MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES v DIAMONDBACKS

October 30, 2001

Mark Grace

MARK GRACE: This is kind of like July in Chicago so I've played in much colder conditions than this. I don't think -- I don't think it will be a factor.

MARK GRACE: Coming to Yankee Stadium, and then working out last night and of course being out there today, and you realize that Yankee Stadium, as far as baseball is concerned, Yankee Stadium is perfect. It's perfect. It's the place where the most history in this game has taken place, and it is -- it is more than I ever imagined. Going out there, you know, as a kid when the game of the week was Garagiola and Kubek, you always saw the Yankees and somebody. The reason I say it's perfect, it's perfect for me, too, because my first trip to Yankee Stadium was against the New York Yankees. I did not get straight into an American League team and play my first game here. It's a perfect scenario for me, and it's an honor to go out and play against the New York Yankees in the World Series in Yankee Stadium. As far as Ground Zero is concerned, it was a lot of emotions, anger, and in a very indirect way, uplifting. It was an uplifting experience, meeting the firemen and the policemen and the rescue workers and the construction workers that are down there 24/7, and the type of attitude that they have, what they are doing, and the way they treated us. I mean, here we are, we are the Diamondbacks, and as far as sports fans, we are public enemy No. 1 here, yet, they were terrific to us. It seemed like they were happy to see us. They got to meet Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling and Luis Gonzalez and some great players, so, hopefully, maybe for a few minutes, it turned a pretty depressing situation for them into a better one.

MARK GRACE: No. I think this will probably be the safest place in America, with the security, and also, I think a lesson that we learned after the 11th was, not only myself but all of us, we are not going to live our lives in fear, no way. We haven't. New York is back on its feet. I said yesterday, New York deserves a big round of applause for the way they have gotten everything back together and became stronger, and I think all of us really got a good lesson from New Yorkers that, you know what, it's going to take more than that to bring us down. Like I said, I'm not going to go out there with fear at all because, like I said, Yankee Stadium is perfect and I'm not going to fear perfection.

MARK GRACE: (Laughter.) I think both teams deserve a World Series Championship. So as far as baseball is concerned, we feel like if we don't win, we'll be disappointed, because we feel like we -- we feel like we deserve -- a bunch of guys on this team that have never been in this situation and have suffered for a long time as far as wins and losses and not being in the World Series. So we feel like we deserve it. But like I said, the Yankees are the greatest team of our era, so obviously, they deserve it, too. Off the field, in reality, New York deserves everything -- New York deserves nothing but good things and appreciation.

MARK GRACE: Yes, I did. Very humbling experience, to go out there, and like I said, watching the game of the week all those years. I watched Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter and all of the Yankees when I was a kid. Then you go out there and I had to -- my father always taught me to remove my hat in the presence of greatness, so when I went out there, I made sure to remove my hat and paid my respects to all of the great Yankees that have made history and made baseball the great game that it is today.

MARK GRACE: Honestly right now, I have not thought a whole lot about him yet because we have Roger out there tonight. But talking about El Duque, if he's anything like his brother, Livan, he's going to be tough, because he's going to be challenging. I've never faced El Duque or Roger, and that's the great part of this World Series, is that you can pretty much throw the scouting reports out the window because I don't know how these guys are going to try to work me. Like, for instance, if I'm playing against Atlanta, I've faced Glavine and Maddux one hundred times. So we know each other. But with Roger, and El Duque, just like the good old days, my first few years, there was no video or anything my first few years. My scouting report was I would ask Ryan Sandberg, what's he throwing, and, oh, he's throwing a fastball and a curveball and you adjust on the fly. And that's basically what the pitchers do with us, because they don't have a whole lot of knowledge about us, either. That's great. That's good, old fashioned baseball.

MARK GRACE: That was I guess kind of where I became -- some people found out about me. I was this young kid that ended up playing very well at a big time and probably not many people knew my name or that I was even the first baseman for the Cubs. Then after that, the very next year, I actually got like fifth place or something in the All-Star balloting, so a lot of people got to know me. Fifth place is a pretty good finish for me.

MARK GRACE: It's not intimidating at all. It's outstanding. It's fun. And I've been to -- I've been to tough places to play, like Shea Stadium or Philadelphia or old Candlestick Park, where you've got to not only play the elements, but you've got terrific fans that will do anything for their team, and that's a fun part of the game. That's not an intimidating part of the game at all. I wish every place could be -- every stadium could have fans as loyal as Yankee fans. So I'm ready for the abuse.