“Once in a lifetime moment.” Southern Arizona fans make trip up to Chase Field for World Series

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - The last time that Arizona hosted a World Series game was 8,030 days ago. But on Monday, baseball’s highest level of competition returned, and fans have been itching for this return every one of those over eight thousand days.

For Diamondbacks fans, this moment doesn’t come around too often. For fans from southern Arizona, the experience of traveling to Chase Field to watch this historic moment is something they couldn’t pass up, no matter the length of the trip.

“You know, two hours is nothing to be able to go into a world series. I mean, this is incredible,” Tucson resident Phil Norman said.

For the Normans, admittedly, the trip from Tucson to Phoenix is something they aren’t too fond of. But they were waiting outside of Chase Field at 10:00 A.M. Monday morning and were here anxiously waiting to get in.

“We drove up this morning. [We] wanted to get here early,” Norman said, “The drive to Phoenix is never good. But it is what it is.”

Chase Field is over 100 miles away from the greater Tucson area, which is anywhere from a 90-minute to three-hour trip for fans across southern Arizona. But for the World Series, these fans say that’s nothing.

“Just thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to come the World Series being two and a half hours away. So, we jumped on the chance about eight hours before the tickets were sold out,” Yuma resident Megan Valencia said.

The Valencia’s, who is from Yuma, have never been to Chase Field before and say it’s been hard to be able to see baseball games overall in their small town, much less a game of this magnitude. The rarity of this moment is why they say it means so much.

“I’ve only been to two baseball games in my life, and this is probably going to be the best baseball game I’ve ever been to,” Valencia’s son Phillip said.

Many of the other southern Arizonans who made the trip up to Chase Field tell 13 News they share in this feeling of this experience being once in a lifetime.

“I don’t know when they’re gonna come back. So, we got to [go] now,” Tucson native Rick Solano said.

For other southern Arizonans, the trip up to Phoenix is one they’ve made plenty of times before.

“I’m a 25-year season ticket holder here for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I’ve traveled to over 2200 major league ballparks in the last 25 years,” Diamondbacks superfan Tom Kimbro.

But for all southern Arizona fans, there’s one common theme, whether cheering on the Diamondbacks from home or at Chase Field for the World Series: This is still Tucson’s team.

“Tucson is still a big Diamondback town,” Solano said, “Baseball still lives down there. So, it’s not going away.”

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