March 14, 1999 – Like his childhood friend and neighbor, Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola Sr. grew up to be a major-league catcher. After five-plus years with his hometown St. Louis Cardinals (1946–51), he spent the last three-plus years of his career with three other teams before going on to an award-winning career as a popular radio and television personality. He received the Ford C. Frick Award in 1991 for excellence in broadcasting and the Hall of Fame’s Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

His son, Joe Jr., followed a different path to the major leagues. After earning a law degree from Georgetown, he worked as general counsel to George Steinbrenner’s Yankees, spent 17 years as an agent, then became a partner in a Phoenix law firm, focusing on sports law. It was in that capacity that he was instrumental in securing an MLB expansion franchise in 1995. Once the franchise was granted, Jerry Colangelo, the managing general partner, hired Garagiola to be the first general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a position he held until August 2005.

In his tenure as GM, Garagiola led the team to three divisional championships, including the pennant and World Series title in 2001, only four years after the team’s debut. In 2005 he was named Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of baseball operations, and in 2011, senior vice president of standards and on-field operations. He also served as general manager for Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. He returned to the Diamondbacks in 2018 as Special Advisor to the President & CEO, then was named Senior Director, Special Projects in 2021..