A 10-year tribute! Part 1 {Baseball style}

So let’s think back to 2001. What happened? Oh yeah! THE DIAMONDBACKS WON THE BEST WORLD SERIES KNOWN TO BASEBALL. Ok, so I may be a little biased – but it was a 7-game nail biter down to the very wire – Gonzo’s bloop single in the bottom of the ninth. We have a movie of the world series with interviews and stuff… and I get the chills every time I watch it. I’ll admit it.. I’m a nerd. But that team was just so great and so funny!

BUT. This weekend was reunion weekend at the ballpark! Friday they were wearing their purple vest throwback jerseys, Saturday all the 2001 players were coming and they were giving away replica championship rings, and Sunday they were having a 9/11 tribute. Basically it was bound to be a wonderful weekend. SO in like Aprilish when they first released the promotion schedule, we bought our tickets! The weekend came and the players liked the purple and teal jerseys so much they requested to wear them ALL weekend! HOT DOG! It was awesome!

So Saturday we spent 7 hours at Chase Field – and what a very wonderful hours it was. Before the game they had the starting lineup of the World Series team {Along with Jerry Colangelo, Bob Brenly and others]come out of the dugout with their old jerseys on, announced by Mr.Schulte {the 2001 announcer}, with highlights on the jumbotron – all 48,000 in attendance were giving them a standing ovation – and it was just plain cool.

THEN, in-between innings they showed clips from game 7 on the jumbotron. It was still exciting even though we all knew what was going to happen. The sold out crowd was loud and supportive the whole time… and some had great signs!

My favorite part… the legends race! Mark Grace had yet to win one, so his bobblehead man comes sprinting out of the bullpen ahead of everyone! However, when he got about halfway he started acting all winded. But NEVER FEAR the real live David Dellucci was there to pinch run for him (just like in the bottom of the 9th of game seven!) He finished the race.. in FIRST PLACE! They showed Mark Grace in the announcers booth and he was ecstatic! The crowd was so happy for him! But they then announced that there were no pinch runners allowed in the legends race so randy Johnson had won again. Mark Grace threw his papers down in an offended fashion.. everyone was so sad for him. But it was still super funny! 

To make matters even better, the game was great! We won in 10 innings… come from behind wins.. always fun to watch! OH! How did I forget?? We also got the replica rings.. we were expecting little plastic things.. but no. They’re metal. Ah. I love my Diamondbacks!!

Successful day. Successful game. Successful Diamondbacks. I love them… I love them oh so much! The 2001, the 2011… and all those in-between! Even the terrible babybacks of 2003!