The Arizona Diamondbacks are honoring baseball legend Roland Hemond during Spring Training with a right-sleeve patch featuring his “RH” initials in white text on a black circle.
Roland Hemond (October 26, 1929-December 12, 2021) passed away in December at the age of 92. His career spanned 8 decades and 70 seasons, from 1951-2020, including time with the Boston/Milwaukee Braves, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Hemond spent 19 seasons with the D-backs as Senior Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations (1996-2000) and Special Assistant to the President & CEO (2007-20). The Arizona Diamondbacks, in 2017, renamed the seating area behind home plate “The Roland Hemond Scout Section” in honor of his accomplishments throughout the game. In 2015, the team dedicated Roland Hemond Field, which is located at Alkire Park in Phoenix and was the team’s 35th field in the “Diamonds Back” Field Building Program, presented by APS. In 2012, the executive conference room at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick was also named in his honor.
He was a 3-time winner of MLB’s Executive of the Year award and spent 23 years as a General Manager with the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles. Hemond helped found the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation to provide assistance to longtime scouts in need of special support and is also considered the architect of the Arizona Fall League. In 2011, his extraordinary efforts to enhance the game’s positive impact on society were recognized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Board of Directors as the second recipient of the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, bestowed upon an individual whose efforts broadened the game’s appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity is comparable to the late O’Neil, who passed away in 2006 after 8 decades of contributions to the game.