Still Counting…Crosses in Lafayette, California


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Not as bad as Viet Nam, no , not quite yet,
But where’s the fight against Jihad & Islam, how will we ever repay our debt,
To the families who have sacrificed for untruths to fight in Iraq,
We’re not paying attention, other countries, Al Queda, they’re taking stock
Iran, Pakistan & N.Korea are planning, making nuclear weapons,
All while we misuse our brothers, fathers, and our sons,
Now our country is hit the bottom, we’re in total hock,
0Billion owed to China, lining pockets of the Bushes, Saudi’s and Exxon,
The last eight years, is it stupidity, bad management, or just a con?
To our soldiers and armed forces I feel fear, and I pray,
That your bravery is so diminished by political decay.

Debt Management Plan: Plans for Stress-free Life

But it is essential that we have full knowledge regarding the debts. Debt management plan can help us in this.

Many companies are available these days known as the debt management companies. There are certain non-profit debt management companies. These provide debt solutions as counselors. They may charge a modest fee and provide education and counseling for having a life free of debt. There are certain profit-debt management companies. These are highly professional companies which are very resourceful in order to provide you excellent service. If you are caught in a big debt-trap, then these companies may help you.

Your problems related with debt can be managed by adapting to a debt management plan. Generally, a debt management plan is a method for paying personal unsecured debts. These are huge debts with massive dues and which are eating a huge portion of your wealth as interest. Debt management plan involves cataloguing all your debts, assessing income and budget, and re-negotiating interest rates and payments with the lenders. They reduce your debt repayment stress to great extent.

A debt management plan is typically run by a non-profit consumer credit counseling service group. It may be funded by the creditors to collect and distribute money. Here, the repayment plans are developed by the creditors. The lenders tell these groups, what they require. The group helps the debtors in repaying their debts by providing education. The group collects money from the debtors and gives it to the lenders. For this service they get a ‘fair share’. Since these fair share payments have been reduced in recent years may profit debt management companies have arrived in the financial market? These companies don’t ask for a fair share, but they charge debtors for their services. This is how both the debtor and debt management company gets benefited.

A debt management plan requires you to deposit a particular amount of money each month with a credit counseling organization. This money is utilized to pay your debts, like outstanding loans, credit cards, etc. The counselor will negotiate to develop a schedule which is agreeable to both you and your creditors. The counselors may also help you in getting your interest rates lowered from your creditors. Certain fees also can be waived. Here, you will have to agree to make regular payments every month. The credit counselor estimates how long you will be on the debt management plan.

When looking for a debt management counselor you must check some prerequisites, like the credit counseling organization charges. Always take initial service from a certified credit counselor. They evaluate your financial situation and usually give a free review. The review includes detailed analysis of your current income, all your assets, expenses, bills and debts accrued. After having this information they suggest you a number of options as per your suitability, which are based on your financial situation. These plans are very helpful in taking big financial decisions and relieving the stress related to debts.

Foreign Currency and Coins


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A shot of various foreign banknotes and coins that I took to illustrate a post in my personal finance blog at Wise Bread.

Review your personal finance plan to secure your future

Do you have a personal plan or do you question where your cash vanishes each month? Does it sometimes appear as though you can’t manage to do things because your financial commitments are holding you back?

If you asking yourself these types of questions, maybe it’s time you should review your financial affairs and evaluate if you’re adopting sound personal finance habits or not. People with good personal finance habits spend within their means, prepare for their future and resolve financial troubles as they appear. People with poor personal finance habits pay more, go without and lag behind. If you find yourself in the 2nd group, you should do something about it. You should acquire the skills to manage your personal finances properly.

Planning your personal finances doesn’t always come easily to everyone, and even if you are just starting to take your personal finance seriously, you’re probably going to require some guidelines.

Assess your present financial position. Collect as much accurate information regarding your financial situation as you can. Work out your net worth, which will include real estate, investments, saving and retirement funds and any other property you have. This should help you choose how much cash you should put aside for meeting future requirements and goals.

Prepare a budget. A budget is information constructed with details of your income and expenses and the more precise the information within it is, the more chance you will have to shape and fulfil your dreams.

All expenses should be incorporated into it. To be certain, scrutinise where you spend your cash. To be able to take sound decisions and establish priorities for your future, identify where you are squandering your cash. Create your budget and achieve your targets.

Move to electronic banking. In this day and age it’s a very handy method to pay your bills. You could even connect your bill payment service to your personal finance budget, so your expenses are automatically coded to the right category. Personal financial management can be really simple.

Now that you have established your future security, the time has come for the next stage of your personal financial life. You have to prepare a personal finance plan that sets out what you really want in life. Make sure you dream big and you will discover that this journey will be the most motivating part of your personal finance experience as you strive for financial independence.

So, get ready to launch a secure financial future by using these easy guidelines, safe in the knowledge that when you manage your personal finance, you won’t stress about money ever again.

Navigating the tricky world of personal finance introduces a host of challenges for first-time investors. AP Personal Finance Editor Trevor Delaney explains some of the points investors should consider before jumping in. (Nov. 13)
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Thomas T. Hillman


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Thomas T. Hillman was born near Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee, at the old Marable Homestead, February 2, 1844.

His ancestral history is an interesting one, and almost coeval on this continent with the settlement of America, but its chief interest comes from the intimate connection of the name of Hillman with the subject of iron-making, particularly in the South.

Glancing back to the earliest time of which there is any authentic record of the Hillman family, we find that the father and mother, from whom came all the members of this family, were Hollanders, and first came to America about five generations ago, or more than a century from the present date. This couple landed in Philadelphia, and, among the most interesting things connected with their life in the then primitive Philadelphia, was the purchase by Mr. Hillman of a tract of land consisting of twenty acres now in the very heart of the city. It is bounded by Chestnut, Walnut, and Seventh Streets, and by the Delaware River. Among other notable buildings standing at present on this property are the Continental Hotel and the United States Bank. In consequence of the return of Mr. Hillman to his native land, and death there, this land was sold for taxes, but subject to redemption any time within the following ninty-nine years. A son of Daniel Hillman went to Philadelphia in 1840 or ’41, and with two of his brothers, George and Charles, employed counsel to investigate the matter, but it was found that one hundred and two years had expired since the tax sale had taken place, or just three years more than the limit allowed for the redemption of the land.

