THE VAULT: INAUGURAL OPENING DAY 1998 REWATCH

3-31-98, D-Backs First Opening Day (REWATCH #2)

This is my 46th SubStack Post in little over a year and my favorite post to this day is the recap I did of the 1998 Spring Training game I watched on YouTube. This gem had so many great players, coaches, announcers in it and just a ton of weird random stuff in it. That old Fox Sports AZ baseball music still hits…

As we sit dead in the middle of the offseason, I’ve gotten the itch to make another one of these rewatches. I pretty quickly found the perfect game to build off the post from last year….

OPENING DAY 3-31-1998 GAME 1

You view the full Youtube video of the game here. ESPN Jon Miller and Kevin Kennedy (I wish Joe Morgan) broadcast, full Bank One Ballpark, vintage MLB on ESPN, Game 1 EVER buckle up this is a great one, LETS GO!!

Old ESPN graphics, beautiful blimp/helicopter shot of Bank One Ballpark (The BOB for you youngsters out there, and yes that’s why Baxter is a Bobcat and not a snake).

Want to take a moment to pour one out of that stretch of dirt between the pitchers mound and home plate, you are missed deeply. The Blake Street Bombers what an incredible nickname that was. These Rockies lineups in the middle of the steroid era pre-humidor put up INSANE stats year after year. Look what they did in 1997, pretty much any year in the 90’s looks like this from the Rockies. Helton didn’t even start until this ‘98 season!

ESPN does an awesome job taking an iconic shot of the first pitch in Diamondbacks history. Sold out crowd, camera flashes everywhere, Andy Benes throws the first for a ball, steps off as they shoot off fireworks and toss the ball to the dugout.

ESPN turns to the fireworks too late, but we do get an incredible shot of the OG scoreboard. Wonder how much the panel sponsors paid to keep them shut for this game… AND THE CLOCK LOOKS GREAT, BRING IT BACK!!! Jon Miller points out 2 things around this time I found interesting:

1. 8:22 PM first pitch? Super late.

2. He mentions the pre-game ceremonies, which there’s a different video of it and boy is it something and it 100% deserves it’s own post…. soon.

We get a lot of good stadium shots early obviously. Interesting that the The BOB has always had that wall behind home plate. It’s a camera well in the early days, but the brick seating is much better today. One of very few things better today in my opinion.

Opening Day Defense 1.0!

First full shots we get of the stadium. I’m really surprised to learn that the lineup boards were NOT day 1 built in? I’ve never really seen a photo of The BOB without them… a TON of empty space without them.

Jon Miller is telling a story about how Frank Thomas (White Sox played 2 exhibition games before Opening Day at The BOB) talked to him about how well the ball flies in this stadium and how hitter friendly they believe it will be. Also, tough to see in this photo but I love the little strip of grass up against the wall for absolutely no reason.

After a scoreless 1st inning, we get to some commercials. I love when old games leave the commercials in, here we get a weird EA Sports Baseball commercial with a digitial A-Rod and a fan.

World class graphics here, 1998.

Back from commercial, I love these ESPN graphic and man do I miss the out of town scoreboard…. I hope they eventually make these cool digital boards for out of town scores. Think of the advertising you could make on them too! I was told by some good sources that the old light bulbs aren’t made at that size anymore, so too many blew out and couldn’t be replaced. But a digital scoreboard in this spot would be cool one day.

Amazingly they haven’t shown the pool here as a couple umbrellas sneak in, but here’s that grass on the warning track I was talking about! It’s weird, but I kinda like it?? Jim Miller & Kevin Kennedy talk about all the triples they think will happen from weird bounces off the overhang.

Turtlenecks rock, especially with the logos. I gotta try and find one… also cool patch on the hat. The exact hat is on ebay here…. Man I miss the purple.

UPDATE: FOUND ONE, you guys can fight for the hat but the best time to wear a Diamondbacks turtleneck… is all the time.

Last post I wrote about how much I miss pocket schedules. For financial reasons I may only write one of these a year.

Again, Jim Miller & Kevin Kennedy refuse to mention the literal massive pool in the baseball stadium. The 4 Chase Field/BOB things I would fix first if I owned the team are: 1) Out of town scoreboards 2) the CF clock 3) bring back the dirt between the mound and home plate 4) last but not least the HR fountains in the pool. In the intro video to this day, there’s fountains that go off in the video but next Diamondbacks game you go to notice the fountains dont work anymore! I think they’ve been fully taken out now, but the little fountains in 1998 are nice too…. the baby blue walls though, I dont know. This is definitely the worst version of the pool.

The entire broadcast this camera guy is so enamored with the CF overhang AND NOT THE LITERAL POOL IN A BASEBALL STADIUM. Also, shoutout to the ushers for letting people stand against the wall, they do not let you do this anymore (I know from experience).

Again, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OVERHANG HAS A POOL WHY ARE THEY NOT MENTIONING THIS??? Jim Miller and the camera guys are obsessed with the overhang.

