Image: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

But that can also be a perk. If I was a fan of another team with a long history, there would be specific teams I wouldn’t remember, players I didn’t know and managers I was ambivalent about. With the Diamondbacks though, I can remember something about every year since their inception. I can remember the highest of highs, a cutter to the hands fought off and deposited behind Derek Jeter in 2001, and the lowest of the lows, which brings me to something I saw earlier this week.For those that follow the ultra-funny “Diamondbacks Memes” on Facebook or Twitter, you might have seen the discussion on the best managers in Diamondbacks’ history.

There has been six managers in the 15 year history of the Snakes. Well, actually seven if you count Wally Backman‘s four-day stint in 2004.

Diamondbacks Memes ranked the managers in the following order:

1. Bob Melvin, 2. Bob Brenly, 3. Kirk Gibson, 4. Buck Showalter, 5. A.J. Hinch, 6. Al Pedrique.

This led to a pretty spirited discussion on the correct order, but one thing that stood out among many was the Brenly should be ranked #1 for winning the World Series.

And that’s where I vehimently disagree. Here’s my order:

1. Buck Showalter – Showalter was the D’backs first ever manager as he manned the helm of an expansion franchise and almost immediately turned the team into a contender. The Diamondbacks won the NL West in 1999 with a team-record 100 wins and Showalter held a 250-236 record over three seasons before being fired.

2. Bob Melvin – Melvin oversaw my second-favorite D’backs’ team of all time in 2007 as he led the Diamondbacks to 90 wins, a NL West pennant and an appearance in the NLCS. He had his struggles at the end of 2008 as the D’backs faltered down the stretch and was let go early in 2009 after a 12-17 start but he was a tactically smart manager and one that let his players shine.

3. Kirk Gibson – This is where the list gets difficult in my mind. I fought over whether this should be Brenly or Gibson here. Yes, Brenly is a World Series champion manager but realistically, the 2001 team won despite Brenly instead of because of him. It is really early to place Gibson really anywhere on this list. He helped the Diamondbacks go from last to first in 2011 as he established a well respected and experience-ridden coaching staff. But in 2012, there were several instances that he handled poorly and his insistence on keeping the green light on the basepaths, where runners were constantly running into outs, was questionable at best.

4. Bob Brenly – Brenly really goes here by default because of the managers behind him. Yes, I have great memories from the Brenly era, but it was really almost all because of the players he had on the field instead of Brenly’s managerial style. Brenly nearly cost the Diamondbacks’ the 2001 World Series, in which they were clearly the better team. One of the biggest mistakes Brenly kept making was putting light-hitting Tony Womack in the leadoff spot with his .308 OBP in 2001. Counsell hit behind Womack, which was a smart choice with his .350 OBP, but when Womack did reach base, Brenly would have Counsell bunt Womack over to second with Luis Gonzalez, a 57-home run hitter, on deck. And don’t get me started on how badly Brenly messed up the Byung-Hyun Kim situation in game 5. Long story short, Brenly had the best players on the field and almost messed it up.

5. Al Pedrique – He was only an interim manager for 83 games in 2004. However, he managed an awful .265 winning percentage with a 22-61 record.

6. Wally Backman – Yup, I’m including Backman. He was a manager for a total of four days and still was able to get fired. “How you gonna get fired on your day off?”

7. A.J. Hinch – This is how bad Hinch was. He was awful tactically, he never gained the respect of his players and couldn’t last even 1.5 years with the club. He was fired with a 89-123 record and a bad taste in every fans’ mouth.

I know this list is very different than many will be, what would you change and why?

