Tony Womack

Acquired: 2/25/1999. Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a player to be named later (Jason Boyd) and Paul Weichard (minors).
Career with AZ: .269/.314/.362 - 21 HR, 200 RBI
Best year 1999: .277/.332/.370, 72 stolen bases
Records: 1st in triples (37) and - by a long way - career stolen bases, with 182. The next best is 70: Womack stole more than that in one year (72 in 1999).
Other facts: 5th in franchise history for RBI (200), 3rd in games played (629), hits (677) and runs scored (392). Only 29 GIDPs and 303 K's in 2744 PA's. Stole more bases in 1999 than the whole team managed during either the last two seasons. Has the top four entries in the franchise list for bags swiped in a single year (1999-2002).
Biggest moment: 2001 NLDS vs. Cardinals - deciding game, bottom of the ninth. Womack fails to execute a suicide squeeze, then drives in the series-winning run with a single. "It doesn't matter how it got done, we got it done and we're going to enjoy tonight," said Womack.
Departed: 8/18/2003. Traded by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Colorado Rockies for Mike Watson.

Womack in right field? It used to be the case. When Tony first arrived in Arizona, shortstop was occupied by Andy Fox and Hanley Frias, so Womack played the outfield most of the year. But he began edging to the infield late in 1999, and then became our full-time shortstop for three seasons.

Truth be told, his defense there was average at best, averaging 20 errors a season. But he was perhaps better suited to the infield, as a typical small (5'9") and speedy shortstop. Pace was his biggest asset: indeed, he was easily the most serious base-stealing threat we've ever had, his 72 in 1999 led the majors.

Womack's precipitous decline in 2003, ended with his departure for Colorado in a nothing trade. But this perhaps masked a player who posted several very steady seasons for AZ. Over four years (1999-2002), his batting average was always between .266 and .277, with an OBP in the .307-.332 range. Famously, he knocked in the tying run off Mariano Rivera during the ninth innings of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series, and gave us the belief that anything was possible.