Former Dodgers senior VP for communications Derrick Hall fled the stadium six weeks into the McCourt era and hasn't looked back. Respected by the media and apparently popular with staffers, he quickly landed another baseball job with the rival Arizona Diamondbacks. Just wanted to note that last week, Hall was elevated to president of the Diamondbacks. From the Arizona release:
Hall spent parts of 12 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, joining the organization's Single-A Florida State League affiliate in Vero Beach, Fla., in 1992 and departing as the club's Senior Vice President, Communications in 2004. In between, he was considered an industry-wide specialist in strategic communications as well as serving key roles during three ownership changes with the Dodgers. Hall twice stepped outside of baseball for employment, first as a member of the media when he hosted a three-hour morning talk show on the Dodgers' flagship station (XTRA 1150 AM) during the 1999 season while also stepping in front of the camera as a fill-in sports anchor at KNBC-TV Channel 4 in Los Angeles. He also served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications at KB Home, a Fortune 500 company based in Westwood, Calif. In a short time, Hall was credited for increasing brand awareness for the nation's fifth-largest homebuilder after successfully overhauling the company's communications processes.Hall received a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in broadcasting and journalism and a master's degree from Ohio University in sports administration. In 2002, Hall was inducted into the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications Alumni Hall of Fame and was awarded the ASU Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2003. Earlier this year, Ohio University's Sports Administration Program awarded Hall as the 25th recipient of the Charles R. Higgins Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Also around the Dodgers, Rick Monday talks with Times blogger Andrew Kamenetzky about his new book, Rick Monday's Tales From The Dodgers Dugout, written with MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. Turns out it was all ex-Times staffer Ross Newhan's idea.
Rick Monday: Ross gave me a call. We've known one another for a long time. And Ross says, "I'm going to retire, but we have this book commitment." And I said, "Ross, I've known you for too long and I respect you way too much. You've earned the right to retire. If your wife and you want to do something, don't worry about this book." So he recommended Ken Gurnick. And Kenny was around in '81 covering the ball club. Kenny and I have known one another for a long time, so we got together and they changed editors on it. All told, it took about a year to get things on paper to the point where we liked it.AK: What prompted you to write it?
RM: Well, I was approached by Ross.
Part 2 of the interview is here.
