Arizona Diamondbacks' Chip Hale teaches a group of youths about baseball at Tucson Electric Park on March 27, 2007. The Pepsi MLB Pitch Hit and Run program offers youths, ages 7-14, instruction from the pros on baseball fundamentals. About 150 youths participated in this group.

 Val Cañez

Long played on UA baseball teams with Chip Hale, who is one of four finalists to become the Diamondbacks’ next manager, and is also on the radar in the Minnesota Twins managerial search. Hale, who managed the Tucson Sidewinders to the 2006 Pacific Coast League championship, the best season in club history, lives in Tucson. I’m not sure if it would be a blessing or a curse to be the next D-backs manager. The club had the worst record in baseball this season, one of its lowest attendance marks in franchise history, and yet the club payroll is higher than that of three surviving playoff teams: Kansas City, Baltimore and St. Louis. Hard to believe. And a new manager is going to change all of that?

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