PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - The First D-back

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

Do you know who the very first Arizona Diamondback was? His story is a bit of a forgotten one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nick Beerbrot has all the stuff that you look for in a top line starter, a good quality live fastball to go with a tight breaking ball, which should serve him well, not only against the right-handed hitters, but the left-handed hitters as well. Nick Beerbrot played a part in some of the biggest moments, not only in Arizona Diamondbacks history, but in Major League Baseball. Beerbrot's baseball journey is about as unique as it gets and could have and likely one. would have turned out wildly different. If it weren't for a tragic incident, nobody saw coming. I could see blood coming out of my arm. I was gasping for air because my diaphragm at the time had been hit and didn't know that. Basically what saved me was I was just basically two blocks away from the medical university there.

It's the journey of the very first Arizona Diamondback and one worth getting to know. In this episode, we'll dive into Beerbrot's baseball career. near-death experience that almost ended at all and how it eventually led him to fighting fires. I'm Cherston Seussle, and this is P.HNX, the story. I mean, I've always wanted to from beginning of playing ball. That's just what I was always wanting to do. Everybody was like, you know, what do you want to do when you grow up? And I was always a baseball player. Everybody was like, you need a backup plan. I'm like, baseball player. Everyone else is saying cop astronaut. I was a baseball player.

Beirbrot knew his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player, were in reach when he hit high school at Milliken High School in Long Beach, California. And although he had a scholarship to play baseball at Arizona State for then head coach Pat Murphy, he also knew he wanted to go straight to the pros. Yeah, my mother and I had a deal. If I went first round, I could bypass college. So that was my goal was to go first rounds. I would have to go to college.

Because if I was going to college, and it's probably not great to say. But if I was going to college, it was to play baseball, right? Like, I wasn't going there to be a student athlete. it was to be an athlete. So thankfully, I got drafted first round and got to bypass college. Turns out playing baseball

in Arizona was in his future no matter what. The Diamondbacks drafted him 30th overall in the 1996 MLB draft the year before the expansion draft was held, which made him the first player to ever be drafted by the franchise. Something

he cherishes now, but didn't realize the significance of at the time. Honestly, I think I was too young and dumb to realize any significance, right? I just, I wanted to play baseball and a team that I really didn't know anything about drafted me and wanted me to go away and play for them. They gave me some money, and I was excited about that part, just to not be going to college and to start my professional career. So the big league team would start until 98. I signed in 96, got to play half a season, and then in rookie ball, then went to South Bend, Indiana for my first full season, low A. So yeah, we were already

established as far as the minor leagues, and then they would add a team every year to, until they filled out a minor league, I guess, single-a, double-a, triple-a rosters. You know, and there's a lot of, I wish I could do overs, you know. I was very fortunate to have, be on a new team where I didn't have five, six, seven years of first rounders, second rounders in front of me. I wasn't backlogged. I, if I, if I, if I, if I, I, if I, pitched well and stayed healthy, I was shooting to the big leagues pretty quick, or at least getting an opportunity to. And I did. I got there pretty quickly. But, you know, I could have made more of the opportunity for sure. Miller sends out the side. Johnson sends in the pitch.

Swinging a miss. He struck him out. 20 strikeouts for Randy Johnson. They give him a standing O here in downtown Phoenix and why not? He acknowledges it for strikeouts in the game. Fearbrand got his first big league opportunity at the age of 23, making his major league debut while the Diamondbacks were in the midst of a historic run. So I got called up in 99 and 2000. They didn't get the pitch at the time. Finally got the pitch in 01. So I was a huge baseball fan growing up, baseball cards, all that stuff. I knew guys' birthdays, what town they were from, all that from looking the back of baseball cards. And I watched ESPN all the time, watched all the games. It was shilling. Schilling says either I'm going to get you or you get me because.

I'm coming right after you. He's very aggressive, and that's why he's such a good pitcher. Gonzo. And offensively, the story all year, and continues to be Luis Gonzalez for Arizona, third in the National League in batting, in home runs, and in runs batted in. See, Finley, every veteran player, I had been watching for a number of years already, so he was very aware of them. So it was awesome.

