Manager of Arizona Diamondbacks had history of arrest, financial difficulties

Wally Backman, briefly the manager of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Arizona Diamondbacks, was discovered to have a history of financial problems and brushes with the law. According to The Background Investigator, this information originally leaked in the New York Times. The news source reported that despite the findings, Backman was not immediately removed from his position. He would be after four days, according to Sports Illustrated. Team officials had no knowledge of any of Backman's past infractions, admitting that although they had asked former associates about him, they had failed to conduct a background check of any kind. After such a check was completed, they dismissed him as manager of the Diamondbacks. It surfaced that Backman's criminal history consisted of two arrests, one in 1999 for driving under the influence in Washington, the other during 2001 for an assault, to which he plead guilty. His money problems were more recent, as he was discovered to have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2003, which he attributed to tax liens incurred as a result of unintentional financial errors.