This is the next in a series of stories from Cronkite News looking back at the Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series win.
PHOENIX – Following the Arizona Diamondbacks’ debut season in 1998, owner Jerry Colangelo met with his executives to discuss the expansion team’s future.
Originally, their plan had been to follow the blueprint laid out by the Colorado Rockies a few years earlier – build through the draft and create a farm system early on. Everything was going according to plan until the demand for season tickets fell off drastically heading into Year 2.
The young franchise needed to sell tickets to compete, but it came with a caveat: In order to sell tickets, the Diamondbacks would have to be competitive. Colangelo saw only one way forward – go all in to win.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Colangelo said. “You have to be willing to take risks. I would always say mine were calculated risks, not blind risks. But you can never be afraid to fail. Because I know ultimately, if you’re right, you win.”
Despite the abrupt shift in mentality, Colangelo’s executives unanimously backed his vision. Ahead of their second season, the Diamondbacks transitioned to win-now mode.
Colangelo was dubbed the “Godfather of Phoenix Sports” for a reason. He’s found lifelong success by taking risks and seizing every opportunity that has come his way.
The former owner of the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury and Diamondbacks, Colangelo has applied that same philosophy to every team he’s ever been a part of.
His approach was instrumental in bringing the first and only men’s major professional championship to the Valley, and he did it with an expansion team in just its fourth year.
That offseason, Colangelo and general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. started laying the framework through free agency with a handful of impactful multiyear signings, including left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson and outfielder Steve Finley.
Convincing Johnson to come to Arizona was a tall task, even for Colangelo. Randy Johnson tall.
“When Randy became a free agent, I got a call from his agent,” Colangelo said. “He says, ‘Well, he’s ready. What do you want? What do you want?’ And I said, ‘Well, I want to be the first one to talk with him. And I also want to be the last.’ I wanted two bites of the apple.”
“The Big Unit” was coming off of one of the best stretches of his career – boasting a 10-1 record with 116 total strikeouts and a 1.28 ERA with the Astros in 1998 – and he didn’t love the idea of joining a group that had just lost 97 games.
So Colangelo did what he does best. He made his pitch, and he didn’t let up until he got his guy.
“So I go to Randy’s home, and he says to me, ‘I don’t even know why you’re here,’” Colangelo said. “‘With Buck Showalter, how are we going to get along?’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, Randy. If you had earrings coming out of your nose, in your ears and tattoos from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes and long hair, I’d say, ‘I pass.’ But one out of three is OK. And he just laughed. And that broke him.”
Eventually, Johnson agreed to a four-year $52.4 million deal, and to this day, the move is considered among the best free-agent signings in MLB history.
Along with Johnson, the Diamondbacks also signed pitchers Todd Stottlemyre and Armando Reynoso. Together, those additions went a long way in coaxing Finley on to the roster. He came around once he saw that the Diamondbacks were serious about being contenders.
In the span of about a month, Arizona dished out just under $119 million for six free agents. By the Diamondbacks’ championship season a few years later, the team’s payroll had more than doubled, from roughly $31.5 million to just over $80 million.
But early on funds weren’t endless for Colangelo and crew, and the strategy was to defer portions of player salaries until years later, which freed up more money for immediate use (although it created significant debt for the team in later years).
In total, 17 players on the Diamondbacks’ championship roster, including Johnson, Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez and Matt Williams had some portion of their salaries deferred.
Gonzalez and Tony Womack, the two most responsible for the Diamondbacks’ winning runs in Game 7 of the World Series a few years later, were also brought in during that same offseason.
Following a postseason appearance in 1999, Arizona missed the playoffs in 2000, but the team made other strides that year. Earlier in the season, Craig Counsell came on as a utility piece, and at the trade deadline, a deal with the Phillies sparked the dangerous duo of Johnson and right-hander Curt Schilling.
“The thought process was that if we had both of them, it did a lot,” Garagiola Jr. said “The notion that both starters were going to lose was not likely. In the long play, we stayed out of one of those season-crushing losing streaks. In the short term, once you get to the postseason, it’s always about pitching. The teams still playing are the ones with good pitching.”
