Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen is heading into the World Series with a heavy heart.
The longtime baseball executive’s wife, Nicole, was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, during the summer of 2020.
After a two-year fight with the disease, Nicole passed away in August 2022 at just 45 years old, leaving behind Mike and their four sons.
“I’m missing the person who was supposed to be here with me, but I know she was with us the whole way,” Hazen said after the Diamondbacks clinched the NL pennant, according to Newsday.
Nicole’s memory has been a presence throughout the Diamondbacks’ stunning postseason run that has led them to a World Series matchup with the Rangers, which starts Friday night in Arlington.
Mike and Nicole’s four teenage sons — Charlie, John, Teddy and Sam — threw out the first pitch of Game 3 of the NLDS at Chase Field before the Diamondbacks completed a sweep off the Dodgers.
“It has been long. A lot of stuff has happened,” Hazen admitted after Arizona clinched a playoff berth on Sept. 30. “There is somebody for me that is not here that was here six years ago that was a huge Diamondbacks fan. Was a huge Merrill Kelly fan. He was her favorite player.”
Mike was granted a leave of absence in 2021 as Nicole struggled with the illness.
Arizona front office assistants Amiel Sawdaye and Mike Fitzgerald picked up when Hazen had more important priorities, the Washington Post recently reported.
And his best friend, manager Torey Lovullo, and his wife Kristen provided unending support.
“I don’t know how to express that gratitude to them ever,” Hazen said, per ESPN. “I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know. I’ll never be able to say anything other than ‘thank you.’ A billion times.”
Hazen, according to the Washington Post, met his wife out in Boston while celebrating the Patriots’ playoff victory over the Raiders in the the 2002 Tuck Rule game.
“I’m missing the person who was supposed to be here with me, but I know she was with us the whole way,”
Mike Hazen
Hazen asked each one of his sons if they were comfortable with him returning to the team full-time and would have passed had any one of them expressed hesitation.
Arizona now finds itself on the brink of a World Series trophy after coming into the season as an underdog to even make the postseason.
The Diamondbacks have prevailed as heavy underdogs — sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers before rallying from 2-0 and 3-2 series deficits to upset the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.
It would be the franchise’s first World Series since 2001, when they defeated the Yankees.
“We just have a tremendous group of players that work really hard, coaches, and a really great manager,” Hazen said after their Game 7 win over the Phillies in the NLCS. “They’ve played phenomenal so far in the playoffs and we got some more work to do. We’re going to head down to Texas and see what we can do down there too.”