TUCSON - A year ago, going through Clint Hurdle's spring reading list, I came across Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx. The Rockies manager tried to explain it to me, but I didn't get it.

The next time I saw him, in Denver after the team came north, he gave me a copy. It was my best read of the summer, a reminder of all the positive things sport can be about, and in particular, its value as a language between fathers and sons.

I was reminded of it this winter when The Dude, now 17, bought himself a new-age Cubs hat, the kind with a cockeyed, miniature logo, so you can wear the bill off to one side, in the current style, and still show your allegiance front and center.

My dad and my son never met, but this is their connection. Thirty-five years apart, we shared the same vantage point at Wrigley Field.

Marx's book reintroduces Joe Ehrmann, the former Baltimore Colts defensive lineman who went on to coach high school football in a thoroughly unorthodox way. I won't say more because if you're a sports fan, you should read the book. But Hurdle has been mulling bringing in Ehrmann to talk to his baseball team ever since.

"We're still working on it," he said Thursday before the Rocks took the field for their second Cactus League game of the year. "I've got to pick the right spot because I don't want to hit them out of left field with something.

"I like to create opportunities just to keep these guys aware of other things besides baseball and what they do, to help them enjoy more what they do. Times are different. These guys have challenges we didn't have as players, and I'm just trying to find ways to lighten the load."

It has been widely publicized that this is a make- or-break year for Hurdle as Rockies manager. It's the last year of his contract, and owner Charlie Monfort has declared the Rocks will win more than they lose or he'll be gone. For your normal baseball lifer, this would be a sensitive subject. For Hurdle, it's not.

"I spend minimal time in the what-if," he said. "I keep more focus on doing my job rather than worrying about losing my job or keeping my job. I need to have a better year. Our coaching staff needs to have a good year. Our players need to have a good year."

Jobs hanging by a threat are not unusual in baseball or pro sports generally. Hurdle has enjoyed a long run for a manager that hasn't had a winning season, although anyone who has followed the Rockies' personnel machinations during that span would put the manager about 23rd on the list of relevant factors.

There also is a certain irony in Hurdle being the one to walk the plank while Monfort, who sets the budget, and general manager Dan O'Dowd, who chooses the players, wait for the splash.

Four years ago, as the free-agent signings of Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle were blowing up in the Rockies' faces, it was Hurdle who was asked to be the public face of the franchise. Neither Monfort nor O'Dowd had enough credibility for the job. Now that the organization is getting back on its feet with a rebuilt farm system, the guy who held it together in those days will be first out the door if the team fails to produce.

"Sure, it's fair," Hurdle said with a shrug. "I mean, I don't have any problem with other people's expectations because they're theirs. I honor them.

"I don't think there's many jobs in society that you can be mediocre and keep, regardless of what your role might be in your personal evaluation. There's areas that I hope I've grown in. There's no handbook to read coming into this job. There's no CliffsNotes. Some things you need to figure out through experience.

"It's like the old story. A guy tells his friend he has real good judgment. The friend says, 'How'd you get it?' The guy goes, 'Through experience.' The friend says, 'How'd you get that?' And the guy goes, 'Through bad judgment.' " Hurdle laughed.

I happen to believe the Rocks will be good enough this season to get Hurdle a new contract, but I also know Hurdle will be fine either way. This is not exactly a one-dimensional fellow. At the moment, he's working on some Season of Life lessons in his own life.

"If my relationship with my father would have ended the day before I read that book, it would have been good in my mind," he said. "But after I read the book, it was OK at best. I just thought there were ways to enhance it. There's a follow-up book, Questions For My Father, you should check out."

This time, I won't need to be told twice.

kriegerd@RockyMountainNews.com