Four Tiny Tidbits On: The Diamondbacks

Baseball is here! Inspired by an old feature on The Black Table, we're previewing the season by going team-by-team and distributing Four Things You Don't Know about them. If you have suggested oddities on your team, send them to us at [email protected]. Today: The Arizona Diamondbacks. Tomorrow we close out the series with four leftover tidbits from four different teams. So if you have one, send 'er over.

• 1. They Are Featured On MLB.com, And Amazon.com. Pitcher Miguel Batista is known for his love of poetry and philosophy and has written two books; a collection of poetry in Spanish entitled Sentimientos en Blanco y Negro, and a crime thriller in English entitled Through the Eyes of the Law. The latter is about the hunt for a serial killer.

• 2. They Would Rather Give Than Receive. December 28, 1998: The Diamondbacks traded Karim Garcia to the Detroit Tigers for Luis Gonzalez and cash. Key phrase: "And cash." Merry belated Christmas, Arizona. — (thanks to Matt Sussman).

• 3. They Are Kind Of Wobbly On The Mound. In addition to having Tommy John surgery last year, pitcher Jason Grimsley only has nine toes. He lost his left big toe in a motorcycle accident at age 12.

• 4. They Know Crazy. Most know the story of "El Duque," Orlando Hernandez, the Diamondbacks pitcher who left his native Cuba and was picked up by the Bahamian Coast Guard three days after landing on the Caribbean Island of Anguilla Cay. But did you know that he then took up residency in Costa Rica, where he worked briefly as a rehabilitation therapist in a psychiatric hospital?