Mr. Hillman was engaged in the dairy business during all of his lifetime in America. He was recalled to Holland by the death of a son and daughter, and some months after his return died. His wife continued in the dairy business up to the time of her death.

Three sons, James, Daniel H., and George, survived this union, and each of them reared families.

James and Daniel H. for some years carried on the wagon and blacksmith business at Trenton, New Jersey. Daniel H., in copartnership with a party by the name of J. L. James, built a forge for the manufacture of iron near Valley Forge, New Jersey, in 1814, but it was soon afterward washed away by a big freshet on the stream where it was situated, when Mr. James took a precipitate departure, leaving all the debts to be paid by his partner. In New Jersey, in those days, the law inflicted imprisonment for debt. Daniel H. owned, near Barnegat Bay, a farm, store, schooner, and ship. These he surrendered to satisfy the indebtedness of the firm, and went to New York. This was in the year 1816. He left his wife and children in New York and went to Chillicothe, Ohio, then the capital of the State. He built a forge on Paint Creek for the manufacture of hammered iron. In the following year, 1817, his family, consisting of wife, four sons and one daughter, joined him in his new home. The names of his children were Daniel, the oldest, who was born in Trenton, New Jersey, February, 1807; Jane, James, George W., and Charles E. The mother of these children was Grace Huston.

There being no railroads then in the United States, his family traversed this great distance in wagons.

Daniel H. Hillman ran this forge for two years, and then moved to Bath County, Kentucky, in 1822, and built and operated a number of forges up to the year 1827, when Mrs. Hillman died. The last place at which he worked was near Greenupsburg, Kentucky, for Leven S. andT. T. Shreeves.

During the stay of Daniel H. at this place we have the first mention of his son Daniel (the father of the subject of this sketch), in connection with the important industry which the former had so faithfully fostered. Young Hillman assisted his father in securing coal and in the shipment of iron to Cincinnati, Ohio, by flatboats. He was then in his nineteenth year and went to the steam furnace of L. S. andT. T. Shreeves, in Greenup County, Kentucky, and managed the coaling ground. He stayed with them two or three years, and was promoted to be bookkeeper and manager.

His father, on the death of Mrs. Hillman, broke up housekeeping and went to Hanging Rock, Ohio, where he managed the Pine Grove Steam Furnace. He remained there some little time and then returned to Greenup County, Kentucky. In 1830 he went to New Orleans, and thence to Mobile, Alabama, in company with Dr. J. Goodrich and Casting Goodrich, and subsequently to Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.

The following letter from Mr. Hillman to his son George affords an interesting insight into the condition of things as they stood at that early date in the mineral region of Alabama :

Valley Forge, Bibb County, Alabama,

August 21, 1830.

Dear Son : These lines will inform you that I am well, and I express the sincere wish that you and your brother, sister and son, are similarly fortunate.

I shall start one forge for Colonel McGehee in about four or five weeks, and then expect to build a saw-mill for myself. I can sell about two thousand dollars’ worth of plank. I can cut pine timber on " Uncle Sam’s " land, a practice very generally prevailing in this country.

Colonel McGehee will assist me in any way, so I can get him agoing in a short time. He will want material for his furnace which he will commence building about Christmas. I am to superintend the building of it, and immediately afterward the building of another forge unless something prevents.

I believe, George, that my prospects for making a handsome property are better than they ever were during all the course of my life.

I wrote to Daniel and desired him to come to this country; for there is one of the best prospects I ever saw for him to make a fortune. I shall write to him and give particulars of the prospects. It is as healthy here as in any part of Kentucky. I have had my health, I believe better, for I have gained considerably in weight since I have been here.

I hope to come to see you all in March, for I can go from here to Nashville in five days by stage, and then take the steamboat.

Give my love to Daniel, Jane, and Charles. From your father,

Daniel Hillman.

This letter was written from the scene of Mr. Hillman’s work, as we find in the postscript directions to address the reply to his letter to Bucksville, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama.

Mr. Hillman formed, some time after this, a copartnership with Colonel McGehee, of Montgomery, and had he lived he intended to build the furnace referred to. He died in 1832. To him belongs the honor and fame of first making wrought or hammered iron in Alabama.

His relation to the mineral region of Alabama is best expressed in the eloquent words of Miss Mary Gordon Duffee: "After a very careful comparison of different notes, I am led to believe that the first iron ever made in the present wonderland of the South was at a locality on Roupe’s Creek, some two miles east of the well-known Elisha McMath place, and near the corners of four counties, viz: Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Shelby, and Bibb." The same gifted writer further says: "Mr. Hillman was a very talented man in his profession, and he may be justly styled the founder of the iron manufacture and trade of Alabama ; for, although Mr. McGehee furnished the means to build the first forge, it was the genius and unwearied skill and energy of Mr. Hillman that made it a success, discovered the possibilities of the mineral region, and demonstrated their importance and value to the demands of commerce."

Mr. Daniel Hillman, father of the subject of this sketch, as already seen, had three brothers and one sister. From the time he was in the employ of the Shreeves as already noticed, he developed very rapidly the capacity for successful iron-making.

Some time after his mother’s death, which occurred in 1827, he formed a copartnership with William Wood, who owned a forge and furnace on the Little Sandy River, in Kentucky.

In the fall of 1831, or spring of 1832, he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and formed a copartnership with A. W. Van Leer and John Sullivan. The former gentleman owned the Cumberland Furnace in Dixon County, Tennessee, which was built by Montgomery Bell in 1817 or 1818, and was the first furnace made in the State to make hammered iron from pig iron. This firm built the Fairchance Furnace on Big Richland Creek, about twelve miles from Reynoldsburg, the county seat of Humphreys County, Tennessee. This furnace was in blast from the fall of 1832 to January, 1835. The market for their product was St. Louis, Missouri.

After this Daniel Hillman formed a copartnership with A. W. Van Leer in the profits of Cumberland Furnace, which he managed, and the latter, after allowing the former his share of the profits, made more money than he had made before entering into this arrangement. This result could have been achieved in no other way than by skillful management.

He was next associated with Dr. T. T. Watson, and they together put up the Fulton Furnace, in Kentucky.

