The 2001 Diamondbacks are back together this weekend, and the timing gives the reunion a little extra juice. While the current club is fighting to keep its postseason hopes alive against the Yankees, the team that delivered Arizona’s lone championship in the four major sports will be on hand to relive the run that made history 25 years ago.
That title still stands alone in franchise lore. In just the fourth season of the Diamondbacks’ existence, they became the fastest expansion team ever to win a World Series, knocking off the Yankees in a seven-game thriller that ended with Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off single in the ninth inning.
The official reunion may be happening now, but this group never really drifted apart. For years, they’ve kept a group text going after outfielder Steve Finley suggested it, and it’s become the kind of thread where life updates, jokes and support all get mixed together.
“If somebody has something exciting going on in their lives we celebrate it with them,” third baseman Matt Williams said of the group text. “If somebody needs help, or needs to talk to somebody, we're always there.
Everybody that was on that team is on the same thread, so we rally when we need to or we laugh when we can. It's really nice to have those ... bonds that continue even to this day, as always.”
Gonzalez had his phone out to prove the point.
“Look at this. Greg Swindell just texted that he's coming to town and needs two more golfers and the guys are all giving him a hard time.”
That same closeness has shown up at the Diamondbacks’ annual Fantasy Camp, which is set for its 20th edition in November. Several members of the 2001 team have served as coaches over the years, including Jay Bell, Greg Colbrunn, Gonzalez, Mark Grace, Mike Morgan, Swindell and Williams last year. Hall of Famer Randy Johnson has also been a regular visitor, coming back to see teammates and spend time with campers.
In previous years, Finley, Reggie Sanders, Tony Womack, David Dellucci, Erubiel Durazo and others from the championship club have also taken part as coaches.
“It’s like coming home,” Williams said. “As soon as you walk into the clubhouse the memories come back.
We always immediately jump into "Remember this? Remember that?'
It's a fun week for all of us because it's like we're back in the clubhouse all those years ago.”
Sometimes the competition gets a little sharp, even among old friends. Gonzalez and Finley, who have been close for decades, once wound up yelling at each other during a camper game.
“We all banter back and forth between us because we have our teams and we're trying to beat each other with our teams out there,” Finley said with a laugh.
But the real pull comes after the games, when the stories start rolling again and the old memories take over.
That 2001 roster was loaded with veterans who had built long careers, but most of them were still missing one final box to check: a championship. That shared goal helped shape the way they connected, even during the season itself. The bus rides became part of the glue, too.
“We would play bingo on the bus and I think it was like $100 a card,” Gonzalez said. “And Swindell would call out the bingo numbers in the front, but if you called bingo and you didn't have it, you had to match the pot.
So guys were very cautious of doing that. And I remember pulling into some cities where the coach's bus would get to the hotel, and we'd make the driver of the player's bus drive around another block because we were in the middle of a game that we didn't want to stop.
“It was just a fun bunch of guys. We ate dinners together.
We stayed in the clubhouse after games on the road all night long until the clubbies basically tried to kick us out. We just loved sitting around talking about baseball, drinking cold ones and just having fun.”
Now, a quarter-century after that title run, the group is set to reunite again, share stories, laugh, and maybe even squeeze in another game or two of bingo.
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