PHOENIX — Dr. Jesse McGuire has long carried a special place in Diamondbacks lore, his trumpet tied to the club’s 2001 postseason ride and its Game 7 World Series victory. On Saturday, during the 25th-anniversary celebration of that championship season, the veteran musician had to call on something more than his horn to finish the national anthem at Chase Field.
Key takeaways
- McGuire, 68, returned to perform before a sellout crowd during the Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series anniversary ceremony.
- A problem with his trumpet struck in the middle of the anthem.
- After an unsuccessful effort to fix the instrument, McGuire completed the song by singing into a microphone.
- The recovery brought the fans to their feet, and manager Torey Lovullo congratulated McGuire as he came off the field.
- McGuire later sang “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.
A familiar sound from the 2001 run
McGuire performed the anthem repeatedly during Arizona’s march through the 2001 playoffs, including before the decisive seventh game of the World Series. Within the organization, his appearances came to be viewed as part of the club’s good fortune that October.
The relationship did not end with the championship. When former managing general partner Jerry Colangelo and former team president Rich Dozier gather former players and front-office members for their reunion every five years, McGuire is included and reprises the anthem on trumpet.
His connection to the title club was recognized in a more permanent way as well: McGuire received a World Series ring. Before becoming a fixture around Diamondbacks celebrations, he had served as lead trumpeter for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in New York and for Tower of Power.
A quick adjustment under the lights
Saturday brought many members of Arizona’s 2001 roster back to Chase Field, where the crowd packed the ballpark for the anniversary event. McGuire’s return was meant to provide another thread to that championship night.
Then the instrument gave out midway through the anthem. McGuire tried once to get the trumpet working again, but when that did not solve the issue, he made the cleanest possible adjustment: he took the microphone and sang the rest himself.
The crowd answered with a standing ovation. Lovullo made a point of finding McGuire after the performance, offering praise for the way he handled an unexpected moment without losing the room.
McGuire was not finished. He returned for the seventh-inning stretch and sang “God Bless America,” adding one more memorable note to a night built around the Diamondbacks’ first and only World Series championship.
