PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Luis Gonzalez Compares 2001 World Series Team vs. Current D-backs

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

Arizona Diamondbacks legend Luis Gonzalez joined the show to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the D-backs’ World Series championship team and reflect on what made that clubhouse so special. Gonzo also shared his thoughts on the similarities between that legendary squad and the current roster, weighed in on Ildemaro Vargas’ impressive hitting streak, and revealed his biggest pet peeve about today’s athletes. Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube WHILE SUNS ARE IN PLAYOFFS Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $32: https://gophnx.com/suns-playoff-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions.  Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, thrilled, of course, to be joined today by our very special guest, a man that's known as a icon of the Diamondbacks franchise, a local hero, and the guy that let me cut in line in front of him at Dutch Bros one time. It is the legend himself, Louise Gonzalez. Gonzo, thrilled to have you joining us, man. Thank you so much for being here today. Thanks, Derek. Great to be with you guys. It's a fun year, man. This is the 25th anniversary of you guys doing the thing there in the world.

World Series. And I know it means so much to us here in the Valley. They say that when you become a certain level of hero that you don't pay for a meal in this town again. Is that true? Has that gravy train ran out at this point for you? I wouldn't go that far. Yeah, I think it's run out a little bit. So, I mean, it's still fun. Here we are 25 years later and still people come up to you and acknowledge the moment or being there at the stadium or seeing the game and things like that. So it's still very meaningful, not just to myself, my teammates and the organization, but the whole community in the state of Arizona to have that championship over in 2001. Absolutely.

I do still pay for meals, trust me. Well, what do you remember now at this point the most about that postseason run? Was it times during the stretch going up to the World Series? Was it that series itself? What's your fondest memory now at this point of what you guys did that year? I just think the run that we got on, I mean, the confidence level of all the guys on the team, the enjoyment of us being together all the time. We were a very tight-knit bunch of guys.

We hung out not just in the locker. And when we went on the road, we'd go to dinners together. I mean, there'd be a huge group of us going. After games, we would hang out together, you know, have a couple of kids. cold ones and talk about the game and just hang out. And that's a sign of a good team when you're always together around guys. And you're not, you know, those guys that are all taking, you know, 20 different cars to the ballpark and wanting to be away from each other.

We all genuinely wanted to be around each other and spend time and goof off and have a good time. Was that different from other clubhouses you were in? Oh, no doubt. I mean, this was a veteran club. I think the year in 01, we were the oldest team in baseball. We were playing the Yankees, of course, in the World Series, who was a team that had won three consecutive World Championships. They were going for their fourth.

So for us, it was very meaningful. And 9-11 had just happened. So there was a lot of things going on in the country that really heightened up the level of that World Series before it even started. For sure, for sure. And I know that you guys obviously were a team that kind of came together fast. It felt like I've kind of talked about it on the show. we've discussed it based on, you know, the history of this franchise.

But, you know, it felt like the Diamondbacks being a young, you know, franchise pivoted quickly. And you were a big part of kind of that pivot, right, where they brought in a bunch of veteran guys. They brought in guys and kind of made this team kind of completely different from what it was in its first year or first, you know, first season, right? And I know that obviously winning had a lot to do with that, but they definitely wanted to bring together a lot of guys. felt could bring a championship to Arizona. And it just felt like a kind of a perfectly calculated plan when it all came together. Yeah, I think a lot of the guys on the team were pretty much handpicked to say, okay, this guy is going to be a great fit, different personalities and everything.

But, you know, we won in 01. But I felt like when you look back at it, our 99 team was just as good. We lost that big game against the Mets over at Shea Stadium, that home run, that Finley catch. is nine times out of 10 off a Todd Pratt. But, you know, it's just, it just wasn't in the cards that year for us to do it. But the guys that they brought together was a group of guys, like I said earlier, we just generally got along well together. We all love being around each other, around each other's families and things like that.

And it makes it fun coming to the ballpark where every day there was somebody else was going to do something special. Of course, it doesn't hurt when you got, you know, the big double aces of Randy Johnson and Kurt Schelling out there with those two guys, their preparation, the way they got ready for the games, it helps you almost felt like you had a mental advantage before the game even started when they took them out. Was that belief there before you guys got to the postseason?