Also, in my first rewatch-along I dove deeper into the Diamondbacks roster and team, as you can tell I’m really intrigued by the all the first looks at The BOB in this video. The full game Baseball Reference box score can be found here! Andy Benes & Darryl Kile are throwing gems through 5, then the later innings get a little wild.

LETS GO SUNS!!! BIG DUB!!!! While I like the bottom ticker being off the screen during the game, this is a massive graphic every 2nd inning or so they flash.

Another great stadium shot with GOOD graphics.

The rumor is that the roof should be fully operational in 2025 (it’s always worked but I miss watching it open pregame with the most electric song ever).

Would Zac Gallen walk less guys if there was still this dirt strip? Probably.

I do feel like the RF upper seating area was always supposed to be more of a luxury thing, as you can see day 1 that’s some pretty nice glasses and table set up for a baseball game…. the one place I’ve never seen a game from is the RF above the K board area.

Okay the Front Row sign is WAY to little…. also never knew it wasn’t Friday’s Front Row from Day 1 either! I was able to finally buy the book the Diamondbacks sold of the construction and the concourses of The BOB, and the ballpark used to have a lot more character. The only spots that were bland day 1 is Front Row & the no lineup card scoreboards in the early days. I’ll be making a post about that book this offseason too, so subscribe it’s free!!!

I’d say this is the most “looks like 2024 still” shot of the entire ballpark. Also it’s the 4th inning, 57 minutes in AND THEY HAVENT TALKED ABOUT THE POOL YET???

I’ll give you 1 guess as to what Jon Miller is talking about here….

Answer: the CF overhangs.

Look what modern tech took from us. Also, let’s use the AL and NL logos more MLB.

Sidenote- Did anyone else used to have these? I remember my dad got one for his birthday and it was revolutionary in my household. We would bring it EVERYWHERE. Pre-internet phones, this was the coolest thing ever. I remember seeing the standings change when a game went final and thinking “wow, this is the future and I love it”. Brookstone had newspapers shaking in their boots.

AT THE 1 HOUR MARK, IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!!

For a brief 4 seconds, the pool is shown! And yes, Jon Miller HATES IT.

KEVIN: “And we haven’t even really talked about the pool in right/center yet have we?”

JON: *in disgust* “Pool?”

KEVIN: “You dont want to talk about it, I had to bring it up”

JON: “I’m trying to not talk about it. A pool? This is a ballpark! It looks like they’re shooting a movie out there”

JON AGAIN: “Who would have the guts to go swimming with 49,000 people watching out there?”

JON: “It’s the only thing that just doesnt…. it just feels odd to me. It just doesn’t go, the rest of the ballpark is very nice”

One interesting thing about the broadcast is that Travis Lee is really sold as the face of the franchise. This Diamondbacks team had legit All Stars in Andy Benes, Matt Williams and Jay Bell, but Buck here talks about Travis Lee handling the pressure of being the face of the franchise well.

ESPN now sneaking in pool shots as they go to commercial so Jon Miller doesn’t quit.

Camera comes out of break to show the RF field level seats and show that weird warning track grass again. Jon Miller points out that Larry Walker told the announcers he hated the net as his foot or hand easily got caught in batting practice. Just having a net there is pretty interesting, that a large chunk of OF grass with a net, wonder what year the metal chain and later padding got put in?

Jon Miller points out here that the grass is actually 8 feet wide! They also note that NO OTHER ballpark has this, so I’m not out of line for thinking this was so fascinating.

I kinda don’t believe this.

Random in game cutaway to a gem from…. Curt Schilling. Little did we know in 1998 that’s the final piece to a World Series team.

This goes incredibly hard…

Finally get a great overview shot of the pool, those little home plate fountains are pretty cool! Love the basketball hoop, wonder if they ever gave them a ball. The pool today still has the above hot tub, lower normal pool and seating in the back. Interesting in 26 years the physical pool never changed, just removed the fountains and updated the area around it.

Finally, we get some action in this game. Vinny Castilla hits the first HR in BOB history. If you’re curious as to what all the “firsts” in team history are, the Diamondbacks have a full webpage on it here!

After Todd Helton double following the Castillo homer, the Diamondbacks are doing a mound visit to eat time for the bullpen. We get our first shot of LF, always weird to see the original LED-screen-less decks with the pitcher pitch counts having their own section above the bullpen which is nice.

Coming out of the break after Benes got out of the 6th, they show the kid who caught the Castillo HR #1 at The BOB. Also, dudes wearing suits in the OF bleachers is so weird.

THE WARNING TRACK, THE WALL, TOUCH EM ALL TRAVIS LEE!!!