In November, 1845, the firm of Watson & Hillman, in connection with B. M. Runyan, C. E. Hillman, and A. W. Van Leer, under the firm name of Hillman, Van Leer & Co., purchased the Tennessee Rolling Mills, in Nashville, which had been built in 1834 by E. D. Hicks, Robert Baxter, and Henry Ewing. Daniel Hillman and T. T. Watson owned a three-fourths interest, the remaining portion being owned by A. W. Van Leer. The mill was taken down and moved one hundred and fifty miles below Nashville, on the Cumberland River, to Lyon County, Kentucky, where it was rebuilt. Mr. Hillman performed the important part of taking down the heavy machinery and floating it down the river on rafts made of the timber. Near this mill were four furnaces — Empire, Center, Fulton, and Trigg. The three first were on the opposite side of the river from the mill. It was here that Mr. Hillman’s genius as an iron manufacturer produced those admirable results that have made his name famous, and constituted him a standard authority in this grest industry.

The erection of the mills was commenced in March, 1846, and the first bar of iron was rolled out in December of the same year. From this time forth the mill made a reputation that spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. The quality of rolled iron it made was of the highest excellence, and especially was this the case with the boiler plate. The company kept a large standing reward for any authentic instance brought to their notice where it proved defective. That the mill enjoyed wonderful prosperity is quite natural. Mr. Hillman was in charge of these mills up to 1847, and also gave his attention to the furnaces, and upon Dr. Watson’s death in that year purchased his interest in the two furnaces they had owned together, the Fulton and Empire.

From this time up to the breaking out of the war the mill and furnaces had a uniformly successful career.

In 1854 the three brothers, Daniel, George, and C. E. Hillman, became owners by purchase of the entire mill property. The firm was then known as Hillman Brothers. In 1864 or 1865 Daniel Hillman bought George W. Hillman’s one-fourth interest in the mill for 0,000 cash.

As a convincing proof of the success of the business, we have but to mention the fact that from October, 1855, to 1862, the profits of the business were ,300,000.

Mr. Hillman, besides owning the mill and furnace property, also owned many thousands of acres of mineral lands and several hundred negroes.

Mr. Hillman was married in April, 1839, to Miss Ann, daughter of Hon. John H. Marable, of Montgomery County, Tennessee, who represented his district for several terms in the United States Congress. There were four children in the family. John H., Thomas T. , Ann Fredonia, and Grace C. , all are still living. J. H. Hillman is a resident of Pittsburg, and is engaged in the iron business. Ann married Dr. E. N. Franklin, and resides in Gallatin, Tennessee. The remaining sister, Grace, is Mrs. Scales, of Nashville, Tennessee. Mrs. Hillman died in April, 1861.

Mr. Hillman was married the second time to Miss Mary, daughter of the Hon. Meredith P. Gentry, of Williamson County, Tennessee. To this second marriage five children were born — Daniel, Meredith P., Gentry, James H., and Carter, who died in infancy. All the former are now living at Trigg Furnace, Trigg County, Kentucky. Mrs. Hillman is still living.

Mr. Hillman died January 3, 1884, at his home in Tennessee. No man ever dying within the bounds of the Southern country did more to inspire the Southern heart with the fervent desire to do homage to his name. He was the pioneer of an industry that has awakened the entire South from a lethargic sleep, and is fast carrying her to the realization of that destiny, where she will stand among the foremost sections of the American Union as an iron and steel producing country. He visited this part of Alabama in 1872, and while riding one day on top of Red Mountain, in company with Major Thomas Peters, near Redding Mines, dismounted from his horse, and made use of the expression: "Here is the spot most favored for iron-making in the world. " It has since become prophetic, and we have only to think of the wonderful development around us to be convinced of the truthfulness of the assertion.

Returning to Mr. Hillman, we find that while he was yet in his infancy he was taken by his mother to Fulton Furnace, in Kentucky, whither they were preceded by his father. Here the first years of his infancy were spent. His father then moved to the Empire Furnace, only a short distance from the former, while Thomas was still an infant. This change of residence was owing to the death of Dr. Watson, who had up to this time controlled the Empire Furnace. Here he stayed with his parents until he was seven years old, and received the primitive training afforded by the country schools. About the time he had attained his seventh year he was thrown from a horse. From this accident he was an invalid for six years. For some time after this occurrence he was taught by his mother, and his father then took him to his office and trained him in the ways of business, which well fitted him for his future success. From his fifteenth to his sixteenth year he was at Bendusia Academy, in Edgefield, near Nashville, Tennessee, under Professor Nathaniel Cross, a noted educator. His whole school life was two years. About this time the war came on, and he went home, and his father gave him charge of the Empire, Center, and Fulton Furnaces, but the Center Furnace was the only one in operation. The three furnaces. Empire, Fulton, and Center, were frequently on different sides of the line twice a week.

After the close of the war, when he had attained his twenty-first year, his father gave him a fifty-thousand-dollar interest in the business, his special work being to manage the furnaces. Under his supervision their product was greater than ever. He remained here from 1866 to 1878, inclusive. How important to him were these years of devotion to a splendid industry!

In the beginning of 1879 he purchased the stock of iron and heavy hardware from Daniel Hillman & Sons, of Nashville, Tennessee, and sold out July 29, 1879.

Prior to this he had visited Birmingham and had formed a copartnership with Mr. H. F. DeBardeleben, under the firm name of Hillman & DeBardeleben, for the purpose of erecting a furnace. Alice Furnace, No.1, was commenced September 29, 1879, and went into blast November 23, 1880.

Inthe latter part of 1880 the Hillman Coal and Iron Company, composed of Colonel Samuel Tate, Daniel Hillman, M. B. Prichard, and Colonel Thomas Peters, was consolidated with the Birmingham Coal and Iron Company, composed of the same gentlemen, with the addition of Charles Hillman. The Alice Furnace Company was formed of all the above-mentioned companies.

The capital stock of the new concern was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars being represented by Hillman and DeBardeleben, the remainder by the other members of the company. The directors were Samuel Tate, Charles Hillman, Thomas Peters, H. F. DeBardeleben, and T. T. Hillman. The officers wereT. T. Hillman, President; F. L. VVadsworth, Secretary and Treasurer.

For the first year No. i furnace made an average of fifty-three tons per day, and ran three years, eight months, and nineteen days. Since adding a Whitewell fire-brick stove the daily capacity has been ninety tons per day.

