The Scariest Diamondbacks

With Halloween fast approaching now is a good time to try and figure out the scariest Diamondback of all time. We have plenty of candidates in the team’s short history. These are players that would scare the opposition, or players that would scare their own fan base. Considering this team has suffered a few highs and lows in their 11 years, it’s not surprising that they have some truly horrifying players on both sides of the ball. Let’s dive into them.

The easy choice for the scariest D-Back of all time is Randy Johnson. Just look at the dude. His serial killer looks are complimented by his nasty attitude and wicked pitching. The last thing  a team wanted to see was a crazed, 6-10 man with a mullet throwing 90 MPH sliders that were unhittable. He was an intimidating mound presence. Lefties wouldn’t even try and hit him (remember when Larry Walker used to completely duck RJ? That’s what I call scared). His surly attitude rubbed people the wrong way, would you want to approach the guy and try and get an autograph? What about hitting against him? Remember when he threw a fastball over John Kruk’s head in an All-Star game and it caused Kruk to bat from the right side? How about when he destroyed a dove with a fastball? Clearly this was a scary man. This wasn’t the only scary player the D-Backs have ever employed, let’s look at a few more.

Do we consider Curt Schilling scary? We know what he wasn’t scared of, the mystique and aura of the New York Yankees. Not only did he vanquish them in the 2001 World Series, he also shut them down in 2004 as a member of the Red Sox. Schilling didn’t fear the post-season, but hitters in the pot-season sure feared Schilling. Heck, he even pitched one World Series with a bloody sock! That’s pretty Halloween-esque if you ask me.

What about Jon Rauch? The embattled D-Backs reliever looked the part as he stood 6-11 on the mound with a very intimidating neck tattoo. We all know he scared the crap out of D-Backs fans whenever he found his way to the mound.

Three terrifyingly scary words: Eric Byrnes’ Contract

Speaking of scaring D-Backs fans, was there a scarier scenario when Matt Williams came the plate with a runner on first and less than two outs? Williams sure could ground into inning killing double plays. In a similar scenario, what has been scarier these past few years than Chris Young at the plate with a runner on third and less than two outs? Watching Young try and get that runner home was horrifying, but not as horrifying as his batting average last year.

We’ve had our share of scary defenders don the Sedona Red or Teal and Purple. Watching Shea Hillenbrand play first base was a choir. How about watching Justin Upton constantly take wrong angles on a fly balls? What about Mark Reynolds defensive adventures the past few years? The worst was watching Scott Hairston try to play second base. His stone hands made him a scary defensive infielder.

The most frightening moment in D-Backs history has to be when Byung-Hyung Kim took to the mound in a save situation in game five of the 2001 World Series. I don’t think there was a D-Backs fan alive that believed he was going to close the game out.

But the most frightening moment a D-Backs player ever inflicted on another fan base had to have been when Luis Gonzalez came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th in game seven. Yankee fans still have nightmares.

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