My family and I typically plan to attend a game on my birthday each year. Beginning in early January we began looking over the spring schedules as they are released to find a game for March 9th. As a dedicated Diamondbacks fan my first priority is always to see whether the team is playing in Phoenix or Tucson.

While Tucson is a great place to watch a Spring Training game, the logistics of getting down there and back in a day have many times eliminated that location from our plans. There have been years where we planned to go to Tucson Electric Park only to have those plans destroyed by weather, traffic, or some unknown calamity.

This year when the schedules were released I was excited to see the Diamondbacks would be in Goodyear to face the Cincinnati Reds. This is the first season for the Cincinnati Reds in the Cactus League after they left the Grapefruit League after the 2009 Spring Training season.

The Reds share a stadium complex with the Cleveland Indians who returned to the Cactus League last season. The Goodyear Ballpark is the farthest west of all the Spring Training facilities. From the east valley that means nearly an hour of travel time.

An hour does not seem like a lot especially when compared to the distances between parks in Florida but it does present some interesting circumstances. When we left the house to go to the game, it was raining fairly hard in Chandler.

I would have bet money the game would be rained out. As I was driving I continued questioning what I was doing driving all that way to find an empty stadium. Strangely, as I got closer to Goodyear the rain subsided and stopped.

The Goodyear Ballpark is similar in structure to the Surprise complex where the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals train. Given the newness of the stadium there are very few trees or landscaping besides the grass areas.

The wind has a tendency to blow most of the time at Goodyear. The stadium does a good job of keeping out the wind with most of the seating areas protected.

The stadium clearly caters to families. Along the first base side beyond the concession stands are kids areas featuring a small baseball diamond, inflatable toys, and places for small fans to run off the extra energy they seem to have in abundance.

The field is well laid out with a fairly good sized outfield. It seemed odd to see the doors to the clubhouses in the right field wall meaning both teams walked across the outfield and infield areas to the dugout.

The bullpens for both home and visitors are beyond the left field wall and are adjacent to each other. There is a covered area for pitchers to sit and wait as well as two pitching rubbers to allow for warm-ups.

The foul areas behind the plate and along the infield are minimal. The good point of that is the close nature of the fans. It feels as though you are right on top of the action on the field. As a result of being so close, stadium designers extended the screen behind the plate to the ends of both dugouts.

This is an important point. If you don’t like to sit behind the net, you will need to request tickets beyond the dugouts towards left field and right field.

Most of the seats behind the plate stretching to the sections over the dugouts are in the shade at game time. For warm Arizona spring days, this is great. For days where it is cold, windy, and scattered rain showers the game can be very cold.

The team shop at Goodyear Stadium is fairly large and contains a lot of merchandise for both the Indians and the Reds. If you are looking for any opposing team merchandise you won’t find it here.

The concessions are modest. The biggest draw is Hot Dog Nation which features several varieties of hot dogs. The most popular seemed to be the Chicago dog. Based on feedback from my family they were great and are a must have.

I went with the bratwurst from Southwest Grille. It was not good. It came with grilled peppers and onions which tasted like really bad chili. It took most of the game for me to finally get it down and even then I wasn’t sure it would stay there. Overall the concessions would rate near the bottom when compared to other ballparks in the Cactus League.

The stadium features two “all inclusive” experiences which are marketing speak for all-you-can-eat. One section is beyond the right field wall and the other is on the press level of the stadium. Both of these were well attended. I did not see what types of food items these sections offered. Hopefully it wasn’t the brats.

The game itself was great. The Diamondbacks had a good outing by Billy Buckner who held the Reds hitters to two hits in three innings. Unfortunately those two hits were both home runs.

Luckily the Diamondbacks offense was able to answer scoring 10 runs in route to a 10-4 win. This was just the second win of the spring for Arizona and the first against a non-split-squad opponent.

Justin Upton looked good both in the field and at the plate. The star for me though was Conor Jackson who went 3-3 with a double. He looked completely recovered from valley fever and should put up good numbers this season.

The game against the Reds almost seemed like old home week for the Diamondbacks. Former Arizona pitching coach Bryan Price is now with the Reds as is former head trainer Paul Lassard. Micah Owings was there as well greeting his former teammates.

