 2010?

Edwin Jackson walked eight and threw 149 pitches, the most ever in a no-hitter, to beat the Rays, the club that had traded him away 18 months earlier.

The Diamondbacks added an 'Arizona' alternate jersey and a '19' patch in 2013 to honour firefighters killed in which disaster?

The Yarnell Hill Fire killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a Prescott crew overrun by the flames on June 30, 2013; the club announced its memorial '19' patch the next day.

Which player was the first Diamondback to record a hit, run, homer and RBI, all in the 1998 opener?

Travis Lee collected all four firsts in the opener; Minnesota had drafted him second overall in 1996 but missed a contract deadline, which made him a free agent, and Arizona signed him for $10 million.

Which team did the Diamondbacks sweep on the road in the 2023 Wild Card Series?

The Milwaukee Brewers, the higher seed, lost 6-3 and 5-2 on their own field as Arizona ended a run of seven straight postseason road defeats stretching back to 2007.

Which first baseman won three straight Gold Gloves for Arizona from 2022 to 2024?

Christian Walker was claimed off waivers three times in barely a month in 2017, the last time by Arizona; five years later he won the first of three straight Gold Gloves at first base.

In the Diamondbacks' original logo, what represented the crossbar of the italicized letter 'A'?

A snake's tongue, forked like a rattlesnake's, formed the crossbar of the italic 'A', and the letter itself was filled with a diamond pattern to echo the snake's skin.

Which Diamondback won his third straight National League stolen-base crown with 72 steals?

Tony Womack stole 72 bases in 1999, his first season after arriving from Pittsburgh, and two years later his ninth-inning single won the deciding game of the Division Series against St. Louis.

Which Diamondbacks skipper was named NL Manager of the Year in 2007?

Bob Melvin won the 2007 award after Arizona went 90-72 and took the NL West despite being outscored over the season.