Moore: Diamondbacks' 'Flag Lady' nearing return from injury

A key player for the Diamondbacks is nearing a return that could provide a needed boost as the team struggles to find production.

Right-field stalwart Cindy McBride – known either as “Flag Lady” or “Rally Sally” – has been making progress rehabbing a broken foot that has kept her out of action all season at Chase Field.

“I kinda miss her because we haven’t seen her,” left fielder David Peralta said. McBride is “our luck … we need the flags waving and everything.”

The 70-year-old McBride said she hasn’t missed a game all season. But she’s been mostly out of sight, stuck on the disabled list with the injury she suffered during spring training when she dropped a heavy clothing iron. Her condition has been steadily improving, and she could be cleared by Memorial Day, just in time for the homestand against the Reds and Marlins.

“We’ve been missing her the last couple weeks,” reliever T.J. McFarland said. “She’s been here since the beginning, I think. She’s been an avid fan for a long time, so her loyalty means a lot. I’m glad she’s OK.”

Descalso: ‘Make sure you’re 100 percent’

McBride, the outfield veteran, watched as the Diamondbacks surged to the top of the National League standings over the first month and a half of the season, but now that the club has stumbled into an extended losing streak behind a roster full of cold bats, she’s eager to return.

McBride will see a doctor this week. She’s had some limited rehab starts – some pompon shaking here and there, about an hour of waving small flags in a 4-3 win over the Astros and a similar amount of action in an 8-2 loss against the Brewers last week.

“It was hard,” she said after the May 5 assignment against Houston. “After about an hour, hour and a half, my foot was getting tight. And I could feel it getting swollen in my shoe, so I went ahead and I just wrapped everything up.”

It’s a drastically reduced workload for the high-energy McBride. Her routine typically involves dancing, gliding and twirling a huge array of handmade flags, personalized tributes to each player, a tradition that started with Luis Gonzalez.

“The first flag was for ‘Gonzo,’ because he was such a mainstay of the team,” she said.

She’s being cautious about her return.

“I limit myself to what I feel like I can do,” she said.

“I don’t want to hurt myself to where I have to have surgery,” she said later. “I have to use discretion in what I do.”

She’s been getting around with a medical boot and a small scooter, but she can walk in a regular shoe provided she doesn’t go long distances. She hasn’t tried to lug her full array of flags up to the 300-level where she normally sits, and she’s careful to keep her foot elevated and on ice whenever possible.

Utility man Daniel Descalso, one of McBride’s favorite players, said he appreciates that she’s been “willing to fight through injuries to come to the game.”

He wants her to “make sure you’re 100 percent before you do any twirling.”

It fits with the team’s approach to injuries.

Manager Torey Lovullo, speaking about rehabbing pitcher Shelby Miller, said recently that “we have to all resist temptation to push too hard, too fast.”

Getting “healthy without any setbacks, that’s the priority,” he said.

That goes to anybody who’s hurt, he said.

“If you’re going to wait a week on the front side so you’re assured of getting a player the whole season, it’s a no-brainer for me,” Lovullo said.

Taking it easy has been tough on McBride.

“Sitting still isn’t easy for me,” she said.

‘Rally Sally,’ the Cal Ripken here

McBride, Gonzalez said, is “one of the unique fans.”

“We have a core of fans, that as a player, when you play, you always look around to see where they’re at because they’re kind of staples here,” he said. “... She’s always up there in right field. You always see little kids running over with her. She loves to dance and they put her on the jumbotron.”

McBride said she’s been coming to games since 2002, after her second divorce.

It was a terrible time, she said. “I lost everything. I lost my house, my business. I dealt with 15 deaths in 13 months. It was rough.”

She got through it, moving in with a friend, relying on God and going to baseball games.

McBride first became known for her dance moves on the big screen.

“It was 2010, if I remember, 2009,” she said. “… But every night, before the ninth inning, they would have that up. ‘What time is it? It’s Rally Sally time.’ ”

“They couldn’t think of a name that rhymed with Cindy, so ‘Rally Sally,’ ” she said.

McBride has consistently attended games at Chase Field and the Arizona Fall League for nearly 20 years.

“She’s kinda like the Cal Ripken here,” Gonzalez said. “She’s the Iron Horse. She always comes out. She doesn’t miss.”

(“I’ve missed four since 2002,” McBride said.)

Players notice this kind of support, Gonzalez said.

“When the team’s not playing well, she suffers,” he said. “When the team’s playing great, she’s a part of it. … You love having fan support like that.”

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Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @WritingMoore.