Tonight is Greg Schulte’s 3,000th game calling the Arizona Diamondbacks

“Deep drive...warning track...wall...you can touch ‘em all!”

If you’ve listened to the Diamondbacks on radio over the past 20 years, you’ll be familiar with the dulcet tones of Greg Schulte, who has been the play-by-play man for the team there since the very first game played at Chase Field, back in 1998. He has covered virtually every meaningful moment since:

• Many of Randy Johnson’s historic achievements, including his perfect game on May 18, 2004, his 20-strikeout game, his 3,000th and 4,000th strikeout games and more.
• As well as the Big Unit's perfect game, he has called a trio of no-hitters: Edwin Jackson for Arizona on June 25, 2010, and two against us, by the Cardinals’ Jose Jimenez on June 25, 1999 and Marlins’ Anibal Sanchez on Sept. 6, 2006
• Aaron Hill’s pair of 2012 cycles on June 18 vs. Mariners and June 29 @ Brewers.
• And, of course, who can forget the most wonderful moment in franchise history

“Gonzalez digs in at the plate... and a little blooper, base hit! Diamondbacks win! They're the World Champions! Gonzalez did it! The Diamondbacks have unseated the New York Yankees as the World Champions! Folks, it doesn't get any better than that. Honk your horns, stomp your feet. Celebrate in Arizona! The Diamondbacks have won the World Series."

Schulte’s call was subsequently immortalized in a talking bottle-opener, but here’s a snippet of it.

Schulte has been part of Phoenix radio since 1979. Prior to his arrival, he was sports director at WQUA in Moline, Ill., and also handled play-by-play duties for University of Iowa men’s basketball. He then spent 14 years at KTAR before joining the D-backs, and has been involved with nearly every major sports entity in the market. He served 15 seasons with the Suns, working alongside Hall of Famer Al McCoy as producer and, for the last two seasons, color commentator. He has also served as an analyst for Arizona State football and men’s basketball and shared play-by-play duties for ASU baseball. He was the original pre- and postgame host for the Arizona Cardinals from 1988-90.

Team President Derrick Hall said, "There is one voice that is truly synonymous with D-backs baseball and that’s Greg Schulte, who has been here since the beginning. He not only does an incredible job each night of describing the action for our fans, but he has always represented the organization with class away from the ballpark and he’s become an invaluable part of our history.” Hard to argue with a single word of that. In commemoration of the milestone, the D-backs are donating $3,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in the name of Schulte, himself a Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor.

His nickname, “the Gubnuh”, was bestowed upon him by Bob Brenly and Thom Brennaman, and from 1998-99, Schulte Bob Brenly partnered for 3 innings nightly on television. He and his wife, Nancy, reside in the Valley and have 2 children, Scott and Stephanie. Perhaps surprisingly, while Greg’s 20 seasons are the entire lifetime of the franchise, he’s still a relative newcomer in baseball terms. Even after Vin Scully retired, the Dodgers still have the longest-serving broadcaster, Jaime Jarrin having been their Spanish-language announcer since 1959. This image has a full list of the most-tenured for each team.

Fans will have the opportunity to interact with Schulte and ask him questions today during a Facebook live chat at 5 p.m.