10 years ago today, besides being our youngest son’s 18th birthday, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
Candice and I had been season ticket holder for the Diamondbacks since they became a franchise. Our seats were 25 rows behind home plate and we were going to about 40-50 games a year. We even both have DBacks tattoos that we got right after their first season in 1998. Yes we were hard core fans.
This series had so much “buzz” about it. The country was still in shock from the 9-11 attack in New York and baseball was somewhat of a healer for the nation. Baseball had been postponed for some time, but being the national pastime, baseball was asked to resume. We went to every game during the playoffs and our excitement continue to grow. The DBacks were still a very young franchise only in its 4th year. We had won a couple division championships and now we were hungry for the big prize.
On the other side, the mighty New York Yankees. Winners of 25 World Series during the 1900s and winners of the previous 3 World Series. It’s October 27th and we are in downtown Phoenix about 5 or 6 hours before the first pitch. We were beyond excited. The Yankees are the sentimental favorites, but we wanted the Diamondbacks to win and win big. The DBacks were a veteran team with the best 1-2 pitchers in baseball at the time, Randy Johnson and Curt Shilling. Game 1 DBacks win 9-1….can’t wait for game 2. The next day we are crazed with excitement and the DBacks win again 4-0.
We are thinking if we win one in New York we are going to be World Series champs.
Game 3 in New York…George W Bush throws out the first pitch and the New York fans are not only cheering their team but cheering USA…It was a close game but the Yankees one 2-1.
Game 4 in New York a real nail biter. The DBacks are winning 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th and end up losing in 10 innings 4-3. It was a major heartbreaker to watch.
Game 5 the last game in New York. The Dbacks play another outstanding game and are winning in the bottom of the 9th 2-0. Another MAJOR heartbreak and DBacks lose 3-2 in 12 innings.
All the DBacks fans are upset with what just happened in New York but the teams are coming back to Arizona and we have our two top pitchers going again.
Game 6 back in Phoenix and the crowd is the loudest I have ever experienced in any stadium. To top it off we CRUSH the Yankees 15-2 and are ready for Game 7.
But wait…..Candice and I, at the time, work for an internet based real estate company that is based in Northern California and we have to be at a meeting on Monday morning. Game 7 is on a Sunday….
Knowing that we were in this predicament we had taken our game 7 tickets with us to game 6 and sold them for $1200 to some people sitting behind us.
We race home after game 6, get about 3 hours of sleep and then prepare to drive 13 hours to San Francisco (we had two other agents riding with us) and get to the hotel to watch game 7 on TV in the hotel bar.
One of our daughters had completely decorated our SUV with banners and flags for the drive. Yes we were proud crazed DBacks fans.
After 13 hours of driving we make it to the hotel for the first pitch. There are a few other people in the bar, but we take it over and it is now a DBacks bar. What a game 7….Dbacks win 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th.
I still regret not being at game 7 and will never let it happen again, but here it was…..What we have to do as a real estate agent
Since then, we own our real estate company. So yes, this will never happen again.
Blog by: Dale
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