In major leagues baseball history there has not been a team that experienced such a rise so quickly as the Diamondbacks. This Phoenix, Arizona based team, are also members of the Nat’l League West Division, and joined the Major League ranks as one of the expansion teams in 1998. The Diamondbacks, or D-Backs, quickly validated themselves by winning the World Series and set a record because they did so more rapidly than any other expansion team ever did in major league baseball.

Franchise Began
When the D-Backs was established as a franchise the MLB and many others in this power structure wanted to place the team into the American Leagues West Division, and not the National League, where they ended up.

The objections that the team’s owner and many other strong arguments that favored the Diamondbacks landed the team to be placed in the Nat’l League over the American one, they won over the officials. However, revenue was what really had the most to do with this decision and landed them on National. Arizona region television markets already were predisposed in covering the National League game, making it an advantage for their team to play in the Nat’l League for such a fiscal sense. The cost of operating a team like this makes it very necessary that they make a profit.

Broaden The Appeal
The Diamondbacks’ owner made it quite clear from the get go that the franchise primary concern would be to ensure the D-Backs were looked at as a team from the whole Arizona state and not just as a team from it’s city of Phoenix.

Although many Phoenix city fans were upset, it probably was a smart overall move because many fans from outside Phoenix’s metropolitan area expressed satisfaction with this decision. Actually the decision only affected the fans perception, considering that about 2 out of 3 people living in Arizona do live in Phoenix’s metro area.

Success Was Immediate
The D-Backs literally took the Majors by storm, something of a surprise for any expansion team to take this type of instant success in any sport. In 1999, they won their 1st div. Title, and then two consecutive ones in 2001 & 2002. More impressively, they turned the 2001 div. Title into a Nat’l League Championship one. And eventually took World Series victory over the dominant NY Yankees, who at that time had just finished a 5 yr period of winning four (4) World Series in a row themselves.

For many sports fans the 2001 World Series was remembered for a lot more than the D-Backs dethroning the NY Yankees. It had happened in 2001 Fall, just weeks after that devastating attack from terrorists on the NY World Trade Center Twin Towers. The 911 events overshadowed the games of the World Series, which had many NY fans hoping and being sure they’d win for the honor of all the attack’s victims and families. But, it ended that the Diamondbacks took charge and prevailed to win the series.

Author Bio: Ivan Jamison is a big sports fan. You can check out his Arizona Diamondbacks Watch or his Los Angeles Dodgers Watch or his New York Mets Watch

Category: Sports
Keywords: Arizona Diamondbacks