FanPost

Why I'm a Diamondbacks fan: Mobile Bay Bears

A substantial part of why I am on the Snakepit - Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Growing up, location was never important in choosing a team to follow. Considering that there was never a local team where I lived, I chose teams to follow based on a number of reasons. Sometimes it was team success. Following the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl victory going on 26 years ago caused me to choose to follow said team (hey, I didn't say all of my decisions were good ones.) Later, using the Auburn library for research and attending games (although I was never an Auburn student) led me to be an Auburn fan. In between, I decided in 1995 to become a fan of one of the soon-to-be new teams on the scene. My decision-making process did not take location into account; I chose the Diamondbacks for two reasons: first, I preferred the NL, and second, I preferred snakes to aquatic creatures.

As far as following the Diamondbacks, that was substantially harder. I do not believe a single game was televised where I could watch it until the 2000 season, and possibly not until the 2001 playoffs. But I was playing baseball at the time, and not watching very much of it. Greater time for watching games (as well as greater availability of games) arrived in 2004, when I was able to watch Randy Johnson's perfect game. I also lived within occasional radio range (if the weather was right) and listened to a few games in 2004 and 2005. But, admittedly, baseball wasn't that big of a deal to me. I was still a Diamondbacks fan if anyone asked, but apart from watching the postseason in 2007, I don't think I watched a single game between 2004 and 2011.

What made me into a big Diamondbacks fan (and what pushed baseball back on top of the sports that I follow) was moving to Mobile, AL in 2010. My wife and I started going to games fairly frequently, at one of the best times to follow the Diamondbacks at the minor league level. That 2010 team included Wade Miley and Josh Collmenter, as well as Collin Cowgill and Konrad Schmidt, who both appeared for the Diamondbacks, as well as Ollie Linton, a fan favorite in Mobile who looked to have a successful career ahead of him before being derailed by injuries. But 2011 proved to be an even better group of players. Miley was still around, but he was joined by Patrick Corbin, Jerrod Parker, Charles Brewer, and eventually Tyler Skaggs on the pitching side, and A.J. Pollock and Adam Eaton on the offense. But more than any of them, there was a first baseman by the name of Paul Goldschmidt.

What impact did Goldy have on me as a fan (and even on the Southern League as a whole)? It's hard to measure. Personally, there were other factors. However, Goldy was so good in his partial season in the Southern League that when I wear a D-backs cap to a game at any SL stadium where I've gone, I tend to get at least one memory of something that Goldy did in 2011. I know that he hit a home run at every game I attended in 2011 (in fairness, I don't think I attended as many in 2011 as 2010, but it was still probably 4-5 games. Including my son's first baseball game, which he of course doesn't remember.)

The other factor that was key was my son, who I would rock to sleep while watching the D-backs, as I purchased MLB.tv for the first time ever after Goldy was called up to the D-backs. It became a routine, and while he doesn't watch games with me very much any more, I've subscribed for at least partial seasons every year but 2012. I've still never been to Arizona (that'll happen eventually, I suppose) but I've attended D-backs games in St. Louis and Houston, and will hopefully be in Atlanta for at least one game this year. I also wrote for the SnakePit last year, so I guess my fan credentials are pretty good now.

I'd doubtless pull for the Diamondbacks, but if I hadn't lived in Mobile, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be the fan that I am now. I probably wouldn't be on here, and I probably wouldn't watch or attend games unless it was convenient. As it is, the D-backs have been a constant through multiple moves, career changes, and life changes over the past six years.