Furnace No. 2 was commenced in January, 1882, and was put in blast in July, 1883. At first it did not work so well as No. 1. It had to be relined after one year, but since then it has run well and given satisfactory results. It is one of the largest furnaces in the South. There are four others, two at South Pittsburg and two at Dayton, Tennessee, as large. To this furnace belongs the credit of making the largest daily run of any single furnace in the South, which was one hundred and fifty tons. This result was achieved in the summer of 1886. The output is now between one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and fifty tons. Both these furnaces have made reputations, both in quality and quantity of iron. As time goes on the operation of these furnaces becomes more and more successful.

In May, 1884, the Alice Furnace Company was consolidated with the Pratt Coal and Iron Company, but the name Alice Furnace Company was retained until the beginning of 1887, and at that time the Pratt Coal and Iron Company was consolidated with the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, under the latter corporate name. In this company the officers were Enoch Ensley, President; T. T. Hillman, Vice-President; A. M. Shook, General Manager ; Nathaniel Baxter, Chairman of the Executive Committee ; James Bowron, Treasurer, and C. Flisher, Secretary.

At a meeting of the stockholders of the company, held in Nashville, Tennessee, April 4, 1887, the following directors were elected: N. Baxter, Jr., of Nashville; T. T. Hillman, of Birmingham; Enoch Ensley and Napoleon Hill, of Memphis; A. S. Colyar, W. M. Duncan, S. J. Keith, T. M. Steger, John P. Williams, A. M. Shook, and D. C. Scales, of Nashville; J. H. Inman, J. D. Probst, and T. W. Evans, of New York, and Samuel Tate, Jr., of Memphis. These directors immediately organized by the election of the following officers : N. Baxter, Jr., President; T. T. Hillman, Vice-President; A. M. Shook, General Manager, and James Bowron, Secretary and Treasurer.

An idea of the importance of this consolidation may be gained from a brief statement of the possessions of the two.

The Pratt Coal and Iron Company represented the Linn Iron Works, the Alice Furnace Company, the Pratt Coal and Iron Company proper, with about seventy thousand to eighty thousand acres of mineral lands. The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, on the other hand, represents possessions of almost equal importance. The Pratt Coal and Iron Company is at present putting up four furnaces, the largest in the South. These are to be put in operation in the near future.

It is needless to speak of the order of ability necessary in the management of enterprises of the magnitude of those just mentioned. Mr. Hillman’s prominent connection with them is the sure test of his worth.

Mr. Hillman was married July 25, 1867, to Miss Emily, daughter of the Hon. Meredith P. Gentry, of Williamson County, Tennessee. This marriage occurred at the Clover Bottom Farm, near the Hermitage, the home of General Andrew Jackson.

Mr. Gentry was, in his day, the most brilliant light in the political firmament of Tennessee. He first appeared in politics in 1835, when he was elected to the State Legislature of Tennessee for two successive terms, and then sent to Congress from his district for a number of terms. He won distinction for the eminent ability he displayed. He won a name that was national, and that will be handed down to the remotest posterity as among the proudest records of Tennessee’s history.

Mr. and Mrs. Hillman are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the former is also a Knight Templar.

It seldom happens that such a continued succession of names of the same family is identified with the same business or profession, and yet we find that from Daniel H. Hillman, who ran a forge in New Jersey, in 1814, to the present time, the name is closely associated with the iron industry; to Daniel H. Hillman, who died at Burksville with great plans in view for this mineral region, and the pioneer of its iron manufacture ; to Daniel Hillman, his son, who heralded her fame abroad, and was an earnest defender of her claims to recognition ; and especially to T. T. Hillman will Alabama ever pay the homage of true gratitude for their and his unswerving efforts to develop her mineral wealth.

- from Jefferson County and Birmingham Alabama: History and Biographical, edited by John Witherspoon Dubose and published in 1887 by Teeple & Smith / Caldwell Printing Works, Birmingham, Alabama

Is A Debt Management Plan Right For Me?

A debt management plan can be a very effective means of getting out of debt for many people. By allowing you to repay your debts at a slower pace, it can make your unmanageable debts a lot easier to deal with.

How a debt management plan works

In short, a debt management plan is an agreement between you and your creditors for lower repayments towards your debt, based on how much you can afford.

It’s possible to negotiate with your creditors for a debt management plan on your own, but this can be a time-consuming process. For that reason, many people prefer to use a debt management company, who can negotiate with creditors on their behalf.

As well as negotiating for lower monthly payments, it may also be possible to get a reduction or a freeze on interest rates and other charges, which can often enable you to repay your debts more quickly, as well as preventing them from growing.

Some people may feel it is unlikely that their creditors will accept lower payments towards the debts. But if it’s clear that you will be unable to repay your debts under the original terms, then most lenders will accept that it is a more realistic way for them to receive all the money they are owed.

Once your debt management plan begins, you will make a single monthly payment to your debt adviser, who will then divide this amongst your creditors in accordance with how much each is owed.

Who is debt management right for?

Typically, a debt management plan is suitable for people with multiple debts who are unable to meet the required monthly payments. However, a debt management plan is not suitable for everyone. You should always speak to a professional debt adviser before making a decision – they may advise you on another debt solution that meets your needs more effectively.

What other debt solutions should I consider?

There are a number of other debt solutions that can help you to avoid court action from your creditors, as well as the prospect of bankruptcy.

Debt consolidation loan

This is, in short, a new loan designed to repay your existing debts, after which you will repay your new creditor in single monthly payments.

Not only can this simplify your finances, it may also be possible to reduce your outgoings by spreading out your repayments. However, a longer repayment period means paying interest for longer, which means you could pay more overall.

That said, you could make a saving on the interest you pay if you are consolidating high-APR debts. As long as the interest rate on your debt consolidation loan is lower than the rates on your original debts, there’s a good chance you could save money.

You must be confident that you can afford your new payments before you take out a debt consolidation loan. If you can’t, then another debt solution may be more appropriate.

IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement)

An IVA is a legally-binding debt solution which allows you to avoid bankruptcy by agreeing to pay off a percentage of your debts at a more manageable pace, after which your remaining debts will be considered settled.

You will initially work with an Insolvency Practitioner to draw up an IVA proposal, which will then be sent to your creditors. Creditors accounting for 75% of your total debts must approve this proposal for the IVA to go ahead.

You will then make regular monthly payments to your Insolvency Practitioner, who will divide the money between your creditors. This normally continues for five years.