There were other dignitaries in the stands. Former Big Red Machine member George Foster was at the game signing autographs in the stands. I also ran into Diamondbacks General Manager Josh Byrnes who was sitting with the scouts behind the plate.

Speaking of scouts, former Arizona manager Bob Melvin was also in attendance. He happened to be getting a brat when I was. He was recognized by several fans and graciously signed autographs. I was curious whether Melvin would be sitting in the section with Byrnes but that didn’t happen.

Overall the stadium at Goodyear is a nice place to watch a ballgame. The stadium gives you great sight lines and protects you from the elements. There are places for the kids to play and friendly staff at every section willing to help.

March 9, 1995 is one of those days for me. I can recall even the minutest detail of that day as if it happened yesterday. It started out like most any other Arizona day. The sun was shining and nary a cloud in the sky.

It was a workday, which meant that I was in the office wishing I had the day off. Major League Baseball was in the midst of a work stoppage. Spring Training was happening around the valley but the clubs were using replacement players in the games.

I was never a fan of the concept of using replacement players but as a fan it was hard to take sides with either the owners or the players on this. They were both acting like children and the ire of the fans was beginning to reach a boiling point.

Despite all of woes in baseball it was still at the forefront of my mind that day. The owners had been meeting in Palm Beach Florida that week. They had several items on their agenda but for fans in Arizona there was only one thing they were interested in. Would Major League Baseball again expand and if so would Arizona receive a franchise?

Jerry Colangelo and influential Arizona leaders were there waiting to hear. The expansion committee had met the day before and made their recommendations. Besides recommending two new franchises be added, they also met to set the price for what fees the teams would have to pay.

There are a lot of stories about that. Colangelo claims MLB pulled a fast one significantly increasing the expansion fee just hours before the announcement. There were rumors that the proposed ownership groups considered walking away from what they viewed as extortion.

Despite all of the drama, no one flinched and the prospective team owners agreed to the terms of expansion. What that behind them, baseball commissioner Bud Selig held a news conference to announce that just two years after MLB expanded to include Denver and Miami, they would award two new franchises.

The cities vying for new teams included Portland Oregon, Northern Virginia, Orlando Florida, Tampa Bay Florida, and Phoenix Arizona. The frontrunners were Tampa Bay and Phoenix but baseball rarely does things conventionally so baseball fans were not exactly sure what to expect.

At the press conference Selig announced that baseball would expand by two teams and that the new franchises would begin play in 1998. The principle owners were allowed to unveil the team names and logos.

As we all know, the franchises awarded were the Tampa Bay Devil Rays now the Tampa Bay Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks. I sat in my office listening to the announcement that Major League Baseball was coming to Arizona.

I had my wife Trina on the phone. She was at home watching the press conference describing the team logos, colors, and name. It should be noted that Trina’s first impression was that the Devil Rays logo and color scheme was much better than the purple and teal of Arizona.

It’s funny that within a decade both of these teams would change their logos, colors, and in the case of Tampa Bay their names. Perhaps Trina wasn’t as far off as I first imagined.

In 1995 there wasn’t much of an Internet so getting this news was much more difficult than it would be today. Nonetheless the news did travel throughout the valley and baseball fans everywhere rejoiced in the knowledge that Major League Baseball was just three short years away from being played in Phoenix.

Of the three it was assumed Reynolds would be the first to sign with Upton being perhaps the hardest to sign to a long term contract due to his perceived value. It was therefore somewhat of a surprise when Upton was the first to agree to a long-term contract.

The deal was reportedly a six-year contract buying out all of Upton’s arbitration years plus two years of free agency. Given Upton’s meteoric rise and talent it is my opinion this deal will look like a steal if he can remain healthy and progress as he has the past two seasons.

With Upton’s contract now completed all of the focus has turned to Reynolds. Clearly all of the talk about his contract situation is beginning to wear on him. Each day when he reaches the ballpark he is asked by teammates, media members, and the fans what the status is of his contract.

The sound of his voice and his body language shows how much Reynolds is struggling with the questions and how much he wants to put this behind him. I have to wonder though, did the Upton contract help or hinder Reynolds?

It would be possible for Reynolds’ agent to make the case for a deal similar to the one Upton received. Looking back at the previous two years Reynolds has met or exceeded Upton in many offensive categories.

If Reynolds were represented by Scott Boras, this argument would be accompanied by a multimedia presentation describing in detail how Reynolds is not only a peer of Upton but his superior in many ways.