First run, homer, RBI in franchise history goes to Travis Lee!! Travis Lee had a super unique and interesting career, especially with the Diamondbacks which I wrote about in my EVERY DIAMONDBACKS TOP 100 PROSPECT SERIES. Taking a snippet of that article:

Travis Lee, 1B

BA- ‘97 5th, ‘98 8th overall

Travis Lee had an extremely unique beginning to his career as him and 3 other players took advantage of a MLB Draft rule that everyone ignored for years. Outlined in this great Athletic article, Travis Lee, John Patterson and 2 other players from the 1996 MLB Draft were declared free agents since the teams that drafted them never sent them an official written offer despite failing to agree to a contract. The expansion Diamondbacks took advantage of this (they were given the last pick of each round with the Rays in 1996) and signed 1996 Golden Spikes winner and 2nd overall pick Travis Lee to a $10M deal & 5th overall pick John Patterson to $5M deal. The Rays followed suit and signed the other 2 1st round picks in Matt White (7th pick, got $10.2M) and Bobby Seay (12th pick, got $3M).

Above via Perfect Game is the #1 overall pick signing bonus + the biggest signing bonus of each draft 1992-2004. Travis Lee and the 3 others getting signing bonuses that large obviously was a huge deal. Granted, Diamondbacks and Rays knew this was a one time event mixed with them being expansion teams desperate for talent, so their signing bonuses were surely inflated, but still Travis Lee & Matt White got 5x what 1-1 Kris Benson got in 1996. I cannot stress enough great of a read that Athletic article on the 1996 Draft is! Probably to the delight of the MLB owners, only Travis Lee in this group of 4 had a good MLB career.

While Jay Bell & Matt Williams were the face of the inaugural 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks, Travis Lee was the young elite prospect and first home grown talent which made him a fan favorite off the bat. A strong rookie season with 22 HR, 8 SB & .775 OPS was followed up with an injury shortened 1999, ending with being a part of a trade with with Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa and Vicente Padilla to the Philadelphia Phillies for Curt Schilling in 2000.

Sneaky 1-1 pick for a cool custom throwback Diamondbacks jersey would be a Travis Lee jersey.

Very cool moment here as Kevin Kennedy declares Travis Lee his “rookie of the year candidate”. Lee actually did finish 3rd behind Todd Helton and 1998 Paul Skenes aka Kerry Wood.

I do want to take a second to figure out who the heck is Kevin Kennedy. He does a really good job announcing the game and hiding his love for the pool so that Jon Miller doesn’t punch him mid game. Kevin Kennedy did ESPN & Fox national TV broadcasts from 1997-2009, but was a really good manager who oddly got fired after 3 of 4 winning seasons, and the one losing season they were still in 1st place before the 1994 strike ended the season.

Kevin Kennedy, good coach, good announcer, good mustache. And that’s a San Antonio Missions hat….

Because it’s 1998, Buck Showalter ignores Benes tough 6th, leaves him for the 7th at 96 pitches… and Benes goes deep fly ball for a out, single, double and his night is over as Clint Sodowsky enters the game to face the heart of the Blake Street Bombers. It goes bad….

The face of a man who is starting the season with a 7.11 ERA.

Vinny Castillo becomes the first player to hit TWO homers at the BOB, hanging breaking ball, 8-1….

On a lighter note, I love the ESPN move here to just have a TV instead of graphics in the game break highlights around the league.

When people say this miss old ESPN, it’s this. Highlights, just telling us “hey, here’s who went yard today”. Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire, everyone but A-Rod going yard on the Mariners on this day.

With the camera guy above the only pool in a baseball stadium, an 8-1 game gives Jon Miller the freedom to talk more about the CF overhang.

Announced attendance: 50,179

Darryl Kile is currently throwing a 4 hit gem, but I want to point out the ushers wearing vests in the background like they’re working at a movie theatre. Also as a weirdo who writes these kinds of posts and likes to dig through old box scores for fun, we got a Diamondback I genuinely never heard of at the plate, batting 5th too, OF Brent Brede. Acquired in the expansion draft from the Twins after slashing a solid 274/.347/.389 in 61 1997 games, Brede struggled for a half season in Arizona slashing just 226/.311/.325 good for a .636 OPS and 2 HR in 98 games. Brede was released after the season and never made it back to the majors as he went to Japan in 1999 and then spent his final pro ball season in AAA for the Pirates in 2000. Brent Brede, random D-Back!

If there was ever a game to have a new stadium be shown off, it’s an 8-1 blow out. Here Jon Miller tells us that Jackie Robinson’s number was retired in 1997 league wide, the Diamondbacks did it a pregame ceremony.

As we enter the 8th inning, here’s a game summary with another stadium shot.

“Scott Brow has an excellent fastball sitting 92-93” it was a different era. Scott Brow had didn’t have an excellent season and gave up a run to make it 9-1 COL.

View from the not yet named Friday’s just Front Row.

The graphic that shows as Jon Miller says “this guy has never made an out as a major league”, so this strikeout is on Jon Miller.

On to the 9th, down 9-1 and yes it’s THAT Jerry Dipoto, former Diamondbacks assistant GM and now Mariners GM. Dipoto was actually the Rockies closer the 2nd half of 1997 and entering 1998.

We got HR and run #2!! Karim Garcia touch em all!!

Jorge Fábregas does pop out next AB and game 1 of the Arizona Diamondbacks is a 9-2 loss.

The outro does give us one last (pregame) look at The BOB. I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did, and keep your eyes out on more “THE VAULT” projects like this!

-Goldy Happens