Tonight, The Arizona Diamondbacks will begin play in their first World Series since 2001. I didn’t have to look this up. Memories of that 2001 Arizona team washed over me as I watched the team’s progression to the playoffs.
I suspect that’s equally true for Joe Watson, whose ticket to Game 7 of the 2001 World Series might be the most expensive ever purchased – at least $40,000 – but far more if you calculate the long-term cost.
In 2001, I was the sports editor of The East Valley Tribune, the smaller of the two daily newspapers in the Phoenix market. I had left my job in San Francisco in February of 1998 for a rare opportunity to create from scratch a plan to cover a new major league baseball franchise – everything from hiring a beat writer to putting together a travel budget well in excess of $50,000 to lobbying for newshole – space in the paper dedicated to daily coverage of the team.
The Diamondbacks were predictably awful that first season in 1998, relying mainly on cast-offs from other teams and a few modestly-priced free agents. It was a pretty sure bet that team owner Jerry Colangelo wasn’t going to be content with that. Colangelo, who almost single handedly convinced MLB to put an expansion team in Phoenix, was as competitive as they come, having built the Phoenix Suns into a consistent NBA playoff team.
During the offseason, the team went big on the free-agent market, luring a handful of proven veterans, headed by the biggest prize of them all (literally) in 6-foot-10 pitcher Randy Johnson, who would become a first ballot Hall of Famer. The turn-around was immediate – a 100-win season and NL West title in 1999. When Curt Schilling signed as a free agent the following year, the Diamondbacks suddenly had one of the most dynamic 1-2 starting pitcher combinations in history.
In 2001, it all came together — Schilling (22-6) and Johnson (21-6 with a mind-blowing 372 strikeouts) dominated and a mix of proven veterans, including Luis Gonzales (57 homers), Matt Williams, Mark Grace and Jay Bell provided just enough offense. Former Ole Miss star David Dellucci started in right field, by the way.
When the series between the Diamondbacks and Yankees began in Phoenix on Oct. 27, we were ready.
We threw everything we had into coverage of the Series, sending three reporters and two photographers for Games 3, 4 and 5 in New York (at a considerable cost). For the home games, I was one of seven reporters on hand. Four photographers worked the home games.
We churned out anywhere from four to six pages of daily coverage from Oct. 27 though Nov. 4.
Back in the office, it was all hands on deck, too. My deputy, Bob Romantic, supervised the production of the sport section while I was at the ballpark for the home games. I had a seat in the auxiliary press box located in centerfield, which turned out to be an important part of this story.
About an hour before the decisive Game 7, I called Bob to check in and make sure everything was set on his end.
It wasn’t.
Bob told me Joe Watson, one of our copy editors, had called in sick.
“Who did you say?” I asked.
“Joe,” Bob said.
“Joe Watson?”
“Yeah, Joe.”
“Bob, I swear. I’m looking at Joe right now. He’s standing on the concourse right below me with a beer in his hand.”
Somehow among the crowd of 49,589, I spotted one of my copy editors playing hooky. How do you even begin to calculate those odds?
After the euphoria of the Diamondbacks’ come-from-behind 2-1 win that secured the championship had subsided a bit, I was back in the office the next day and it was business as usual, with one exception. When Joe came in for his shift that day, I told him he had been caught red-handed and fired him. He didn’t object. He knew he had it coming.
I’m not sure exactly what Joe’s pay was at the time, but it was likely in the neighborhood of $40,000 per year. So that ticket to Game 7 of the 2001 World Series proved pretty expensive.
Years later, Joe and I reconnected on Facebook.
When the Diamondbacks secured a return trip to the World Series by beating Philadelphia on Tuesday night, my thoughts turned to that night 22 years ago. I sent Joe a message, “After all these years, was it worth it?”
He hasn’t responded.
Too soon, maybe.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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