Arizona Diamondbacks name Chip Hale new manager

On Monday morning, the Arizona Diamondbacks officially named Chip Hale as their new manager after firing Kirk Gibson last month.

Hale has quite the tie to the state of Arizona. From 1984-87, Hale starred at the University of Arizona, starting in all 255 games in his four years. That is the most games played by a single player in the history of the program.

He's also Arizona's all-time leader in at bats (978), hits (337), walks (162), sac flies (21), and total bases (507). He's also second all-time in runs scored (246).

During the 1986 National Championship season, Hale batted .345. He did not make the all-tournament team that year though, as the competition at third base was tough with Oklahoma State's star freshman Robin Ventura. That '86 championship team was the last Arizona team to win the College World Series until 2012.

After starring at Arizona for those four years, Hale was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 17th round of the 1987 MLB Draft. He played seven years for the Twins and Dodgers from 1989-97, putting together a .277 batting average in 333 Major League games.

In 1991 while playing for the Triple-A Portland Beavers, Hale hit this ball, which turned into one of the most famous Minor League highlights ever.

Those Beavers eventually became the Tucson Padres.

In 2006, Hale was the manager of the 2006 Tucson Sidewinders team that won the Pacific Coast League and Triple-A Championship. He stayed with the Diamondbacks organization through the 2009 season.

After that, Hale spent two seasons as the third base coach for the New York Mets, and for the last three years he was the bench coach for the Oakland Athletics.

Cool that the Diamondbacks went with a guy with strong local ties. That should help them bring back some of the fans that may have fallen by the wayside during the last few years.