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Diamondbacks hire former third base coach Chip Hale as manager

Chip Hale, alongside Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, fields questions from the media as he's introduced as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Oct. 13, 2014.

Chip Hale, alongside Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, fields questions from the media as he’s introduced as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Oct. 13, 2014.

(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
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Former Arizona third base coach Chip Hale was hired Monday to replace Kirk Gibson as the Diamondbacks manager.

The 49-year-old managed in Arizona’s minor league system for six seasons and was with the Diamondbacks from 2007-09 in the first of eight consecutive seasons as a big league third base coach. He spent 2010-11 with the New York Mets and the last three seasons with Oakland under Manager Bob Melvin.

“This is the perfect job for me and my family, and that is important for me to be here,” Hale said.

Arizona hired Tony La Russa as chief baseball officer in May, and the retired Hall of Fame manager is overhauling the team’s front office. Kevin Towers was fired as general manager in September and replaced by former 20-game winner Dave Stewart. De Jon Watson was hired from the Dodgers as senior vice president/baseball operations.

Gibson was fired with three games left in a season in which the Diamondbacks finished a major league-worst 64-98.

Hale emerged from a list of nine candidates. He spent parts of seven seasons with Minnesota and the Dodgers during a 12-year playing career. He also played at the University of Arizona and still lives in Tucson.

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La Russa was open about the process from the start, providing the names of all nine of the initial candidates. Arizona whittled the contenders down to four and chose Hale over former big league manager Jim Tracy, Triple-A Reno manager Phil Nevin and Cleveland Indians third base coach Sandy Alomar, Jr.

“We’ve learned that when you have a real good competition, the guy who survives is better off rather than somebody gift-wrapping the job and nobody pushing him,” La Russa said.

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