Be aware that if you’re a homeowner, you may have to release some of the equity in your home in the 54th month of your IVA (half way through the final year). You may also be required to contribute at least half of any additional income during your IVA, including pay increases, overtime pay and bonuses.

An established debt solutions business you can trust. We have always focused on the Introducer and their clients. The business offers an excellent service and a full range of debt solutions from a Debt Management Plan to Full and Final Settlement including Bankruptcy, Sale and Rent Back, IVA and Protected Trust Deeds in Scotland. Our business manages all of these debt solutions internally making sure clients have 1 port of call. Further information can be loacted at www.brilliantsolutions.co.uk or call us on 0845 459 2105
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Arizona Diamondbacks 9, Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona (23)


Image by Ken Lund
Chase Field (formerly Bank One Ballpark) is a baseball stadium located in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, and is the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. It opened in 1998 just in time for the Diamondbacks’ first game after coming to Arizona as an expansion team.

Construction on the park began in 1996, and was finished just before the Diamondbacks’ first season began, in 1998. It was only the second MLB stadium at the time to have a retractable roof (after Toronto’s SkyDome, now Rogers Centre; others are now in Houston, Milwaukee, and Seattle). It was also the first ballpark to feature natural grass in a retractable roof stadium.

It hosted Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 of the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. The Diamondbacks won all four games at Chase Field, then known as Bank One Ballpark, and won the world championship that year in dramatic fashion.

Chase Field was originally named Bank One Ballpark after Bank One of Chicago, giving rise to its nickname ("The BOB"). After Bank One merged with New York-based Chase, the name change was announced on September 23, 2005.

In March 2006, Chase Field played host to three first-round games of the World Baseball Classic.

Chase Field is to be the home to the 2011 All-Star Game.

Chase Field’s roof is opened or closed depending on the game-time temperature. When the decision is made to close the roof, it is left open for as long as possible before game time in order to keep the grass alive. Even when closed, the park’s design allows just enough sunlight to play in true daylight without overheating the stadium.

The roof is closed three hours before game time, and a massive HVAC system drops the temperature inside the park 30 degrees by the time the gates open. Originally, the HVAC system didn’t work above row 25 of the upper level, exposing fans in the higher rows to the full force of the often-oppressive heat typical of Arizona summers. However, recent changes keep virtually all of the facility in air-conditioned comfort.

Chase Field also has a swimming pool, located in right center field, which is rented to patrons for ,500 a game. The ballpark also features a dirt strip between home plate and the pitcher’s mound, one of only two current ballparks to do so (Comerica Park in Detroit is the other). This dirt strip was very common in old-time ballparks.

The park’s foul territory is somewhat larger than is the case for most ballparks built in the 1990s. With 80% of the seats in foul territory, the upper deck is one of the highest in the majors. However, the park’s luxury boxes are tucked far under the third deck, which keeps the upper deck closer to the action.

New in the 2008 season is a brand new High Definition scoreboard in centerfield. The new scoreboard is 46 ft (14 m). high and 136 ft (41 m). wide and it cost million. It is the 2nd largest HD screen in Major League Baseball behind Kauffman Stadium.

The stadium was once the home of the Insight Bowl, a college football bowl game from 2001-2005. In 2006, the bowl game moved to Sun Devil Stadium, to replace the Fiesta Bowl, which moved to University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. The football configuration was notable because of the lack of nets behind the goalposts and the dugout behind the south end zone. The final Insight Bowl played at Chase was between the hometown Arizona State Sun Devils and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

The stadium also hosts occasional concerts and international soccer games. For football and soccer, the field is set up with the end lines perpendicular to the third-base line and temporary bleachers added on the east side.

Chase Field has also staged nine women’s college basketball games. The second game, which was played on December 18, 2006, was shortened by rain with four minutes and 18 seconds remaining and Arizona State leading Texas Tech 61-45. Venue staff closed the roof in an effort to finish the game, but officials deemed the court unsafe. In 2000, ASU had played Tennessee at the same facility.

Chase Field was also the site of the "Challenge at Chase", a college baseball game between Arizona State and Arizona. Arizona won both contests.[5] There was no game scheduled in 2008 and in 2009.[6]

In February 2006, the Professional Bull Riders hosted a Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event at this venue. Chris Shivers won this event with a total score of 181.5 points on two bulls, including an impressive 93.75 (out of 100) points on Taylor Made bucking bull, Smokeless Wardance, in the short-go round.

Monster Jam comes to the field every year.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chase_Field

The Arizona Diamondbacks are a professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They play in the West Division of Major League Baseball’s National League. From 1998 to the present, they have played in Chase Field (formerly Bank One Ballpark). Also known as the D-backs, Arizona has one World Series title, in 2001.

Between 1940 and 1990, Phoenix jumped from the 99th largest city in the nation to the 9th largest. As such, it was frequently mentioned as a possible location for either a new or relocated MLB franchise. Baseball had a rich tradition in Arizona long before talk of bringing a big-league team even started. The state has been a frequent spring training site since 1946. With the large numbers of people relocating to the state from the Midwest and the Northeast, as well as from California, many teams (most notably the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers) have normally had large followings in Arizona.

The first serious attempt to land an expansion team for the Phoenix area was mounted by Elyse Doherty and Martin Stone, owner of the Phoenix Firebirds, the city’s Triple-A minor league baseball team and an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. In the late 1980s Stone approached St. Louis (football) Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill about sharing a proposed 70,000 seat domed stadium in Phoenix. It was taken for granted that a domed stadium was essential for a prospective baseball team to be a viable enterprise in the city. Phoenix is by far the hottest major city in North America; the average high temperature during baseball’s regular season is 99.1 °F, and temperatures above 120 °F in July and August are not unheard of, but have only occurred three times.

Bidwill, with plans already in the works to leave St. Louis, opted instead to sign a long term lease with Arizona State University to use its Sun Devil Stadium as the home of his soon-to-be Arizona-based NFL franchise. Since baseball-only stadiums were not seen as fiscally viable during that era, this effectively ended Stone’s bid.

In the fall of 1993, Jerry Colangelo, majority owner of the Phoenix Suns, the area’s NBA franchise, announced he was assembling an ownership group, "Arizona Baseball, Inc.," to apply for a Major League Baseball expansion team. This was after a great deal of lobbying by the Maricopa County Sports Authority, a local group formed to preserve Cactus League spring training in Arizona and eventually secure a Major League franchise for the state.

