HOF owners promote team unity with night at the park

PHOENIX -- It's not unusual for a softball game to break out during a company picnic. But when management also owns a Major League Baseball team, you can count on your corporate outing to be a little different.

Consider the case of Hall of Fame Racing's little get-together last month at Phoenix, hosted by new team owners Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel. The team gathered at Chase Field on Saturday evening, expecting to take a routine photo. Instead, they were ushered into the visitor's clubhouse, where each locker contained a Arizona Diamondbacks uniform, complete with each team member's name on the back.

Charlie Brown makes the call.

And that was only the beginning of what turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the crew of the No. 96 car, as they not only got to experience what it feels like to be on the field at a major-league stadium, but to play a four-inning game -- including a public address announcer, scoreboard and video highlights.

Roger Staubach, who played baseball at Navy, even pitched one inning in a winning effort as his squad held off a furious rally by Moorad's team in the final inning, surviving by an 8-6 score.

It wasn't the prettiest game -- there were 13 errors -- although one team turned a rare triple play. The only thing missing was the fans, although a few folks were watching from the restaurant high over the outfield bleachers.

Garfinkel, the Diamondbacks' executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the outing served two purposes: to thank everyone for their hard work this season and to provide an opportunity to bring the team closer together away from the rigors of a race weekend.

"I think the special moment was when they first walked into the clubhouse and saw their jerseys hanging there, a full uniform with their names on it," Garfinkel said. "We purposely didn't tell them because we wanted to have that moment. They thought they were just coming out here for a team picture and we kind of surprised them with the clubhouse experience."

Phillipe Lopez, director of competition, said the team was truly surprised when they found out what lay in store for them.

"If you could have just seen the expressions on their faces, when they walked around the door into the locker room and saw their names on the back of these shirts, all lined up on all the different lockers, that was worth a thousand words," he said.

Members of the team were still in awe afterwards.

"This is probably one of the very best highlights," motorcoach driver Charlie Brown said. "I've been in NASCAR a long time and this is the most fun I've ever had at a gig like this. We were just blown away by it. Our new ownership group, they're really bringing us all together. It was just a lot of fun." (Continued)