Like, did you guys start looking at each other in the clubhouse at some point and saying we could win this whole thing? Or did that occur once you guys actually got into the playoffs? No, I think there was a belief in spring training. I mean, when Brunley took over, he pretty much told us, you know, we had a couple rules, for us, play hard beyond time, and not only that, but he said, look around the clubhouse. Look at everybody in here. We've got guys that are all-stars. We've got guys that have won

major awards in baseball. This is a good team. And for all of us, we started believing that early. I mean, we had our struggles, no doubt. I mean, I don't think we were leading the division early. It took us to about middle part of the year to jump out there. But as the year gradually went on and spring training was fun, you could tell that we had some special moments and guys that were going to do some special things and everything just seemed to click for us as the year kept going on. How hard is it to come back after winning a World Series and kind of having expectation levels change and everything kind of changed that next season after 2001? Is that because in a way it kind of feels like the Diamondbacks, this squad experienced that

a little bit with the 2023 World Series run where, you know, expectations were very high after that point considering how early in this team's kind of, I guess, you know, current roster, they reach that pinnacle. I mean, is the pressure truly there after you become a champion to try to figure out a way to be even better than next year? Yeah, I don't know about the pressure. I think it was more of the expectation level. We all expected to be there again. And when you win that one and you keep the nucleus of players together, you go, okay, we're going to make a run now because we had just beat the Yankees who had just won three in a row.

So we're like, okay, this is our turn to go ahead and do it. But, you know, we had injuries. I got hurt late in the season. I think Randy was hurt for a little bit. And it just, you know, it just wasn't in the cards. And I think for you to win a world championship, everything kind of has to line up for you. I was having a good year.

Womack was having a good year. Finley. There was Matt Williams. There was a bunch of guys on that team that were having above average years that just went out there and played well. And everything was clicking for us. It was a different hero every night of the game, of the season.

You know, and it just, it just all worked out for us. But that following year, we just, we got off to a decent start, but, you know, we had our rocky roads here and there and some injuries just took over, and we just couldn't overcome that to win the division again and then try to get back to the world championship. It feels like baseball is different than any other sport when it comes to, like, everything kind of needing to click in the right way and a team needing to catch fire at the right time of the year for that world series kind of run to happen. It feels like rarely can a team come together in the way like the Dodgers have, for instance, recently, where you're so certain that that team,

no matter what, can overcome the odds and be a contender there at the end, right? So I don't know. I feel like other sports aren't nearly that kind of random, especially as you get to the playoffs in the postseason where anything truly can't happen. Yeah, I mean, it's a team sport, but you have to have a lot of above average individual performances to get you to that next level to get there again. And yeah, it was just a tough run for us. We, you know, unfortunately, we, we only won one championship, and we felt with the guys that we had on our team, that window of opportunity for us was going to be a good three or four year run. And it just didn't happen for us after that. We fell into some hard times, some injuries and different things like that. And we just couldn't get past that hump. But that old one team was pretty special, pretty unique bunch of

guys and it's a brotherhood and a bond that will carry with us throughout the rest of our lives. And you guys made plenty of memories for the rest of us as well, so we appreciate that greatly. But today marks the anniversary of another big moment. The end of your franchise record 30-game hitting streak is on May 18th. And obviously we know what Ildemarovar Vargas did this season, but what's it like stepping, I guess, into the box every night with that? I mean, I talked about the pressure or the expectations of coming off of a World Series. but did you just feel it building every day or did you just kind of go out there and try to like somewhat like what Vargas did kind of put it out of your head every single day when you were out there trying to keep that thing going? No, I mean, you try to put it out of your head, but it's hard not to realize what's going on.

I mean, everybody wants to talk to you about it. The expectation level of you're doing something individually, but at the same time you want to be a team player. You want to help your team win in any way that they can. but the focus usually when you start getting a 24, 25 games and above, the focus starts to get to 30 games. That's kind of the benchmark that everybody's set. It's like a 50 home run season, 300 average. There are just certain benchmarks in baseball that everybody tries to get to. And for me, that was one, like once I started getting, you know, 24, 25 games, I decided,

oh, man, I got a chance to get to 30 games. There's no doubt that it was, you know, took me more at-bats in a game than what it normally would sometimes where, you know, you'd always want to get it out of the way early so then you could just focus on, you know, runners in scoring position. Do I need to move this runner over? How do I need to drive this guy in? But there was times, I think one time during the streak, it ended up taking me into the 10th inning.

