Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Diamondbacks advance with age
Here's an oldie but a goodie
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
As of today, Craig Counsell is 31 years, 2 months and 2 days old.
We tell you this because Craig Counsell is the baby of the Arizona Diamondbacks' starting lineup.
Make way for the geezers in gloves. The Arizona Thirty-somethings. Older than the dirt around home plate.
The National League pennant is a warm and fuzzy tale because it rewards the value of persistence and the virtue of patience. And it delivers a team that is very aware of baseball's biological clock.
Conventional wisdom has the Atlanta Braves running out of time, the New York Yankees about at the end. But what of the Diamondbacks?
Here they are. Randy Johnson at 38. Mark Grace at 37 and Steve Finley 36. Matt Williams at 35, Luis Gonzalez and Curt Schilling at 34. Reggie Sanders at 33.
This doesn't sound like a World Series contender, this sounds like a company softball team.
Most have been hither and yon. The eight everyday starters have made 18 franchise changes. Arizona even has one guy coming out of the bullpen, Mike Morgan, who is 42 and on his 12th different team.
A lot of shed skins, these Diamondbacks have left around baseball.
No wonder they were anxious that this October go well.
“We knew the window of opportunity was closing on us a little bit,” Gonzalez said. “And we needed to win it now.”
The facts of passing time, both good and bad, have always been a part of this team.
Yeah, they're ancient. One could look at the roster and wonder if Arizona was up to the long haul.
But the years grant something besides bifocals. Experience, a surer sense of mission, and the ability to take the bad days.
“This was a team that had an objective, but everybody does,” Johnson said. “I think the reason why it was achieved ... was a double-edge sword. We heard how we were a veteran team that was very old. But I think the reason we're here and the one reason why nothing ever really fell apart was because of the veterans.”
There has been a steadiness to the Diamondbacks. A purpose.
“There were some times this year where we played some pretty ugly baseball,” manager Bob Brenly said. “There were times we didn't pitch particularly well. There were a lot of times we didn't hit particularly well. But I never sensed we were losing our focus or taking our eyes off the prize. Because the veterans understand the ebb and flow of a major league season.”
Brenly still remembers the time he pinch-hit Greg Colbrunn for Grace, and apologized to Grace for doing it.
“Don't you ever apologize to me,” Grace told him. “If you're sending somebody up (because) you think we have a better chance to win this game, that's what I want up there.”
This is checking your ego at the clubhouse door, which the Diamondbacks do by habit. Which is how Johnson, a pitcher with 21 wins and 372 strikeouts, could proclaim a .275-hitting Counsell the team MVP.
Aboard this ship of old salts are just enough kids with their innocence.
Take closer Byung-Hyun Kim. He's 22, and oblivious. After Game 4, when he quelled a mighty Braves threat, someone asked what was going through his mind as he went to the mound with the bases loaded, and Turner Field screaming for his head.
Kim's answer? “Nothing.”
Still, the oldies but goodies have created the heart of this tale. “I don't take anything for granted,” Johnson was saying. “My health, my age, the team that I'm on.”
Such is the wisdom of an old hand, from a clubhouse full of 'em. A team that understands many things, one to appreciate the moment.
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Diamondbacks advance with age
