PHOENIX — In the somber shadow of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Diamondbacks and Yankees met in what turned out to be a World Series for the ages.
Members of that Arizona team will gather this weekend to commemorate the 10th anniversary of that seven-game triumph, a series acclaimed as one of the most dramatic in history, one that ended with Luis Gonzalez’s ninth-inning single off Mariano Rivera.
Fueled by the 1-2 pitching punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in their prime, with a cast of players nearing the end of standout careers, the 2001 Diamondbacks won despite most of the country rooting against them, with the Yankees the sentimental favorites because of the devastation that terror had wrought on their city.
Usually, the Yankees were the team that baseball fans loved to hate. But not in late October and early November of 2001.
“We kind of became the Yankees during that series,’’ said Matt Williams, Arizona’s third base coach now and third baseman then, “the team that people were rooting against. People wanted them to win, but it didn’t happen that way.’’
Images beyond the game endure — the Stealth bomber flying low over Chase Field, Ray Charles at his piano behind home plate singing “America the Beautiful,’’ President Bush throwing out the first pitch in Game 3 in Yankee Stadium.
The games were either exhilarating or heartbreaking.
“There were so many subplots that turned it into a fabulous story,’’ said Mark Grace, now a color analyst for Diamondbacks telecasts.
Schilling and Johnson were dominant in the first two games in Arizona. In the opener, the Diamondbacks rolled 9-1. Gonzalez and Craig Counsell homered and Schilling allowed three hits over seven innings. In Game 2, Johnson threw a three-hitter in his first World Series appearance, striking out 11 in a 4-0 victory. Williams hit a three-run homer.
Then it was on to New York, where before they played, most of Arizona’s players took a trip to Ground Zero.
“Our objective going there was to be in support of those folks who were working day and night, to make sense of it all, to try to find somebody,’’ Williams said. —AP
Members of that Arizona team will gather this weekend to commemorate the 10th anniversary of that seven-game triumph, a series acclaimed as one of the most dramatic in history, one that ended with Luis Gonzalez’s ninth-inning single off Mariano Rivera.
Fueled by the 1-2 pitching punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in their prime, with a cast of players nearing the end of standout careers, the 2001 Diamondbacks won despite most of the country rooting against them, with the Yankees the sentimental favorites because of the devastation that terror had wrought on their city.
Usually, the Yankees were the team that baseball fans loved to hate. But not in late October and early November of 2001.
“We kind of became the Yankees during that series,’’ said Matt Williams, Arizona’s third base coach now and third baseman then, “the team that people were rooting against. People wanted them to win, but it didn’t happen that way.’’
Images beyond the game endure — the Stealth bomber flying low over Chase Field, Ray Charles at his piano behind home plate singing “America the Beautiful,’’ President Bush throwing out the first pitch in Game 3 in Yankee Stadium.
The games were either exhilarating or heartbreaking.
“There were so many subplots that turned it into a fabulous story,’’ said Mark Grace, now a color analyst for Diamondbacks telecasts.
Schilling and Johnson were dominant in the first two games in Arizona. In the opener, the Diamondbacks rolled 9-1. Gonzalez and Craig Counsell homered and Schilling allowed three hits over seven innings. In Game 2, Johnson threw a three-hitter in his first World Series appearance, striking out 11 in a 4-0 victory. Williams hit a three-run homer.
Then it was on to New York, where before they played, most of Arizona’s players took a trip to Ground Zero.
“Our objective going there was to be in support of those folks who were working day and night, to make sense of it all, to try to find somebody,’’ Williams said. —AP