Colangelo’s group was so certain that they would be awarded a franchise that they held a name-the-team contest for it; they took out a full-page ad in the sports section of the February 13, 1995 edition of the state’s leading newspaper, the Arizona Republic. First prize was a pair of lifetime season tickets awarded to the person who submitted the winning entry. The winning choice was "Diamondbacks," after the Western diamondback, a rattlesnake native to the region known for injecting a large amount of venom when it strikes.

Colangelo’s bid received strong support from one of his friends, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, and media reports say that then-acting Commissioner of Baseball and Milwaukee Brewers founder Bud Selig was also a strong supporter of Colangelo’s bid.[1]Plans were also made for a new retractable-roof ballpark, Bank One Ballpark, nicknamed the BOB, (renamed in 2005 to Chase Field) to be built in an industrial/warehouse district on the southeast edge of downtown Phoenix, across the street from the Suns’ America West Arena (now US Airways Center).

On March 9, 1995, Colangelo’s group was awarded a franchise to begin play for the 1998 season. A 0 million franchise fee was paid to Major League Baseball. The Tampa Bay Area was also granted a franchise, the Devil Rays (to be based in St. Petersburg), at the same time.

According to the original press release from Colangelo’s group (which remained posted on the team website during the first few seasons) the chosen team colors were Arizona turquoise, copper, black and purple. "…Turquoise was chosen because the greenish-blue stone is indigenous to Arizona, copper because Arizona is one the nation’s top copper-producing states and purple because it has become a favorite color for Arizona sports fans, thanks to the success of the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns."[2]

In the earliest days, the Diamondbacks operated basically as a subsidiary of the Suns; several executives and managers with the Suns and America West Arena were brought over to the Diamondbacks in similar roles.

There was some talk (which actually persisted for a few years after the awarding of the franchise) about the Diamondbacks being placed in the American League West. Colangelo strongly opposed this, pushing baseball officials to allow the new team to play in the National League West. Colangelo cited the relative close proximity of Phoenix to the other NL West cities; the similarities between the two fast-growing cities of Phoenix and Denver (home to the Colorado Rockies); the long history of Arizona tourism to San Diego; the Firebirds’ long history as the Giants’ top farm team; and the fact that Dodgers, Giants and Padres games were broadcast in the Phoenix and Tucson markets for many years.

From the beginning, Colangelo wanted to market the Diamondbacks to a statewide fan base and not limit fan appeal to Phoenix and its suburbs. Although every Major League Baseball team cultivates fans from outside its immediate metropolitan area, and even though the greater Phoenix area has 2/3 of the entire statewide population, Colangelo still decided to call the team the "Arizona Diamondbacks" rather than the "Phoenix Diamondbacks". Many in Phoenix were not pleased by this; they felt this move lent a "small market" tincture to the team’s name. However, fans in other areas of the state generally embraced the "Arizona" title as a positive move to help make the team a regional team for the entire state, rather than just for the state’s largest city and capitol.

Tucson, Arizona’s second largest city, located about a 90-minute drive southeast of Phoenix, was selected as the home for Diamondbacks spring training as well as the team’s top minor league affiliate, the Tucson Sidewinders. Radio and television broadcast deals were struck with affiliates in Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott, and Las Vegas; among others.

A series of team-sponsored fan motorcoach trips from Tucson to Bank One Ballpark were inaugurated for the opening season and are still in operation to this day (it is now known as the "Diamond Express"). The Diamondbacks are also known for the "Hometown Tour", held in January, where selected players, management and broadcasters make public appearances, hold autograph signings, etc., in various locations around Phoenix and Tucson, as well as many small and mid-sized towns in other areas of Arizona.

Two seasons before their first opening day, Colangelo hired Buck Showalter, the American League Manager of the Year in 1994 with the New York Yankees.

Their lower level minor league teams began play in 1997; the expansion draft was held that year as well.

The Diamondbacks’ first major league game was played against the Colorado Rockies on March 31, 1998, at Bank One Ballpark before a standing-room only crowd of 50,179. Tickets had gone on sale on January 10 and sold out before lunch. The Rockies won, 9–2, with Andy Benes on the mound for the Diamondbacks, and Travis Lee being the first player to hit, score, homer and drive in a run.

In their first five seasons of existence, the Diamondbacks won three division titles (1999, 2001, & 2002) and one World Series (2001). In 1999, Arizona won 100 games in only its second season to win the National League West. They lost to the New York Mets in four games in the NLDS.

Colangelo fired Showalter after a relatively disappointing 2000 season, and replaced him with Bob Brenly, the former Giants catcher and coach, who had up to that point been working as a color analyst on Diamondbacks television broadcasts.

In 2001, the team was led by two of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball: Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. Arizona had postseason victories over the St. Louis Cardinals (3-2 in the NLDS) and the Atlanta Braves (4-1 in the NLCS) to advance to the World Series where, in one of the most exciting series ever, in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York City, they beat the reigning champions, the New York Yankees, 4 to 3, to become the youngest expansion franchise to win the World Series (in just their fourth season of play). That classic World Series is chronicled in Charles Euchner’s book The Last Nine Innings (Sourcebooks, 2006). The series was also seen as the beginning of the end of the Yankees’ stranglehold on baseball glory, as profiled in Buster Olney’s book The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty. All games in that series were won by the home team.

An estimated orderly crowd of over 300,000 celebrated at the Diamondbacks victory parade, held at Bank One Ballpark and the surrounding downtown Phoenix streets on November 7, 2001. This was the first major professional sports championship for the state of Arizona and the first for a team (in the four major North American professional sports leagues) owned or controlled by Colangelo, whose basketball Suns made it to the NBA Finals in 1976 and 1993 but lost both times. (Colangelo’s Arizona Rattlers won the Arena Football League championship in 1994 and 1997.) Colangelo’s willingness to go into debt and acquire players through free agency would ultimately lead to one of the quickest free falls in major sports history when in just three years, the Diamondbacks would record one of the worst losing records in all of major league baseball by losing 111 games.

The team won the NL West Division Title again in 2002, but were swept out in the NLDS by the St. Louis Cardinals.