You could point to the 44 home runs and the 102 runs batted in. You would of course discount any mention of the 200 plus strikeouts for each of the previous two seasons; a stance Reynolds seems to be adept at.

There are of course a couple of fallacies on this argument. For one, Upton is much younger than Reynolds meaning he is likely entering his prime the next two seasons whereas Upton will be reaching that peak after this 6-year contract is completed.

The ceiling on Upton is much higher as an overall player versus Reynolds. Defensively both are less than a Gold Glove standard but they both are making headway cutting down on mental mistakes in the field that cost the team runs.

It is rumored the Diamondbacks are interested in signing Reynolds to a two-year contract in the $13 million range. The Reynolds camp is counter proposing a $18 million package. Obviously a $6 million gap is relatively large so there is a lot of work to do.

Announcing the Upton signing with financial details could be a bargaining point to either the team or Reynolds. From a team perspective they will point to the financial commitment they made to Upton as a way to describe the financial constraint they are under as a mid-market team.

From Reynolds perspective his agent will use it to establish a baseline value comparing his value to not only Upton but also to Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder, a Scott Boras client.

While Reynolds wishes this contract distraction would just go away, expect to see this drama continue until either the gap between sides can be bridged or until Opening Day. Both the Diamondbacks and Reynolds do not want any negotiations going on during the season.

I can appreciate removing the distraction once the season starts but I think both parties are naïve to assume the reporters will drop the subject once the season begins especially if no contract has been agreed upon.

One of the first questions the interviewer asked James was whether teams looked at or cared about a player’s Spring Training statistics or if they were as meaningless as they looked.

James with his dry sense of humor deadpanned that Spring Training statistics were the most important indicator not only of how successful a player would be this season but formed a basis to determine which players would have Hall of Fame careers.

This statement was met with a tremendous amount of laughter by both the announcers and James. He then went on to tell stories of bit players throughout the years who had monster numbers during Spring Training yet never made the team.

The point was Spring Training is an opportunity for hitters and pitchers to work on timing and try a few new adjustments before the games begin counting in April. This is an important thing to keep in mind especially during the first week of games each spring.

After the first four days and five games of the Cactus League season the Arizona Diamondbacks have won one game and that was a split squad affair with the Colorado Rockies.

To listen to the Diamondbacks front office and accounts of the games played so far you would think the team was undefeated and already hitting on all cylinders. We hear about how dominating the starting pitchers are at this point and how the once anemic offense is showing signs of maturing and perhaps dominating.

Fans then look at the standings and the box scores and see that the Diamondbacks pitching staff has given up 38 runs in five games. The team has scored 24 runs themselves but that number too is deceiving since the Diamondbacks have scored just one run in two of the five games.

In the stands fans are already beginning to mumble about how this is going to be a very long summer and there have been more than one comment suggesting changes need to be made to the roster, the coaching staff, and the ownership group.

It is times like this Diamondbacks fans would be wise to remember the first rule of scuba diving, “1. – Don’t forget to breathe”. The season is still almost a month away. Pitchers will calm down and none of the Spring Training statistics ever make it to the back of a player’s baseball card.

With four weeks of games remaining there is a lot of time for the hitters to get their timing together and for the pitchers to build arm strength and find the arm slot and pitch selection that will make them successful.

For now the only thing fans should be complaining about is the unusually large amount of rain Arizona is receiving this year and how it is affecting the usually cloud free skies. At the end of Cactus League action the best we should hope for is no injuries and a great sun tan.

Beginning today fans are now able to select game-by-game tickets for the upcoming season. This includes not just the 81 regular season games but also the final two Spring Training games against the Chicago Cubs.

It is not just the single game ticket sales that make today exciting. The Diamondbacks also introduce their promotional calendar outlining the various stadium giveaways that will occur for 2010.

As a diehard baseball fan it doesn’t really matter to me whether the team has a stadium giveaway or not I will still be in the fans. As a father of five children I can tell you the promotional calendar is paramount for getting kids to the ballpark over the course of a 162-game season.

Our season tickets rarely if ever go unused. I am always at the game. I will bring with me either my wife Trina or one of the kids. During the first couple of weeks of the season everyone is enthusiastic about going to the ballpark with dad.

