After two years of doing the pregame and postgame radio shows while splitting play-by-play duties with legendary D-backs radio voice Greg Schulte, Chris Garagiola was named to replace the retiring Schulte on Dec. 1.

That news got lost in the shuffle a bit with some of the player moves the D-backs have made this offseason, so I had been wanting to follow up with Garagiola to get his thoughts on his new job, as well as some of his memories growing up as the son of Joe Garagiola Jr., who was the D-backs’ general manager from 1995 (when the franchise was awarded) until 2005 (when he left to work for Major League Baseball). Garagiola Jr. is now back with the D-backs as senior director of special projects.

Here's what Chris Garagiola had to say …

MLB.com: You were 6 or 7 years old when the D-backs started playing in 1998, what are your earliest memories of that time? 

Garagiola: I would say like the earliest Diamondbacks memory I have is I took a tour of the stadium when it was probably like 80 percent built. Then I remember vaguely the very first game. I remember all the pageantry beforehand, the Commissioner was there and then I think I fell asleep like in the third inning.

MLB.com: Given your history here and the history your family had with the D-backs, once you got into broadcasting, was working here your dream job? 

Garagiola: Yeah, without a doubt. When I seriously got into broadcasting and I got the opportunity to just do Minor League games, the goal was always to get to the big leagues. I was willing to go anywhere in the country if there was a big league opportunity. I certainly wasn’t expecting to start here. I was willing to go anywhere, but I always had the idea that at some point I wanted to just go back home. I thought it would be incredible if I ever got the opportunity. I'm from Arizona. I love Arizona. This was my team, the team from my earliest memories that I was rooting for. It's got great ties, obviously, with my dad and my grandfather.

MLB.com: How did you get the news that you had been selected to replace Greg Schulte? 

Garagiola: I never wanted to just assume that it was going to happen, because honestly, if I didn't get the job, for whatever reason, that disappointment would be so crushing. I don't know what I would have done. So in the two years where I was primarily doing pre- and postgame shows and road games, I just always tried to make sure that I was doing everything the right way. When it was announced before the season that it was going to be Greg’s last year, I was never told anything about the future. It was always just, "When the time comes, we'll talk about it." I would say shortly after the GM Meetings in November, I had breakfast with [vice president of broadcasting] Scott Geyer and he basically said, "OK, let's talk about your next steps, your new role." There was a combination of relief and like such satisfaction that I finally achieved one of my big life goals, which was to be a lead broadcaster for a Major League Baseball team.

MLB.com: I’m assuming your parents were the first people you let know? 

Garagiola: I actually swung by the stadium later, and I went to my dad’s office and I told him. He's not one for big displays of emotion, but he got up from his desk, gave me a big hug and said how proud he was. You know, you hear stuff like that from your dad, no matter how old you are, it really means something.

MLB.com: What was it like working with Schulte the past couple of years? 

Garagiola: It was even better than I expected. Let me first say that Greg Schulte was the broadcaster when I was a kid. There were so many nights where I’d be at the game with my mom on a school night and we’d have to leave in the seventh inning, and on the ride home we’d listen to Greg on the radio. I never thought I would ever get a chance to work with him. So that first year, I was just trying to wrap my head around the fact that this person I spent my entire baseball life listening to was now a colleague. He could not have been better to me. He told me from the start if I had any questions to just ask. He was always checking on me and my family, wanting to make sure that I was doing OK. And he always had my back. Always.

MLB.com: What was it like for you to call three innings of each World Series game last year? 

Garagiola: I have to thank Greg for that, because he very easily could have said he was going to do all nine innings of every game. But he told me I had worked hard and deserved to call three innings. It’s such a special thing to call a World Series game. Who knew if the Diamondbacks were going to get back to a World Series, right? I mean, it’s such a hard thing to do. I wish I had been older when my dad was the general manager, because I would have been able to appreciate more what he and the front office did in winning 100 games [in 1999] and the World Series [in 2001]. So for me to get to experience it up close … I’ll remember it forever.

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