I thought my streak was over. We ended up tying the game late, and then we rolled it over to where I got another AB in the 10th. And then I ended up hitting a home run to be a game winner for that. game against the Montreal Exposed. So, I mean, a lot of special things have to happen. You've got to be lucky to at the same time to do that. I think it's a little bit tougher now in today's game to do that because, you know, back then when I was on my hitting street in 99, you were facing the same guy three or four times maybe in the night.

Now you don't do that. There's so many starters that only go three, four, five innings, and then they're out of the game. And then you're facing certain different specialty closers that are coming in to face. issue. Sure, that makes a lot of sense. And I guess that moves me into what, you know, has been so impressive about what Ilamara Vargas did with his 27 game hitting streak. What impressed you the most about that? And I mean, I think it's relevant considering that you had your your best years here with the Diamondbacks. And it feels like Vargas is just having this incredible season here at this point of his career after kind of being this journeyman, you know, throughout it up to this point.

Yeah, I was super excited. I mean, if there was anybody that I would want to break that record, it was going to be him. I mean, he's a great clubhouse guy. Oh, yeah. Gets along with everybody on the team. Everybody loves him. I mean, if you look at a player when they go on the road or when other teams come in that you've played for, when everybody's looking for you and wants to talk to you and be around you,

you know that you were someone that was well liked in the game. And I think, you know, you watch that from afar when you see him come to certain ballparks, like he played for the Washington Nationals. When they came in a few years ago, they were all, hey, where's Vargas? So you know that you have a special player and a guy like that, not just on the field what he does, but in the clubhouse and around the community and different things like that. This guy always has a smile on his face.

You couldn't tell if he was having a bad day or a good day. He's just genuinely a guy who cares for everybody on the team. I love having him around. I'm so excited and happy for him that he's having a great year. He's taken full advantage of the opportunity through injury. Nobody, you know, has been able to take over at first base. He's come in and done a fantastic job for us being out there and playing. And sometimes like when Marte yesterday got a day off against the Colorado Rockies,

he fills in there at second. So he's a super utility guy that you have. Those are good bench role players, but now he's getting the opportunity to play every day, and he's taking full advantage of it. Yeah, well, it doesn't sound like you had a contingency plan should he got close to your street, but I was going to ask you if you were like thinking about maybe going out there and tackling him in his last at bat if he got to 29 games like that you know i was i was pulling for him i mean when they were you know they went on the road

obviously when it ended but when he was here i would always come down to the locker room give him some knuckles tell him keep it going yeah i was very encouraging i'm not one of those bitter guys that didn't want him to do well and things like that i wanted him to be successful because you want good people good things to happen to good people and he's one of those guys in the game of baseball. Plus, he had Catell telling him every day that he wasn't, he wasn't anything special and that he was just going to go out there and play baseball. Nothing big was going on for him. So he had plenty of guys to keep him ground. Oh, there's no doubt. There's no doubt those guys were giving him a hard time. But every time that he would get a hit, the camera would pan into the dugout.

And you could see how excited and happy everybody was for. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, speaking of this team and everything they have going on right now, I mean, they've played really well. They've looked brilliant at times, and then there's been some inconsistencies, obviously, where they've come out the next day and look really flat. But do you see any similarities between this current core, the way it's constructed, and, you know, your team that went all the way to the World Series and won the thing? I'm not so sure if there's a lot of consistencies there. I mean, we had more of a veteran club.

I think we were more in tune to doing whatever we had to do to win games. And I think the game structure has changed so much. a lot more strikeouts in the game. You don't see guys sacrificing themselves, whether it's trying to hit a ball to the right side of the infield to get a runner from second to third late in the game. You see this in all of baseball, not just with our team, just not knowing the situations as well.

There's been so many young guys that have been rushed up to the major leagues that don't really get the seasoning that they should when they're, you know, in the minor leagues or through college, whatever coming up. I'll give you an example. You know, when you're down by a couple runs in the ninth inning and you're coming up to the plate, you're the lead off guy, you try to take pitches, you try to work a count, you try to get on base because your run means nothing.

Well, there's been instances not just on our team, but other teams where you see the ninth inning, a two-run lead, you're down two and the first guy up swings at the first pitch. Yeah. Well, that doesn't help your team out. I mean, unless you hit a home run or a double or something, right. Right.

There's no positivity in that to try to work a count and get the guy's pitch count up and things like that. So there's a lot of different things, you know, between our team and their team. And the youth sometimes you could really see that coming into effect. Yeah. Well, like you said, you can't hit a three-run, home run with nobody on base, especially when you're down too. But there's been some definite bright spots. Vargas, obviously being one of them. But another guy that has a lot of comparisons to your teammate, Randy Johnson, has been Michael.