By August the kids begin making comments about how long the baseball season is and that they didn’t sign up for attending 81 home games. It’s funny, you would think after 13 seasons of the same itinerary they would come to understand how long baseball season is but I get the same argument every season.

One of the things that make this manageable is the promotional calendar. The Arizona Diamondbacks usually have several stadium giveaways to maintain interest by the kids or those less dedicated to baseball.

When the promotional calendar is announced we will sit around the kitchen table with a calendar and a copy of the proposed giveaways and begin to map out each of the 81 games in a season.

We will start with birthdays and anniversaries making sure I take the birthday child or my wife to the game on their special day. Holidays will follow as we decide who will go to the game on each observed holiday where the Diamondbacks are in town.

This is usually also the day when I make my case for at least one or two away series to see if I can talk the family into going on vacation with the Diamondbacks. In typical fashion my plea for a road series is met with boos and a stern lecture about how messed up my priorities are.

Finally we will go through the promotional calendar with each child selecting a giveaway game they would like to attend. In cases of two children claiming the same giveaway there will be some negotiation or trading of a future promotion to be named later.

There are of course exceptions. On bobble head games I’ve learned it is just easier to get tickets for everyone rather than hear them argue over who gets which bobble head.

What I find most interesting is seeing which stadium giveaways my kids think are the “must have” items. There is always one item I least expect being the wildcard of stadium giveaways.

In years past these included Webkinz, Beanie Babies, Baxter Toothbrush Holders, and Diamondbacks lunch boxes. This season I expected it to be the Webkinz Pug being offered on April 11th. I could not have been more wrong.

This year the giveaway that brought the most heated discussions was the promotional item being given on May 22 against the Toronto Blue Jays. To start with it is 70’s night meaning they can dress up and party like a Disco Duck.

The giveaway that night is a D-backs Garden Gnome Figurine. I literally had five kids nearly come to blows over who was going to get a lawn gnome. I could not have been any more shocked if the Diamondbacks had announced they were changing their colors back to Purple and Teal.

After several minutes of heated discussion and a few tears it became evident that I needed to buy extra tickets for that game. I have no idea what the garden gnome looks like but I know that I will be bringing five excited children to the stadium hoping to get their hands on this protector of the garden.

I can’t decide whether garden gnomes are just that cool or if my kids are just that weird. I’m thinking maybe it is a little of both. I’m just hoping none of them decide they want to go to the game dressed as a garden gnome from the 70’s. That would just be too weird even for my family.

With summer temperatures reaching and sometimes exceeding 118 degrees during the summer, baseball would be unbearable in Arizona for much of the baseball season. At these times the roof is closed and the stadium is air conditioned to ensure fans’ comfort.

The Diamondbacks could have chosen to build a dome but decided against that instead selecting a design that would allow games under an open sky whenever weather would permit. With the decision for an open roof the team next requested a natural grass playing surface.

Both players and fans applauded that decision. Artificial turf is perhaps the worst invention man has ever made. It is hot, it has potential for injuries, and it never works right. The challenge of course was trying to find a design and a type of natural grass that would meet the various criteria.

The grass had to withstand the brutal heat of an Arizona summer. It needed to be drought tolerant to survive the harsh desert landscape. And perhaps most importantly, the turf needed to be able to thrive in conditions with limited sunlight when the roof is closed.

Several species of grass were tried before the team finally settled on a form of Bermuda grass known locally as “BOBsod”. Head groundskeeper Grant Trenbeath and his staff do an amazing job maintaining the playing surface and keeping it look perfect.

After the baseball season, the grass goes dormant for much of the winter. During this time Chase Field is reconfigured for other events which include a motorcycle Super Cross race as well as a Monster Truck rally.

One of the questions I am asked quite often is what happens to the turf during the motorcycle and monster truck races. The playing surface is covered in a thick sheet of plastic. On top of the plastic are laid two layers of plywood. Dump trucks will then bring in tons of dirt that will go on top of the plywood.

With the dirt down, the Super Cross track or Monster Truck layout is carved out. At the conclusion of these two events, the dirt, plywood, and plastic are removed leaving the now damaged and dead turf in its wake.

Shortly after the players begin Spring Training, the Chase Field grounds crew begins to prepare the playing surface for the upcoming season. The old turf is removed and the entire field is laser leveled.

