Buck Showalter voices support for Torey Lovullo

His reward: He was out of a job after the following season.

To make the sting even worse, Arizona won the World Series the season after that.

Showalter is a key figure in Diamondbacks history. He was their first manager and helped Arizona overcome the obstacles of being an expansion team.

In his second year at the helm, the Diamondbacks won 100 games and won the NL West.

Time clearly flies when you’re having fun.

“We used to call it ‘The Bob.’ What is it? Chase Field now?” Showalter said earlier this week at the MLB Draft Combine. “Places you remember as new are now a little bit dated.”

Showalter is into the semi-retired chapter of his baseball book.

He managed five different teams over 22 seasons and is now a part-time analyst for MLB Network.

His perch on set is a bit more comfortable than the hot seat he faced in Phoenix decades ago.

“We all understand the shelf life of managers. You can win a World Championship or 100 games and be down the highway the next year,” he said.

Showalter was shown the door after his third year. The team stumbled back down to 85 wins and ownership wanted a fresh face. Showalter said he doesn’t have any ill will.

“Nobody said it was going to be fair and I don’t live in that world. I’ve been too lucky to spend this much time in a great game with great people,” he said.

Showalter considers one of his successors among those “great people.”

“If it can be figured out, Torey and staff will,” he said.

Showalter has firsthand experience of how a town can turn on a manager quickly. He went to bat for Torey Lovullo.

“I think he’s got a grip on reality and he’s calm. He understands the line between sympathy and empathy,” he said.

But as the D-backs continue their season-long dance with the .500 line, sympathy from fans is shrinking and their empathy is nonexistent.

Showalter said Lovullo should buck that outside noise.

“That’s the nature of the beast. You stay off all the social medias. You just got to keep in mind that a lot of people really don’t know what they’re talking about. If you put them in there and ask them to make the decisions Torey has to every night, it would be pretty ugly to watch,” he said.

Those are words of wisdom from someone who has been around the baseball block.

Showalter will always be Arizona’s first.

He’s hoping the team doesn’t move on to the next.

“It’s good to see someone last that long because you’re not going to do much better,” he said.