'01 champs raise trophy again -- and bring out the fanboy in current D-back

PHOENIX -- Twenty-five years after they last did it, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling once again raised the 2001 World Series trophy in almost the exact same spot as they did on that November night when the upstart Diamondbacks shocked the Yankees with a ninth-inning rally in Game 7 to capture Arizona's first major sports championship.

Throughout the weekend series against the Yankees, the Diamondbacks are paying tribute to the 2001 World Series champions, and they flew in as many members from that team as were available.

Saturday was the main event, with the staff, coaches and team members introduced. Schilling was the second-to-last person introduced, and he walked across the field where he was joined by Johnson.

While all the players entered the field from beyond the right-field fence, Johnson, the final player introduced, entered from the home bullpen, the same spot he walked out of in the eighth inning of Game 7.

Johnson and Schilling were named co-MVPs of the Series. In a photo that lives big in Diamondbacks lore, the pair held up the World Series trophy in the postgame presentation.

While the Diamondbacks took batting practice Friday night, members of the 2001 team mingled on the warning track in front of the dugout.

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Some of the current Diamondbacks players stopped to pay their respects, but one of them was particularly intent on meeting as many of them as he could.

Arizona flamethrower Justin Martinez, who was just a few months old when the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in 2001, made it a point to shake hands with each of the former players as well as get their signature on a baseball.

"They are legends!" Martinez said. "I was really happy to have the chance to because I'm a baseball player and I'm a baseball fan, and to see those legends out there on the field, I felt like a child."

Martinez – who threw an immaculate inning against the Rangers on Sept. 11, during which he uncorked the fastest pitch by an Arizona player since Statcast began recording at 102.6 mph – put the ball in a clear plastic case and had it proudly displayed in his locker Saturday morning.

Martinez, who recently returned from his second Tommy John surgery, enjoyed meeting all of the players, but there was one in particular he was excited to finally see in person.

"Schilling," he said. "Curt Schilling. I saw him and I was like, ‘That's the guy that everybody talked about back in the day.' Obviously [Luis Gonzalez] and [Johnson], but they're around more often."

Both Johnson and Gonzalez work for the team and are regulars at the ballpark.

"I wish I had more time to talk to those guys," Martinez said of the 2001 players. "I wanted to ask them what it was like back in the day, how did they throw certain pitches. That kind of stuff."

Martinez's desire to meet and learn from the retired players reflects well on him, veteran catcher James McCann said.

"That's being lost a little bit in today's game because the veterans are getting pushed out," McCann said. "There's less of that going on, where young guys get to sit in the locker room after the game and talk about baseball and learn from older guys' experience. So seeing him go around and just talk to those guys says a lot about J-Mart and how he wants to get better."

Martinez wore a 2001 World Series T-shirt while he was getting his autographs, and it was back on Saturday as well.

"He had that T-shirt on," said Greg Swindell, a reliever on the 2001 team. "And he was just like a baseball fan. What he did was special. It's great to come back here and have someone who had just been born when we won recognize what we did, that says a lot to me."