By the 2004 season, however, the Diamondbacks had dropped to a dismal 51-111 record, the worst in Major League Baseball that year and also one of the 10 worst records in the past 100 years of MLB, despite Johnson pitching a perfect game on May 18 of that season. Brenly was fired partway through the season and was replaced on an interim basis by coach Al Pedrique. Before the season co-MVP (with Johnson) of the 2001 World Series Curt Schilling had been traded to the Boston Red Sox, who won the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

By this time Colangelo and the other partners were embroiled in a dispute over the financial health and direction of the Diamondbacks (and notably including over 0 million dollars in deferred compensation to many players who were key members of the 2001 World Series winning team and others). He was forced to resign his managing general partner post in the late summer of 2004.

Colangelo sold his interest in the General Partnership of the Diamondbacks to a group of investors who were all involved as partners in the founding of the team in 1995. The investors include equal partners Ken Kendrick, Dale Jensen, Mike Chipman, and Jeffrey Royer. Jeff Moorad, a former sports agent, joined the partnership, and was named the team’s CEO; becoming its primary public face. Ken Kendrick became the managing general partner.

Colangelo was sharply criticized for plunging the team into over 0 million in debt to secure the services of expensive veterans in order to field a competitive team quickly. In a 2004 interview with columnist Hal Bodley of USA TODAY, Colangelo defended his actions:

“ I understand where some people felt I wasn’t doing it appropriately. The only analogy I can use is that Tampa Bay (the other ’98 expansion team) went one direction and where did they end up? (Six last-place finishes and low attendance)…We went another direction to establish a fan base because our investment was much larger than Tampa Bay’s. And we put so much money into our own stadium (0 million). After the first year and the decrease in season tickets, I was convinced we had to build a fan base …We bought three division titles, a World Series and established a fan base …
…I believe what we did will last a long, long time …Right or wrong, a number of teams today are in the million payroll range and competitive – Oakland, Minnesota, Texas are examples. Our goal was to get returns from our farm system. We built into our cash-flow that we would be paying out the deferments and that our payroll could drop to million for a few years …A few things hurt us …The economy was bad, and I was hoping for more national money (from baseball’s central fund) coming in.[5] ”

Also a factor in Colangelo’s leaving his post was his advancing age: Colangelo was 64 years of age in 2004, and had he not sold his sports franchises, upon his death, his family would have been faced with having to pay high estate taxes based on the value of the Diamondbacks as well as the Suns (which he sold to Robert Sarver in the spring of 2004).[6]

Following the 2004 season, the Diamondbacks hired Wally Backman to be the team’s manager. Backman was formerly manager of the Class A California League Lancaster JetHawks, one of the Diamondbacks’ minor-league affiliates. In a turn of events that proved to be a minor embarrassment for the reorganized ownership group, Backman was almost immediately fired after management learned, after the fact, of legal troubles and improprieties in Backman’s past. Former Seattle Mariners manager and Diamondbacks bench coach Bob Melvin became the new manager after only a ten-day tenure for Backman.

Following the Backman incident, the Diamondbacks spent heavily on free agents in order to re-build into a contender. The club signed 3B Troy Glaus, P Russ Ortiz, SS Royce Clayton, and 2B Craig Counsell, among others. They then traded Randy Johnson to the New York Yankees, for Javier Vazquez, Dioner Navarro, and Brad Halsey. They then turned around and dealt newly acquired catcher Dioner Navarro to the Dodgers for Shawn Green, and sent Shea Hillenbrand to the Toronto Blue Jays. Finally, they traded Casey Fossum to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for José Cruz, Jr.

The Diamondbacks, led by Melvin, finished the 2005 season with a record of 77 wins and 85 losses. However, this was a 26-game improvement over 2004, and actually good enough for second place in the woefully weak NL West, five games behind the San Diego Padres.

The Diamondbacks were considered by some to be the favorite to win the division after spending big money on the aforementioned free agents; however, injuries hurt the team’s chances of reaching its expected potential.

Starting pitcher Ortiz was out for some time which really hurt the pitching staff. Glaus played with a hurt knee all season. Of all the free agents that signed before the season, no one had a better season than first baseman Tony Clark. Clark started the season as a bench player and ended the season starting and being an important part of the team. Clark was rewarded with a new contract at the end of the season.

In October 2005 the Diamondbacks hired 35-year-old Josh Byrnes, assistant general manager of the Boston Red Sox, to replace the out-going Joe Garagiola, Jr. as Diamondbacks General Manager. Garagiola took a position in Major League Baseball’s main offices in New York City.

In a weak NL West division, the Diamondbacks failed to improve on their 2005 performance, finishing fourth with a slightly worse record than the year before. The season did include two excellent individual performances, however. 2B Orlando Hudson became the recipient of his second career Gold Glove Award, as announced on November 3. Hudson became only the sixth infielder in major league history to win a Gold Glove award in both the American and National Leagues. He first received the award after the 2005 season as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, and was traded to the Diamondbacks later that offseason. On November 14, it was announced that RHP Brandon Webb was the recipient of the Cy Young Award for the National League. Webb, a specialist in throwing the sinkerball, received 15 of 32 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Webb went 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA and in the 2006 season was named to his first All-Star team. San Diego Padres relief pitcher Trevor Hoffman was second place in the voting with 12 first-place votes and 77 points.

In preparation for the next season, the Diamondbacks made several significant trades during the offseason. The Diamondbacks and Brewers made a trade on November 25, 2006. Johnny Estrada, Greg Aquino, and Claudio Vargas were dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers for Doug Davis, Dana Eveland, and Dave Krynzel.[7] On Sunday January 7, it was announced that Randy Johnson would return to the Diamondbacks on a two year contract, pending a physical. He was obtained from the Yankees in exchange for Luis Vizcaino, Ross Ohlendorf, Alberto Gonzalez and Steven Jackson. The Yankees will pay million of Johnson’s million salary. The Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins made a deal March 26 to acquire RHP Yusmeiro Petit in exchange for Jorge Julio and cash.

The Diamondbacks announced in early September 2006 that their uniforms, which remained largely unchanged since the team’s first season, would be completely redesigned for the 2007 season.[8] Details were supposed to be kept from the public until after the 2006 postseason as per MLB rules, but the Diamondback page from the 2007 MLB Official Style Guide was somehow leaked around September 25, and local media broadcast printed the new design for all to see. Of great surprise to many fans was a brand new color scheme; apparently the original colors used by the franchise since Major League Baseball awarded it to Jerry Colangelo’s ownership group in 1995 were to be discontinued.