Leading up to the 2001 season, Colangelo decided that it was time for a change in management. The team moved on from Showalter in favor of Bob Brenly, who had no management experience at the time and was working as an analyst in the Diamondbacks’ broadcast booth.
“I felt that we needed one manager who could relate to veteran players, and all of a sudden we were a veteran team,” Colangelo said. “We were not a young team, and so that puts a lot of emphasis on winning now. And Brenly, with his personality and his stature, I felt was a perfect fit.”
Soon after, Mark Grace was acquired to provide a strong presence on first base, and right-handed pitcher Miguel Batista offered more versatility. Reggie Sanders, who totaled a career-high 33 home runs during the team’s championship season, ended up being another key veteran addition as well.
Confidence in the clubhouse couldn’t have been higher ahead of the 2001 season – everyone felt something special was brewing in the desert.
“There was definitely a lot of confidence on that team,” Gonzalez said. “Of course, when you’ve got two big, No. 1 starters that definitely helps, too. And then you’ve got boppers on your team. You’ve got professional hitters up and down that batting order. There was really no weakness in our order.”
Looking back on that season, Womack still admires the architecture of the veteran roster that harmonized exactly as intended.
“Everybody knew their job and everybody did their job,” Womack said. “Everybody was brought in for a reason. Randy and Curt were brought in for a reason. I was brought in for a reason. You had Gonzo’s big bat. Reggie Sanders was brought in for his playoff experience and clubhouse demeanor. We put a bunch of pieces together, and all the pieces did their job.”
Nearly 25 years later, the architects who put it all together in just four years rest easy knowing that the city’s only men’s major professional championship wouldn’t have been possible without their influence.
“We had our plan,” Colangelo said. “We went ahead and accomplished what we did. The thrill of putting together people like Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez, Jay Bell, Matt Williams, Steve Finley, Tony Womack, it was fun.”
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‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’: How the 2001 Diamondbacks’ World Series roster was built
Ethan Holtzinger, Cronkite News
April 14, 2026
This is the next in a series of stories from Cronkite News looking back at the Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series win.
PHOENIX – Following the Arizona Diamondbacks’ debut season in 1998, owner Jerry Colangelo met with his executives to discuss the expansion team’s future.
Originally, their plan had been to follow the blueprint laid out by the Colorado Rockies a few years earlier – build through the draft and create a farm system early on. Everything was going according to plan until the demand for season tickets fell off drastically heading into Year 2.
The young franchise needed to sell tickets to compete, but it came with a caveat: In order to sell tickets, the Diamondbacks would have to be competitive. Colangelo saw only one way forward – go all in to win.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Colangelo said. “You have to be willing to take risks. I would always say mine were calculated risks, not blind risks. But you can never be afraid to fail. Because I know ultimately, if you’re right, you win.”
Despite the abrupt shift in mentality, Colangelo’s executives unanimously backed his vision. Ahead of their second season, the Diamondbacks transitioned to win-now mode.
Colangelo was dubbed the “Godfather of Phoenix Sports” for a reason. He’s found lifelong success by taking risks and seizing every opportunity that has come his way.
The former owner of the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury and Diamondbacks, Colangelo has applied that same philosophy to every team he’s ever been a part of.
His approach was instrumental in bringing the first and only men’s major professional championship to the Valley, and he did it with an expansion team in just its fourth year.
That offseason, Colangelo and general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. started laying the framework through free agency with a handful of impactful multiyear signings, including left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson and outfielder Steve Finley.
Convincing Johnson to come to Arizona was a tall task, even for Colangelo. Randy Johnson tall.
“When Randy became a free agent, I got a call from his agent,” Colangelo said. “He says, ‘Well, he’s ready. What do you want? What do you want?’ And I said, ‘Well, I want to be the first one to talk with him. And I also want to be the last.’ I wanted two bites of the apple.”
“The Big Unit” was coming off of one of the best stretches of his career – boasting a 10-1 record with 116 total strikeouts and a 1.28 ERA with the Astros in 1998 – and he didn’t love the idea of joining a group that had just lost 97 games.