If Curt Schilling gets into the Hall of Fame, he probably will be wearing a different jersey. Image: Jennifer Hilderbrand-US PRESSWIRE

I don’t think Schilling gets in this year as it seems that momentum is favoring Jack Morris.  The writers will likely not induct any of the three previous names mentioned this year as to not reward them with “first ballot status” given their tainted reputations.  In fact, some may never vote them in.  So that leads us back to this:   is Curt Schilling a a Hall of Fame pitcher?  It is certainly an interesting case.  His career record of 216-146 with a 3.46 ERA is not overwhelming.  Keep in mind, though that he pitched on some horrid Philadelphia Phillies teams and finishing a career 70 games over .500 for a pitcher who played on bad teams is pretty impressive.  We can also take a look at his dominant years.  Schilling pitched in parts of 20 seasons in the Major Leagues.  I would classify six of them as dominant (1992, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2004).  He finished second three times and fourth once for the Cy Young Award and was selected to six All-Star teams.  He won 20 games three times and led the league in victories in both the American and National League.  He led the NL in complete games four times and was tops in strikeouts and innings pitched twice.  Schilling and Randy Johnson are the last two pitchers to strike out 300 batters in a season (2002).

It is the postseason where Schilling’s case gets a big boost.  He was a member of three different World Series teams, playing in it a total of four times.  He was on the winner’s side three times, once with the D’Backs (winning a co-MVP with Johnson) and the other two with the Boston Red Sox.  His record in the playoffs is a sparkling 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA.  The winning percentage of .846 is the highest percentage of any pitcher in history with at least ten decisions.  On the biggest stage of them all, the Fall Classic, the record is 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA.  Schilling is arguably the best big-game pitcher of the last 30 years, on par or better than Morris and John Smoltz.

So will he ever get in?  It is such a tough call.  You would like to see better regular season numbers and the fact he won 20 games only three times with a career total of 216 would normally keep a guy like that out.  However, the postseason numbers are Hall of Fame worthy and though he had only six truly outstanding years, they were spread out over 13 seasons.  In addition, he helped end the Red Sox’ “curse”, no small feat.  I compare Schilling to Kirby Puckett.   Neither one had ten dominant seasons but both were at their best in October.   When making that comparison, Curt Schilling deserves a spot in Cooperstown.

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Curt Schilling had two of his best seasons for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Image: Jennifer Hilderbrand-US PRESSWIRE

July 26, 2000-Curt Schilling for Omar Daal, Travis Lee, Nelson Figueroa and Vicente Padilla-This is arguably the best trade in D’Back history as the club traded for a dominant pitcher still in the prime of his career.  Schilling was rescued from (at the time) the consistently dormant Philadelphia Phillies and dropped into Arizona five days before the 2000 trading deadline.  In addition to leading the D’Back to the 2001 World Series title, he finished as the runner-up for the Cy Young Award twice and still ranks in the top 5 in many Snakes’ pitching categories.  The best two years of Schilling’s career came in 2001 and 2002, winning a total of 45 games.  As for the players sent to the the Phillies, only Padilla lasted in Philly beyond 2003.  Daal and Lee each had one decent season while Figueroa barely spent any time in Philly.

December 20, 2005-Chris Young, Orlando Hernandez and Luis Vizcaino for Javier Vazquez-Only Young stayed with Arizona past the 2006 season as both Hernandez and Vizcaino found their way to New York with El Duque going to the Mets before ’06 ended and the Viz heading to the Yankees for 2007.  Young’s blend of speed and power came to fruition in 2007 playing a big role in the D’Backs’ run to the National League Championship Series, placing fourth in the Rookie of the Year race.  CY also helped the team win the National League West in 2011 losing in five games to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.  As for Vasquez, he spent three seasons with the Chicago White Sox after the trade, a solid second year sandwiched by two below average campaigns.

August 23, 2011-Aaron Hill and John McDonald for Kelly Johnson-Hill was reborn once he got to the desert, hitting .315 in 33 games helping to solidify Arizona’s worst-to-first season last year.  In 2012, the Second Baseman was perhaps the best everyday player hitting 26 home runs with 85 RBI’s while hitting .302.  He also made history by becoming the first player to hit for the cycle twice in one season since 1931.  McDonald is a valuable utility man, the type of player that excels in limited playing time for good teams.  Johnson has had decent power numbers for the Toronto Blue Jays but hit only .225 during his first full season North of the Border.

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