5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Arizona Diamondbacks

mlb.com

In this series I am going through all 30 MLB teams and presenting five facts you most likely didn’t know about each one.  As a big baseball fan, I thought I knew a lot about the history of the game, but there’s so much I’m learning as I’m going through this, which makes it really fun to put together.  Third up in this series: the Arizona Diamondbacks

1. They were the fastest expansion team to win a championship

This doesn’t include just MLB expansion teams.  The Diamondbacks were the fastest expansion team from any of the American Big Four professional sports (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL) teams to win a championship.  After playing their first season in 1998, the D-Backs brought home the World Series just three years later defeating the New York Yankees in 2001.

2. They’ve never had a rookie of the year.  But drafted a few

Still, no rookie of the year has represented the Diamondbacks.  But that doesn’t mean the franchise hasn’t drafted any.  In 2003, the club drafted Chris Coghlan out of high school, but Coghlan decided to play collegiate baseball at Ole Miss.  He was drafted a few years later by the Marlins and won the NL ROY in 2009.  The same thing happened previously with a 54th round selection of pitcher Jason Jennings in 1997.  He decided to play at Baylor University instead, where he impressed enough to become a 1st round pick by the Colorado Rockies.  He won the ROY award in 2002.

3. Randy Johnson was their first Hall of Famer

The first ever player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame representing the Diamondbacks logo was pitcher Randy Johnson.  After playing for the Expos, Mariners, and Astros, Johnson signed a four-year contract with Arizona before the 1999 season, where he would spend six seasons (and become an integral part of the 2001 World Series) before moving on to the Yankees.  He would later come back to play for the Diamondbacks again.

4. Chase Field is the 2nd-highest stadium in MLB

Everyone knows Denver is the mile-high city and baseball fans know how the ball famously flies at Coors Field, which sits 5,183 feet above sea level.  But did you know that the Diamondbacks have the second-highest elevated stadium.  Chase Field sits 1,082 feet above sea level.

5. The winningest manager in franchise history has a losing record

Baseball is a tough sport to consistently succeed.  This is proven by the fact that the winningest manager in Arizona Diamondbacks history (Kirk Gibson) won 353 games, but lost 375.  He was the manager of the team from 2010 to 2014.

Did you learn something new?  Find anything interesting?  If you did, feel free to leave a comment or add a fun fact of your own!

Garett