So Colangelo did what he does best. He made his pitch, and he didn’t let up until he got his guy.
“So I go to Randy’s home, and he says to me, ‘I don’t even know why you’re here,’” Colangelo said. “‘With Buck Showalter, how are we going to get along?’ I said, ‘Wait a minute, Randy. If you had earrings coming out of your nose, in your ears and tattoos from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes and long hair, I’d say, ‘I pass.’ But one out of three is OK. And he just laughed. And that broke him.”
Eventually, Johnson agreed to a four-year $52.4 million deal, and to this day, the move is considered among the best free-agent signings in MLB history.
Along with Johnson, the Diamondbacks also signed pitchers Todd Stottlemyre and Armando Reynoso. Together, those additions went a long way in coaxing Finley on to the roster. He came around once he saw that the Diamondbacks were serious about being contenders.
In the span of about a month, Arizona dished out just under $119 million for six free agents. By the Diamondbacks’ championship season a few years later, the team’s payroll had more than doubled, from roughly $31.5 million to just over $80 million.
But early on funds weren’t endless for Colangelo and crew, and the strategy was to defer portions of player salaries until years later, which freed up more money for immediate use (although it created significant debt for the team in later years).
In total, 17 players on the Diamondbacks’ championship roster, including Johnson, Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez and Matt Williams had some portion of their salaries deferred.
Gonzalez and Tony Womack, the two most responsible for the Diamondbacks’ winning runs in Game 7 of the World Series a few years later, were also brought in during that same offseason.
Following a postseason appearance in 1999, Arizona missed the playoffs in 2000, but the team made other strides that year. Earlier in the season, Craig Counsell came on as a utility piece, and at the trade deadline, a deal with the Phillies sparked the dangerous duo of Johnson and right-hander Curt Schilling.
“The thought process was that if we had both of them, it did a lot,” Garagiola Jr. said “The notion that both starters were going to lose was not likely. In the long play, we stayed out of one of those season-crushing losing streaks. In the short term, once you get to the postseason, it’s always about pitching. The teams still playing are the ones with good pitching.”
Leading up to the 2001 season, Colangelo decided that it was time for a change in management. The team moved on from Showalter in favor of Bob Brenly, who had no management experience at the time and was working as an analyst in the Diamondbacks’ broadcast booth.
“I felt that we needed one manager who could relate to veteran players, and all of a sudden we were a veteran team,” Colangelo said. “We were not a young team, and so that puts a lot of emphasis on winning now. And Brenly, with his personality and his stature, I felt was a perfect fit.”
Soon after, Mark Grace was acquired to provide a strong presence on first base, and right-handed pitcher Miguel Batista offered more versatility. Reggie Sanders, who totaled a career-high 33 home runs during the team’s championship season, ended up being another key veteran addition as well.
Confidence in the clubhouse couldn’t have been higher ahead of the 2001 season – everyone felt something special was brewing in the desert.
“There was definitely a lot of confidence on that team,” Gonzalez said. “Of course, when you’ve got two big, No. 1 starters that definitely helps, too. And then you’ve got boppers on your team. You’ve got professional hitters up and down that batting order. There was really no weakness in our order.”
Looking back on that season, Womack still admires the architecture of the veteran roster that harmonized exactly as intended.
“Everybody knew their job and everybody did their job,” Womack said. “Everybody was brought in for a reason. Randy and Curt were brought in for a reason. I was brought in for a reason. You had Gonzo’s big bat. Reggie Sanders was brought in for his playoff experience and clubhouse demeanor. We put a bunch of pieces together, and all the pieces did their job.”
Nearly 25 years later, the architects who put it all together in just four years rest easy knowing that the city’s only men’s major professional championship wouldn’t have been possible without their influence.
“We had our plan,” Colangelo said. “We went ahead and accomplished what we did. The thrill of putting together people like Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Luis Gonzalez, Jay Bell, Matt Williams, Steve Finley, Tony Womack, it was fun.”
This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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