Once the pitcher’s mound, base paths, and plate area are measured and defined new “Bobsod” will be laid and allowed to take root before the games begin in April. This typically occurs sometime in the final week of February.

It has become a rite of spring to make a trip to Chase Field each year to have lunch at Friday’s Front Row Grill and watch the grounds crew put down the new grass. This year I sat at the outdoor tables at Friday’s and watched as sod was laid like large rolls of carpet.

Each roll is carefully positioned with the seams disappearing with the previous rows. I sit watching, my excitement growing with each row that is laid. The strips of green inch the field closer to being ready for Opening Day.

It’s not so much watching the grass being unfurled as it is knowing each new section of grass means baseball season is closer. My wife cannot fathom why I find joy watching landscapers roll out grass. But to me it is one more sign that I’ll soon be in the stands watching the game and the team I love.

The long dark days of the off-season are now behind us. Pitchers and catchers have reported and begun their throwing sessions. Position players have arrived and begun dusting off the bats to take a few swings.

Drills have been done and the training room is filled with players trying to get over the feelings of rust that always come in the first few days of practice. Reporters line up to gather quotes while players and coaches recount all the baseball clichés they have ever heard. Fans line the fences hoping their favorite player will stop and sign an autograph.

All of these things lead up to today. It is the official opening day of Spring Training in the Cactus League. Oh sure there was one game yesterday where the Oakland Athletics laid waste to the San Francisco Giants but that was more of a prequel than the actual start to the spring season.

Today sees a full suite of games involving all 15 members that make up the Cactus League. With the beginning of spring training games there are several stories that fans in Arizona will be following for the next five weeks.

How will the new look Seattle Mariners come together after a busy off-season that saw them retool to challenge the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? Will the Angels be able to regroup after losing several key pieces of their AL West winning team?

Have the San Francisco Giants brought in enough offense to match their strong pitching staff? How will the change of ownership led by Nolan Ryan affect the Texas Rangers? Will Kansas City ace Zach Greinke be able to match his dominating form from last season?

Can the Cleveland Indians be competitive after trading away several important pieces? Will the Milwaukee Brewers be able to overtake the NL Central with their new pitching staff and potent offense? Can the Chicago Cubs rebound from a disappointing season last year and will this finally be their year?

Do the Chicago White Sox have all the pieces to bring them the AL Central crown? How will the McCourt’s divorce proceedings impact the Los Angeles Dodgers and is this the final year of Mannywood?

Will Ben Sheets be healthy enough to bring leadership and winning to the bay area and the Oakland Athletics? Will this be the final year for Adrian Gonzalez in San Diego or can the Padres rebuild quickly enough to be competitive?

With the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks moving to a new Spring Training complex in Scottsdale next season what kind of support will they receive this year in Tucson?

And the newest Cactus League member, the Cincinnati Reds, who begin playin a new stadium in Goodyear; will they be competitive and do they now have the pitching and defense that can make them contenders in the NL Central?

With a brilliant blue sky dotted with an occasional white cloud the players will run out onto the groomed fields and winter will officially be over. The smells of fresh cut grass and roasting hot dogs will fill the air and remind us all how much we love the game of baseball and our patience will have paid off.

Finally after a long four months, we will hear those words we have been longing for, “Play Ball!”

On the one hand, it is that historical perspective that brings continuity to the game that spans generations. It makes it possible for children, parents, and grandparents to all speak the same language of baseball comparing players and games from very different eras.

On the other hand it is frustrating that the game does not change to take advantage of the newest technology available to enhance the game. A prime example of this is the use of replay within the game.

It was not until the last few years that Major League Baseball even recognized the existence of instant replay let alone utilize the technology in the game. While the NFL and the NBA have both instituted replay to assist the officials in making the correct calls, baseball held it at bay.

In a large concession Major League Baseball finally allowed the use of replay but only in one specific situation to help determine whether a hit ball was a home run or was still within the field of play.

From a fan’s experience perspective Major League Baseball is still in the dark ages. I was reminded of this during last week’s Behind-the-Scenes tour of Chase Field. As we listened to the Diamondbacks representatives explain all of the high-tech equipment used for dbTV the inevitable question was raised, “Why don’t you show replays of close plays on dbTV?”