While some fans applauded the redesign, most of the reaction to the new color scheme, which included the changing of the historical purple and traditional Arizonan colors of copper and turquoise to a reddish color known as "Sedona Red" similar to that of the Phoenix Coyotes and Arizona Cardinals color schemes, was pointedly negative.[9][10][11]

Many fans went so far as to call the 2007 D-backs a new and completely different team, calling the 2007 season a "re-inaugural year"; some fans in Tucson had banners reading; "Arizona Diamondbacks 1998-2006 – Arizona D-Backs 2007- " or "Exit Diamondbacks Enter D-Backs" and "Exit Purple Enter Sedona."

The official unveiling of the uniforms came at a charity event on November 8 in nearby Scottsdale, where several of the players modeled the uniforms on a runway, and posed for publicity photos.

The distinctive "A" design remained unchanged save for the colors. The stylized snake-like "D" logo, also used since the early days for the road uniforms, was slightly redesigned and a completely new shoulder patch introduced. The lettering on the jerseys was completely redesigned.

"Sedona Red" became the dominant color scheme used throughout Chase Field and in all marketing and promotional materials for the Diamondback ballclub.

After winning the opening game of the season on March 31 on the road against the Cincinnati Reds, the Diamondbacks found themselves with the best record in Major League Baseball, 20-8, by the start of May. At that time, they also led the NL West by 6.5 games. They lost the first series in May against the New York Mets, the first series lost since the opening series against the Reds. The Diamondbacks continued to lead the NL west despite only being 47-48 at the All-Star break.

On July 17, 2008, Tony Clark was traded back to the D-backs from the San Diego Padres for a minor league pitcher, Evan Scribner.

On August 5, Dan Haren signed a four-year, .75 million deal with the Diamondbacks worth a guaranteed .25 million through 2012 and including a .5 million club option for 2013 with a .5 million buyout.[12]

Orlando Hudson, one of the more consistent offensive D-backs players in 2008, underwent season-ending surgery on his left wrist August 9 in the wake of a collision with catcher Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves. Hudson is due to become a free agent at the end of the season and speculation is that he will not be re-signed with the Diamondbacks, because he wants money.[citation needed]

LF Eric Byrnes was on the 60-day disabled list from late June, with a torn left hamstring, and was out for the remainder of the season.

On August 11, 2008, Dallas Buck, RHP Micah Owings, and C Wilkin Castillo were traded to the Reds (in last place in the NL Central at the time) in exchange for OF Adam Dunn. Dunn, who was tied for the major league lead with 32 home runs, was expected to provide a significant boost to an offense that has struggled to score runs for most of the season. Dunn seemed quite positive about being traded to a ballclub in first place in its division in August.[13] The move was seen by some fans[who?] as a belated attempt by the D-backs to counter the trade by their division rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, for Boston Red Sox power-hitting OF Manny Ramirez on July 31 and also to compensate for the injuries to Hudson and Byrnes, generally considered two of the more "power-hitting" Diamondbacks on a team which has relied heavily on pitching and defense in recent years.

Owings, once considered an excellent pitching prospect for the Diamondbacks, struggled in the 2008 campaign with a 7.09 ERA after April 21.[14][dated info]

On August 31, the Diamondbacks acquired former World Series MVP David Eckstein to fill the hole at secondbase which was opened after Orlando Hudson was placed on the disabled list. Eckstein was traded from the Toronto Blue Jays for Minor League pitcher Chad Beck.[15]

They finished the season with a record of 82-80, (good for second in the NL West to the Los Angeles Dodgers).

The primary television play-by-play voice for the team’s first nine seasons of play was Thom Brennaman, who also broadcasts baseball and college football games nationally for FOX Television. Brennaman was the TV announcer for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds (along with his father Marty Brennaman) before being hired by Diamondbacks founder Jerry Colangelo in 1996, two years before the team would begin play.

In October 2006, Brennaman left the Diamondbacks to call games with his father for the Reds beginning in 2007, signing a 4-year deal (his FOX duties remained unchanged).

The English language flagship radio station is KTAR. Greg Schulte is the regular radio play-by-play voice, a 25-year veteran of sports radio in the Phoenix market, also well-known for his previous work on Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals and Arizona State University (ASU) broadcasts. In February 2007 he agreed to a contract extension through at least the 2011 season.

Jeff Munn is a backup radio play-by-play announcer; he served as the regular public address announcer at Chase Field in the early days of the franchise. He is well-known to many Phoenix area sports fans, having also served as the public address announcer for the Suns at America West Arena (now US Airways Center) in the 1990s. He is also the play-by-play radio voice for ASU women’s basketball.

On November 1, 2006, the team announced that the TV voice of the Milwaukee Brewers since 2002, Daron Sutton, would be hired as the Diamondbacks primary TV play-by-play voice. Sutton was signed to a five-year contract with a team option for three more years. Sutton is considered one of the best of the younger generation of baseball broadcasters. His signature chants include "lets get some runs" when the D-Backs trail in late innings. Sutton’s father is Hall of Fame pitcher and current Atlanta Braves broadcaster Don Sutton.[16]

Former Diamondback and Chicago Cub Mark Grace and former Major League knuckleball pitcher Tom Candiotti were the Diamondbacks primary color analysts for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Former Diamondback player (and current Diamondbacks minority owner) Matt Williams also does color commentary on occasion, as does former Cardinals and NBC broadcast legend Joe Garagiola, Sr.., a longtime Phoenix-area resident and father of Joe Garagiola, Jr., the first GM of the Diamondbacks (as head of the Maricopa County Sports Authority in the early 1990s, Garagiola, Jr. was one of the primary people involved in Phoenix obtaining a Major League Baseball franchise).

The Diamondbacks announced in July 2007[17] that for the 2008 season, all regionally broadcast Diamondback TV games will be shown exclusively on FSN Arizona; and a few could possibly be shown on the national MLB on FOX telecasts. FSN Arizona is currently seen in 2.8 million households in Arizona & New Mexico. The previous flagship station, since the inaugural 1998 season, was KTVK, a popular over-the-air independent station in Phoenix.

Spanish broadcasts The flagship Spanish language radio station is KSUN AM 1400 with Miguel Quintana and Arthuro Ochoa as the regular announcers. They are sometimes joined by Richard Saenz or Oscar Soria.

Games are also televised in Spanish on KPHE-LP with Oscar Soria and Jerry Romo as the announcers.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Diamondbacks

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