- 1998
- 1998
- 2001
- 2004
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Arizona Diamondbacks Team Formation
In the fall of 1993, Jerry Colangelo, the majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, the area’s 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 ... -
Chase Field
Chase Field is a stadium located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. It opened in 1998, in time for the Diamondbacks’ first game as an expansion team. Chase Field was the first stadium built in the United States with a retractable roof over a natural-grass playing surface. The park was ... -
World Series Winner 2001
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 the wake of the September ... -
Colangelo Sells to Kendrick
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 in deferred compensation to many players who were key members of the 2001 World Series-winning team and others. Colangelo’s willingness to go into debt and acquire players through free agency had led ...
History of the Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks, often shortened as the D-backs, are an American professional baseball franchise based in Phoenix, Arizona. The club competes in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) West division. Since the team’s inception in 1998, the franchise has played home games at Chase Field, formerly known as Bank One Ballpark. The ballpark was renamed in 2005, as a result of Bank One Corporation’s merger with JPMorgan Chase & Co. The Diamondbacks have won one World Series championship (in 2001), becoming the fastest expansion team in the Major Leagues to win a championship, doing it in only the fourth season since the franchise’s inception in the 1998 Major League Baseball season.
Established
1998
City
Phoenix
League History
2000 – Present / Major League Baseball
1998 – 1999 / National League
Team History
1998 – Present / Arizona Diamondbacks
Nickname
Diamondbacks – The expansion franchise’s ownership group asked fans to vote from among a list of nicknames that included Coyotes, Diamondbacks, Phoenix, Rattlers, and Scorpions. A Diamondback, specifically Crotalus atrox, is a rattlesnake which is a very common sight in the Arizona desert and a fearsome symbol. A baseball field is also called a “diamond”. Owner Jerry Colangelo, really liked the idea of the club having a nickname with a bite to it.
Championship
World Series 1
2001
Stadium
2005 – Present / Chase Field
1998 – 2005 / Bank One Ballpark
Owner
2005 – Present / Ken Kendrick
1998 – 2005 / Jerry Colangelo
To qualify as the greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
* verifies that player has played for this team as an added player by a fan.
Retired Number
20 / Luis Gonzalez
42 / Jackie Robinson
51 / Randy Johnson
*Blue is this team’s history