50 Fun Facts About Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks began play in which season?

They entered alongside one other expansion club; the franchise had been awarded in March 1995.

How much was the expansion fee Arizona paid to join Major League Baseball?

The new clubs were also shut out of national revenue for five years, which later strained the finances badly.

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

He had been the NBA's youngest general manager when the Suns hired him in 1968.

The Diamondbacks, youngest team ever to win a World Series, did so in which season of their existence?

They beat the three-time defending champion Yankees, and remain Arizona's only men's major-league champion.

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

He was fired after 2000 and replaced by a broadcaster who won the World Series in his first year in the dugout.

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

The club's first baseman singled in his first at-bat for the franchise's first hit.

The Diamondbacks' home opened under what name?

Fans called it 'the BOB'; the name changed in 2005 after the bank merged with JPMorgan Chase.

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

It switched to artificial turf in 2019, but the pool in right-center remains.

Which player was the first to hit a home run into the Chase Field swimming pool?

The pool suite in right-center rented for $3,500 a game in 2011 and holds 35 guests.

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

The D-backs got some revenge by sweeping them in the 2023 NLDS.

The Diamondbacks won 100 games and their first division title in which season, only their second?

A busy off-season had brought in Randy Johnson, who won the Cy Young in his first year in Arizona.

Randy Johnson won how many consecutive Cy Young Awards with Arizona from 1999?

Only Greg Maddux has matched four in a row; Johnson won five in all, one of them with Seattle.

Randy Johnson's nickname was what?

At 6-foot-10 he was the tallest pitcher in the majors for most of his 22 seasons.

In May 2004 Randy Johnson threw a perfect game for Arizona at what age, the oldest ever to do so?

It was the 17th perfect game in MLB history and came against Atlanta.

The 2001 World Series went to a Game 7 played on what then-record late date?

The season had been delayed by the September 11 attacks, making it the first Series to reach November.

Which Yankees closer gave up the bases-loaded bloop single that ended the 2001 World Series?

New York had led entering the ninth inning of Game 7 before Arizona rallied for two runs.

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

New York won both in extra innings, but Arizona blew out the Yankees in Game 6 to force the decider.

Which two pitchers shared the 2001 World Series MVP award?

Johnson won Game 7 in relief a day after starting Game 6.

Arizona's left fielder tied an MLB record in April 2001 with how many home runs in the month?

He finished with 57 homers, third in MVP voting, and remains the club's all-time leader in most hitting categories.

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

He later returned to the booth as the club's TV analyst in 2013.

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

The italic 'A' logo used a snake's tongue for its crossbar.

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

Sedona red and Sonoran sand replaced purple and teal, though turquoise has since crept back.

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

The first 'S' is drawn as a rattlesnake, and the 2025 version brought back the original purple and teal.

The Diamondbacks' mascot, introduced in 2000, is a bobcat named Baxter; the name comes from what?

The species and name both nod to the ballpark's original initials.

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

He started that season 8-0 with a 30-inning scoreless streak.

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

It sent the Rockies to their only World Series and gave the young division rivals a grudge.

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

He had taken over on an interim basis in 2010 alongside interim GM Jerry Dipoto.

Paul Goldschmidt was drafted by Arizona in which round of the 2009 draft?

The Texas State product became a seven-time All-Star and was traded to St. Louis before winning the 2022 MVP.

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

He was NL Manager of the Year in 2017, the club's first playoff trip since 2011.

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

They had swept the Brewers and Dodgers to get there as a wild card.

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

Corey Seager was named Series MVP for the second time in his career.

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

The Seattle native's mother was born in Taiwan; he also holds the club record for triples.

Who holds the Diamondbacks' career records for hits, home runs and RBIs?

'Gonzo' played 1,194 games for Arizona before, painfully, signing with the Dodgers for 2007.

Which closer holds the Diamondbacks' career saves record with 98?

'Papa Grande' led the NL with 47 saves in 2007.

Which pitcher holds the Diamondbacks' WHIP mark of 1.04 and won the 2001 Roberto Clemente Award?

He shared the 2001 World Series MVP and later became famous for a bloody sock in Boston.

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

He left in 2006 to work alongside his father in Cincinnati.

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

Joe Garagiola Jr. built the 2001 champions; his father, a longtime Phoenix resident, occasionally did colour commentary.

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

Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is shared with a division rival.

Who modelled the first prototype Diamondbacks uniforms in 1995, before the club had a roster?

Kevin Johnson, Danny Ainge and Danny Manning did the honours; Ainge had actually played for the Blue Jays.

The Diamondbacks are one of two teams to have entered MLB in the 1998 expansion; which is the other?

Both were barred from national revenue for five years, a burden that hit Arizona hard.

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

He helped the club to the 2017 wild card before being traded to Houston in 2019.

How many did Randy Johnson strike out in seven relief innings on 19 July 2001, a record for a relief stint?

The game against San Diego had been halted by electrical explosions at Qualcomm Stadium the night before.

The Diamondbacks retired no player numbers as of 2025 apart from which league-wide honour?

Gonzalez and Johnson are honoured in the team's own Hall of Fame instead.

The Diamondbacks' 2013 black 'Arizona' alternate jersey was a tribute to victims of what?

Nineteen Granite Mountain Hotshots died fighting the blaze that June.

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

He singled in his first big-league at-bat and homered in his second plate appearance.

Which team did the Diamondbacks face in their first major league game on March 31, 1998?

The two clubs, the division's newest, later developed an on-and-off rivalry and met in the 2007 NLCS.

Bank One Ballpark was renamed in 2005 after Bank One merged with which company?

Fans had nicknamed the park 'the BOB', a name that lives on in the mascot Baxter the Bobcat.

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

The 1998 palette of purple, black, teal and copper gave way to Sedona red and Sonoran sand in 2007.

Who holds the Diamondbacks' career stolen base record with 182?

He scored the tying run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series before Luis Gonzalez's winning hit.

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

Kirk Gibson (2011) and Torey Lovullo (2017) are the franchise's other winners of the award.