1) On March 31, 1998 the Arizona Diamondbacks play their first first game in front of 50,179 fans against the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies would win that first game. In the game Travis Lee would collect their first hit (a first inning single). Later in the game he would hit a homer. That homer would be the first run scored as well as the first RBI. Even though in 1998 the Diamondbacks had a typical 69-97 expansion record, they made key acquisitions and in 1999 they posted a 100-62 record becoming the fastest expansion team to make the playoffs. In 2001, the 4 year old Diamondbacks would win the National League pennant to play the 26 time World Champion New York Yankees. They would win in a game seven thriller.
2) The Diamondbacks have won 3 Divisional titles, winning the 1 National League title and World Series championship. The Diamondbacks in their short 10 year history has not retired any uniform numbers.
3) The Diamondback plays their home games at Chase Field. From 1998 to 2005 it was known as Bank One Ballpark changing to Chase Field when Bank One merged with Chase. It has a capacity of 49,033. Ken Kendricks Jr. is the Managing General Partner of the ball club which at the beginning of 2007 is managed by Bob Melvin.
4) The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were the other team that began play in 1998. They played their first game against the Detroit Tigers and lost 11-6. They won their first game the next day.
5) In all the Devil Rays have been a poor team never finishing better than last in the 5 team American League East, which includes the New York Yankees, Boston red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. They did retire the uniform number 12 worn by Wade Boggs in their first 2 seasons. Boggs retired as a Devil Ray and got his 3000 hit while playing for them.
6) The Devil Rays play their home games at Tropicana Field, a stadium that has a capacity of 38,437. They are owned by Stuart Sternberg and at the beginning of the 2007 season are managed by Joe Maddon.
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