The answer was that Major League Baseball does not allow any replays of close calls to be shown in the stadium. It doesn’t matter that every television viewer is given multiple camera angles and super slow motion replays, in the stadium fans are left wondering what happened.

While this is frustrating, there are signs that baseball is moving even if at the pace of a glacier. A compromise was reached last year where teams are now allowed to show a finite number of plays originating at second base during a game but only in actual motion and they cannot include the “phantom tag” of a double play ball.

Another positive step is the inclusion of new technology by Major League Baseball for their GameDay application. This technology allows MLB to track each pitch and provide a graphical representative of the pitch including velocity, release point, and break for each pitch thrown.

The technology is impressive using three cameras to triangulate the data and send it in real time to MLB headquarters where it is exposed to the web site in a clean graphical format.

PitchFX is just the beginning. Last year MLB introduced their At-Bat application for the Apple iPhone that would allow fans to not only get score updates but also PitchFX data and video replays.

By season’s end MLB had integrated their MLB.TV package giving fans an opportunity to see all out-of-market games on either their computers or their iPhone. Now on the eve of Spring Training 2010 MLB is introducing a new version of their applications.

These will be available not only for the computer and the iPhone but there will also be an application for the Blackberry and Android-based devices extending their product offering to most of the major smart phones in use.

Slowly the game is moving into the virtual world. There are still pain points. Major League Baseball still refuses to use the technology to control the game and their marketing and price points are still too high. They have yet to work with the individual teams to offer any kind of incentive to get this technology into the hands of Season Ticket holders.

But at least they are now recognizing the changing landscape and that is the first step to moving the fan and the game into new and exciting realms.

My kids were excited at the prospect of getting an Eric Byrnes hat. Some of you may be wondering what exactly an Eric Byrnes hat is. Basically it is a black Arizona Diamondbacks hat with a Sedona Red “A” on the front similar to the hats the team wears for Saturday home games.

What makes the Eric Byrnes hat different is that it has blond locks flowing out the back of the hat in disarray. Anyone wearing the hat sports the hair in disarray look made famous by Byrnes during his tenure with the Diamondbacks.

On the head of a child the Eric Byrnes hat works but seeing balding fat guys wearing the hat was just plain creepy, a fact that still brings back nightmares to this day.

The second promotion was Hispanic Heritage night where the Diamondbacks paid tribute to the Hispanic community. As part of this celebration the Diamondbacks wore special jerseys that night only.

The Diamondbacks have four different uniforms that were unveiled after the 2006 season when the team changed their colors from Purple and Teal to Sedona Red, Sonoran Sand, and Black.

The white jersey is their primary home jersey. The gray jersey is their primary away uniform. The Sedona Red jersey is worn on Tuesdays and Sundays both home and away. The final jersey is black with a Sedona Red “A” on the front. This jersey is only worn for Saturday home games.

With August 30, 2008 being a Saturday I expected to see the team in their black jersey. Tonight was different. Instead of the Sedona Red “A” logo, the front of the jersey had “Los D-Backs” printed across the chest.

Up to this point I had pretty much every jersey style that the Diamondbacks have worn since their inception in 1995 three years prior to the Inaugural 1998 season. Hanging in my closet is a mini Team Shop.

I have the white with purple pinstripe, the solid purple, the gray with purple Arizona across the front, the solid black with the purple and teal “A”, the white sleeveless with purple undershirt (this one is the World Series jersey with the patch).

After the team changed its colors in 2006 I added a white home jersey, a gray away jersey, a 2007 Sedona Red jersey, a 2008 Sedona Red jersey with the changes in letter coloring, a black jersey, a batting practice jersey, a white and a black instructional league jersey, and of course a tenth anniversary jersey.

Seeing the Los D-Backs jersey I knew I had to have one of these. I mean how could I expect to live a normal life knowing that I had a hole in my Diamondbacks jersey collection?

My wife Trina is not nearly as sympathetic to my dilemma of missing a jersey. She continually points out that my closet is stocked better than the Diamondbacks clubhouse when it comes to jerseys. That is a blatant exaggeration; a fact I can validate by pointing to the Los D-Backs jersey the players had that I didn’t have.

I tried to explain to Trina how getting this jersey would not just support the team but would also pay tribute to our family. She reminded me that we’re not Hispanic. I countered with the fact that I took Spanish in high school and that our daughter is studying Spanish in college.

