Courtesy Arizona Republic

(September 21, 2009) An emotional - but still wisecracking - Joe Garagiola Sr. needed a few seconds to compose himself after viewing a pictorial timeline of his career as the broadcast wing of the Chase Field press box was named in his honor.

"It brings back memories, and I'm choking up right now," the 83-year-old Hall of Fame broadcaster said. "I told my wife I wouldn't cry, but I can't help it.

"People, they say, 'You were a broadcaster.' We lived in a neighborhood where you didn't speak English, and so we didn't know we were going to be baseball players. If my mother and my father and my uncle, my brother could see this, they'd be crying worse than me."

Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall praised him as someone who "has done so much for the broadcast industry, so much for the baseball industry."

Garagiola, whose career has included numerous ventures outside of baseball, took this season off from his Diamondbacks' broadcasting to deal with health issues. He plans on returning next year.

"You've never heard this from a former player before," he said. "I'm going to look you right in the eye and tell you, I'm comin' back if I don't get paid.

"I'm gonna tell you something (and) you will learn this in a hurry as you get older. When the doctor says to you, 'Funny things can happen, this is an emergency,' you're right at the brink. You don't see God, but you think you hear him. So I hope God blesses me and lets me come back for the year, and I will work for nothing. Don't let (Ken) Kendrick (Diamondbacks managing general partner) hear that."

He said something else also went through mind as he looked over the tribute: "The blessings I've had. I've had a tremendous ride."

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