Major League Baseball

D-backs found themselves a born leader in Hale

Published Oct. 14, 2014 7:49 p.m. ET

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PHOENIX — The Diamondbacks prized leadership above all other qualities in their search for new manager, and in Chip Hale, those traits have been evident for quite some time.

An incident in his senior year at the University of Arizona stands out. Hale was playing third base during a typically heated game against Arizona State in 1987, and the Sun Devils were building a rally. ASU head coach Jim Brock, coaching at third base, directed a few words toward Arizona right-hander Frank Halcovich in the spirit of the competiton. 

Hale took a few steps in from his position toward the third-base bag and obtrusively but pointedly told Brock to pipe down. 

"I just wanted to stand up for my guy," Hale said some time later.

A 22-year old taking on a college coaching legend?

No matter.

Leaders lead, especially when the circumstances make it more difficult.

"You have to be a leader first," D-backs general manager Dave Stewart said. "If you can lead, if you can get people to believe your vision, you can get people to follow you, even though they don't know where they are going. That's a great quality to have." 

Hale showed that as a college player and through his seven-year major-league career, during which he set a Minnesota record for pinch-hits in a season with 19 in 1996 under Twins manager Tom Kelly, who Hale credits with teaching him the right way to play the game. The record still stands.

It was evident on the long path to the D-backs job that began when Tommy Jones hired Hale as a rookie-league manager with the D-backs in 2000. Jones asked Hale why he wanted to manage in the minors. The answer was simple — Hale wanted to manage in the majors, and he was willing to pay his dues. After seven years and three pennants in the D-backs' minor-league system, Hale became the third-base coach in 2007. Six months later, the D-backs won the NL West.

After the D-backs clinched the title with a 4-2 victory over Colorado on Sept. 28, the visiting clubhouse in Coors Field became party central. Chris Young and others slid across a makeshift dance floor of thin plastic sheeting as the D-backs bathed in the cases of Cristal champagne that Livan Hernandez had on ice for the occasion.

"Get used to drinking it," toasted Hale.

"Not sure if I have ever had a coach who has as much passion for baseball as Chip Hale," tweeted Eric Byrnes, the left fielder who had a career year with that 2007 team. 

The party crashed two years later, when manager Bob Melvin left in a disagreement with the front office in May and general manager Josh Byrnes replaced Melvin with A.J. Hinch, who was the D-backs' director of player development and had no previous coaching or managing experience. Pitching coach Bryan Price quit when Melvin left and more qualified candidates Hale and bench coach Kirk Gibson were passed over.

"To me, it was a slap in the face not only to Bob, but to Chip and to 'Gibby' and to anybody who has actually managed or coached in the past," Price said a year later. "I thought it bypassed people who were more prepared to finish out the year."

Gibson got his chance in 2010, and now it is Hale's turn. 

President/CEO Derrick Hall understood what the D-backs lost when the staff shifted in 2009, and he said he always kept an eye on Hale, who took jobs with the New York Mets and Oakland while interviewing for managerial posts with the Mets and in Seattle.

"We were all part of the changes, and quite honestly I wasn't satisfied with those changes," Hall said. "I always knew Chip was going to be a manager in the big leagues. He was our biggest managerial prospect, and to lose him along the way was a big mistake. To get him back in the field now is ideal timing.

"He stayed in touch with a lot of us in the organization. We knew that was water under the bridge, and he had moved on and was in a better place. We knew if things changed, we could eventually get him back."

In Double-A El Paso, Hale and pitching coach Mark Davis helped Brandon Webb gain faith in his two-seam fastball, the pitch that led Webb to a 2006 Cy Young Award and that division-clinching victory over Colorado the following season. 

Hale's Triple-A Tucson team had the best record in minor-league baseball while winning the Pacific Coast League title and a one-game Triple-A championship game over International League winner Toledo. That season, Hall said, was another lesson in leadership.

"What we saw him do with a team that was questionable by makeup, to win the PCL championship and the Triple-A championship and quickly accelerated to the major-league staff, we knew he was on a fast track," Hall said.

 Follow Jack Magruder on Twitter

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