Reluctantly she admitted that it really didn’t matter what argument she presented I was going to get the jersey anyway. After 13 years as a Diamondbacks fan she knew it was inevitable that the Los D-Backs jersey would hang in the closet and become part of my jersey rotation.

With Trina’s approval it was simply a matter of buying the jersey. Yeah in a perfect world that would be what happened. Unfortunately I don’t live in a perfect world otherwise the Diamondbacks would be in the World Series every year.

I went to the Team Shop to purchase the jersey but unfortunately none were available. They were expecting them to be in shortly and asked me to check back. I didn’t think much about it. Over the next few home stands I would periodically check back.

They finally did receive a shipment but unfortunately none were a size 44. Suddenly the Los D-Backs jersey moved from a mere purchase and became a quest. Over the next year I would check the Team Shop, the Internet, eBay, and any other outlet I could think of trying to find this jersey.

Move ahead to last week when I attended the Diamondbacks Behind-the-Scenes tour of Chase Field. Prior to the tour I checked the Team Shop but once again struck out in my quest of the Los D-Backs jersey.

Today as I was working the telephone rang. I glanced over at the Caller ID and noticed “Arizona Diamondbacks”. I immediately jumped to attention and lunged for the phone. I just knew this was the call I was waiting for, the Diamondbacks had realized they had forgotten my invitation to Spring Training and they were calling to see if I could be in Tucson before the first Spring Training game on Thursday.

Unfortunately it was not Josh Byrnes calling with a non-roster invitation or contract. Instead it was my favorite Season Ticket Representative Mandi Howard. She called to ask if I was still looking for a Los D-Backs jersey.

She explained that my quest had come to the attention of Graham Rossini and he set a search in motion to try and help me find the long Los(t) D-Backs jersey. They had uncovered a size 44 in Modesto and would be holding it for me.

I tried to stay calm and collected but secretly I was dancing around the living room. Mandi provided me with the information and I thanked her over and over. As soon as I got off the phone I sent a message to Trina wanting to share the good fortunate that had just come my way.

“Don’t you already have that jersey?” came the reply from my wife. How in the world could she say that. I’ve been talking about this jersey for over a year. It’s like she doesn’t even listen to me but that’s another story.

I explained for the millionth time how this jersey had eluded me and how I felt as though I had just found the Holy Grail. I thought after all of this she would be excited but her response was a matter-of-fact, “well I guess I’m done shopping for your birthday.”

That’s a little messed up that she is going to take credit for this and use it for a gift. All I can say is that she better sign the card and include Mandi Howard and Graham Rossini because without them this never would have happened.

Two players were mentioned as potentially warranting a long-term deal – third baseman Mark Reynolds and outfielder Justin Upton. Of the two it seemed more likely that the Diamondbacks would be able to work out a deal with Reynolds than Upton.

Reynolds missed being classified as a “Super Two” player by mere days meaning he will reach arbitration eligibility after the 2010 season. Considering his breakout year in 2009, Reynolds will be in for a huge raise.

The Diamondbacks have shown a desire to try and lock up their young core of players to a deal that will extend through the arbitration eligibility years. It gives the team some form of cost certainty while giving the players a level of financial security.

Reynolds was thought to be more signable than Upton. As the first overall selection in the 2005 draft Upton had been compared to such heavyweights as Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Junior.

In just his third season Upton began reaching some of his potential being named to the National League All-Star game. He led the team with a .300 average while driving in 86 runs with 26 home runs.

This kind of production is difficult to quantify as to how good Upton can become. The Diamondbacks would have to make a substantial offer in order for Upton to give up a potential bonanza he could realize in the arbitration process.

It was therefore quite surprising to learn that it was Upton who was closest to signing a new deal. Rumors began swirling today about the Diamondbacks offering a contract in the neighborhood of $52 million spread over six years.

This would not only cover all of his arbitration eligibility but would also include the first two years of free agency. From a team’s perspective they gain cost certainty for an extended period of time.

From Upton’s perspective it guarantees him money over six seasons and still allows him to become a free agent at the age of 28 when he will be reaching his prime. As is policy the Diamondbacks declined to comment on negotiations.

A press conference could be held as early as Wednesday announcing the deal. If true, this will be a major signing for the club. It will represent the second largest deal in franchise history after the $53.4 million given to Randy Johnson in 1999.