And also just kind of, that's more when it hit. That was like, holy crap, I'm kind of aware. the big guys are now. So it was cool. You know, that was more of the first time. It was like, my gosh, the first time we saw Randy Johnson, you know, there's like me, Patterson and Penny, we're in Bigley Camp. We're 19 years old and you finally see these guys. You're like, all right, this is, we're at the next level. You know, we're no longer in the minor league, just playing with a bunch of guys we've played with the last couple of years. We're finally getting close. So it was very interesting. And it was amazing. All the guys were very

helpful. They wanted to help you. You know, if there's a lot of, anything they could do to make it easy on you, they were really trying to do that. There wasn't a lot of hazing going on because they were wanting to win, right? They wanted you to feel comfortable. Don't know what they were some fun we had, but they were trying to help you, make you feel comfortable. Like I remember a situation where my dad came out one of my first times up and Shilling was talking to him, invited him into the clubhouse and just, you know, just being a good teammate.

I don't even know if my dad knew who Shilling was, to be honest. My dad was not a big sports guy. So he probably thought Shilling was part of it. the clubhouse attended or something. Beerbrot was exactly where he wanted to be when he got his first real taste of the business side of baseball. He tallied two wins in four appearances for the Diamondbacks during June and July before getting traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

At that point, that's the only thing I've known, right? That was a team that drafted me. It was finally getting a chance to pitch in the big leagues. We were in first place. It was exciting time. Every time you went to the field, it was just awesome. Exciting atmosphere was the best atmosphere. Games were basically sold out.

out. It was what you dream of and want to experience every day. And then getting traded. And I knew I was kind of the guy that could possibly get traded. And it was funny. I was talking. I can't remember with what player. But I was like, hey, I think, oh, it was Brian Anderson. I was like, I think I might be getting traded or be the guy. And he's like, no, I think this is the team we're going with. Five minutes later, Rajuolo was sitting there going, hey, you need to see you. I had gotten traded. You know, and at first you're kind of, I want to say hurt, but you're insulted. You know, as an athlete, you're just like, what do they not? like about me. I think that's probably pretty understandable to think that. And after that, it was almost after talking to my agent, it was a very good situation for me. You know, to be to go from first place, a team that I'd been sent up and down, you know, debate based on my performance, to go to a team where if I had a bad game or two, I wasn't going to be getting sent down so I could pitch without a lot of pressure on me and give me some time to to work on some things. So it was a blessing in disguise, you know, but at first you don't, you don't realize it as that. You're mad. You want to stick it to the team. But the diamondbacks were always good to me.

They, they were awesome. I have nothing bad to say about them. And you just realize it's a business. They made a business move. And you move on. You know, you learn real fast that it's a business. The change of a lifetime for Louise Gonzalez. Meanwhile, the diamondbacks, well, we all know what they went on to do that year. And yes. Beerbrot has a ring to show for it. Yeah, I like to say they won the West by two games, and I won two games. So I figured those are the two, two they won by.

So I played my part. It was awesome, right? Like, that's what you play for is championships. And getting traded, I wasn't sure if I was going to get one. And then talking to a guy later, he said I was on the, you know, in the meeting, getting voted on, you know, getting some bonuses and stuff. You know, in the next season, Joe Grosiolla Jr. came out and presented me and Jason Kontai with it in front of the team. So it made it very special. Like I said, and the

Dynevaks were always great to me. They were a class act from day one. So it was a cool situation, full experience. I wish I was there on the field. That would have been great, you know, even just to go through that. But I'll take what I can get. This is where Beirbrot's story takes a turn. He tells it now with some levity. But what he went through completely altered the trajectory of his career and nearly ended his life. So I finished the rest of the season with the team as a starter. Then in spring training, I had some control issues, which later we were found out to be a surgery that I needed.

Got sent down for a rehab start for Charleston, South Carolina, and ended up getting shot in a verbal exchange with someone. The team played. We went out, another teammate of mine and his girlfriend went out after the game, went to a bar. The guy had too much of drink, so we decided to take a taxi, and they were going to take me home. You know, an A ball, you don't get food after the game. So I hadn't eaten anything. So I was starving.

