Former Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb will take to a major league mound for the first time in four years when he throws out the ceremonial first pitch tonight for the Diamondbacks' 2013 season opener at Chase Field.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Webb last pitched in a game on Opening Day 2009. He exited after four innings with a shoulder injury, and after four years of unsuccessful comeback attempts, he announced his retirement earlier this year.
Webb was a three-time All-Star for the Diamondbacks from 2006 to 2008 and won the NL Cy Young Award in 2006. He was the team's Opening Day starter for four consecutive seasons, concluding in his final appearance in 2009. He finished his career with an 87-62 record, all with the Diamondbacks.
Opening day festivities also include the first of seven D-backs Street Festivals starting at 3 p.m. at Fourth Street and Jackson; the presentation of Aaron Hill's Silver Slugger Award; and the singing of the national anthem by 16-year-old Karlie O’Hearn, a junior at Centennial High in Peoria. O’Hearn was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 5 but has been in remission for 10 years.
Hill is coming off a season in which he became only the second player in modern major league history to hit for two cycles in one season, and he also led all NL second basemen in batting average (.300), home runs (26), doubles (44), RBI (85), total bases (316), on-base percentage (.358) and slugging percentage (.521)/
All players, managers, coaches, umpires and on-field personnel will wear a symbolic ribbon patch and, with fans, observe a pre-game moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in a league-wide effort to remember the 26 individuals who lost their lives on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Conn.
As of Monday morning, a smattering of tickets were still available at the Chase Field box office, online or via phone (602-514-8400).
In honor of Cy Young Award winner Brandon Webb throwing out the D-backs Opening Day ceremonial first pitch tonight, we pulled this out of our archives from 2008.