Syroca. It feels like we can't say enough about how I guess big of a pickup Soroka was for this starting rotation. And when you have him doing in his first three starts, things that he can only be compared to RJ4, it felt like, you know, getting a guy like that at what the Diamondbacks ended up being able to sign him for was quite possibly one of the biggest values of this past off season. Yeah, there's no doubt. He's been a definitely a positive addition to our team. And, you know, he had some injuries early in his career with the Atlanta Braves. And now he's, he's really hit his stride. And I think a lot of it, too, is comfort factor. I think for him here in this organization, he feels comfortable out there. Yeah. He's around guys

that he likes being around. And he, you know, he's kind of found something in his pitching that he's really thrived on. And it's helped our ball club win games every time he takes them out. Well, we have a couple of questions from some of our listeners here. And the first one comes from our by Adam Fox. He says, the man and the legend, what opposing pitcher did you look most forward to batting against, and which pitcher did you least look forward to batting against? I always look forward to hitting against Greg Maddox. I loved hitting against him. Yeah, he was early in my career. I think, you know, this game is very much mental. Sure. I mean, it takes good skill to have to play up here in the major leagues. But when you have success

early in your career against certain guys, you feel invincible against those guys every time you face them. And I think for Maddox, I hit my first two Major League home runs, same day, my number one and number two in my career against him at Wrigley Field, didn't know who I was, which was even better. He's cussing me out

as I'm learning around the bases. And then the guy who I had the least fun facing was a guy by the name of Woody Williams, right-handed pitcher. Okay. And Jamie Moyer, too. He was another guy. Yeah, and it wasn't like I struck out against these guys.

It's just a comfortable 0 for three or over four facing them. Yeah, yeah. No, so I remember. Yeah, and I remember one day we went into Seattle to play Interleague. And Moyer, I think, was 43 or 44 at the time coming towards the end of his career. And Brenley, I never wanted a day off. He says, I'm thinking about giving you a day off against Moyer. And I said, baby, you can't do that.

This could be the day that I go four for four and drive in a bunch of runs. And he says, all right, I'm changing the lineup back. I'm putting you in. I talked them into it. And lo and behold, I went, I think, 0 for 3 or 0 for 4. And I showered up and got out of that locker before he could find me at the end of the day. That's amazing. That's amazing.

Well, we got one more for you before we let you get out of here. Our guy, Jason at J. Army Strong, wanted to know what your favorite back when I was playing line that you say to current players. Not to old fog of you, but is there, is they your favorite back in my day? This is how things were to young players? Yes. Well,

the thing that really frustrates me a lot is guys getting days off. Okay. I was a guy who, accountability for me was always, you know, being there. I would always come in the locker room. And I learned this at an early age.

You never want to be in the training room. Yeah. So the phrase was, you can't make the club in the tub. So you don't want to be that cold tub or anything like that. So, you know, nowadays you see a lot of players taking days off. It frustrates me, not just in baseball, but I went with the approach that people pay, even if they didn't come to see me play, if somebody's traveling from outside of the country

or the state to come see the debacks play, and you're one of the main players I approached it as they're coming to see me play, even if there was Randy Johnson pitching on that night. that's the way I approached it. And if I was a parent or, you know, I'm a parent of three kids when they were younger and I paid a lot of money to come see one of the stars play or come see my favorite team and they're not out on the field, I'm disappointed. Yeah. And that's the way I approached it as my career went on. Not to say that they wouldn't give me a day off here and there, but I always wanted to be in the lineup every single day. Even when I wasn't 100 percent, I just felt like the accountability factor, not just for our.

fans but for my teammates to show them that I'm out there every day and sometimes your presence in the lineup even when you're not 100% that manager on the other side of the field or those coaches and the players and the pitcher knows that this guy can do damage at one time or another when he's at the plate well you sound like my producer damon who never gets any days off damon is damon is setting a streak too he's got that cal ripkin streak he doesn't miss a day either right absolutely absolutely i'm sure he's sticking the pad right behind you right that's right that's right Well, we appreciate you, Gonso, man. Thank you so much for your time.

Great stuff. We can't wait to see you guys celebrate that 25th anniversary out there on the field. That's going to be a fun weekend. You got it, fellas. Thanks for having me. You guys got a great show. Appreciate it. Go do you.

Have a great one.