I was like, I need some food. So we went through a drive-through, and the taxi went to the drive-thru, and there was a guy in the parking lot saying things I didn't like, and I said something to him, and he didn't like, and he rode up on his bicycle next to the passenger side, and I was behind the driver, and he pulled the trigger a couple times and hit me twice in the chest. I started saying prayer right away, and it's a natural thing to do, I think, when you're in that situation. And so then at that point, I just told the guys in the cars and the drivers, they take me to the hospital, and I just got real quiet. I could see blood coming out of my arm.

I was gasping for air because my diaphragm at the time had been hit and didn't know that. but just got real quiet they drove me to the hospital I got out and walked in and then that's all then that's basically what I remember just kind of walking in and passing out

and then speaking with my mom afterwards she said the cab driver just took off, didn't leave his name, nothing because she was trying to reach out to him to thank him and never heard from him again so I have both bolts inside me one's inside of my liver and they said they did not want to go in after that

because they just caused more damage and that the body would build a little scar tissue over it, protect it, and then one stopped a millimeter from my aura. So they also, same thing, they were so close that didn't even want to go in and risk nicking the artery. So, yeah, so the same thing. They said that the body would protect itself, and it did.

I had to get some cat scans a couple months later, and it had moved an inch away. So the body's pretty resilient and smart, knows what's best for it. And basically what saved me was I was basically two blocks away from the medical university there. From that moment on, the only thing that mattered to Beerbrot

was getting back on the mound. There was no animosity, no self-pity, no what-ifs, although nobody would have blamed him if he had felt any of those things. It was hard for me to understand how his mind never went there, and you can tell by listening

to some of our conversation. Was it difficult for you to come to terms with, like, no. How? I don't know. That's probably just how I deal with it. What am I going to harp on? It's over with.

Move on. I don't know. It's I've never have. I have too many things to focus on. I was trying to get healthy now. Try to get back to the big leagues. That was my new goal once I was out of surgeries. So immediately your mindset was just like, how do I get back?

That was the first question I asked the surgeon afterwards. Well, can I pitch again? And he said, yeah. He said, yes, just let the body heal. For the devil raise, left-hand. Nick Beerbrod goes back to the mountain. Joe, what a story this is. In early June last year,

a shooting victim, two slugs that still remain in his body. That after a wild, and we do mean wild spring. And here he is less than a year after being assaulted and shot pitching in the major leagues. So I made the team next spring training. So next April, I made the team. I think number four starter. But I was not, my body had not healed.

I ended up losing about 30 pounds muscle just from the, eight weeks of laying around doing nothing. Yeah, I was never the same physically. As far as just pure stuff, my peer stuff was never there. Velocity. It was close. I mean, it was close enough where I still, you know, I got to pitch the big leagues,

but I was never where I was supposed to be. I don't know if it was, you know, I have a big incision on my stomach now from them doing an exploratory surgery. I'm sure that has something to do with it, just not having the core strength or whatever, you know, but it was down. So I had to learn how to pitch a little differently, and that takes a little while.

especially, you know, it's already hard enough to pitch when you're at your best, and then you take a little bit of your best away. It just makes it more difficult. Beerbought played for nearly eight more years after the incident, spending time in the bigs, minors, and even Indy Ball before retiring in 2011. He transitioned into a career as a firefighter, a job he's held for the last 10 years. Once you kind of get an independent ball, you can kind of see the writing on the wall, right? Like, your career is not going the right way, so I started just looking at some things.

And I grew up around firefighters, my grandfather and all his friends were firefighters. And I had a buddy that at the time was going through an academy. So just talking with him, he was like, hey, you should really look into this. They like military guys, athletes, people that work as a team very well. So I started looking into it. And I went and did some ride-alongs with some departments and really saw a lot of similarities between firefighting and baseball. So it was a pretty easy transition for me. And I'm pretty happy with the transition.

I don't think there's a better fit for me anywhere else. It's safe to say the former first-round draft pick's career didn't pan out the way he had hoped. But there's something to be said for the way Nick Beerbott handled it all. Although he was a victim of a tragic and unfair circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he refused to allow it to make him a victim in life. Beirbrot persevered and pursued what he loved,

and after giving everything he had to the game, is now serving others in the next chapter of his career. His story is a bit of a forgotten one, but let it serve as a reminder that oftentimes life doesn't go according to plan. We've all heard the quote, it's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. And as corny as it might be, that's the story of the very first Arizona Diamondback.