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Jim Leyland credits Barry Bonds, star players with selection to Baseball Hall
Jim Leyland, the fiery skipper who was known for turning fledgling teams into winners during his 22 years as a baseball manager, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Dec. 3 by the HOF Contemporary Era Committee.
The 78-year-old Leyland was the only one to be elected of the eight candidates on the ballot, which also included: managers Lou Piniella, Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson; executive Hank Peters; former player, broadcaster and National League president Bill White; and umpires Ed Montague and Joe West.
Leyland will be inducted into baseball’s shrine on July 21 at a ceremony for the Hall’s class of 2024 in Cooperstown. He is the first manager elected since 2013, when Tony La Russa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox joined the rarefied ranks of baseball’s immortals. Leyland will be only the 23rd manager enshrined in Cooperstown.
“When you go into the Hall of Fame as a manager, somewhere along the line you have to had been blessed with a lot of great players,” the gray-haired, crusty, former baseball field general said.
Leyland certainly was blessed with talented players throughout his managerial career (1986–1999, 2006–2013), including Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Larry Walker and Miguel Cabrera. He managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers. As a manager, Leyland compiled 1,769 career wins.
“I’m going into the Hall of Fame because of the players I had, if you want to know the truth. That’s how every manager makes it. It’s all about the players,” the modest skipper said.
But Leyland had a reputation for working well with his players; not only was he respected by them, he was beloved by them as well. Bonds, the former Pirates and San Francisco Giants standout, once famously said he’d run through a brick wall for Jim Leyland.
“I learned how to handle the players by listening to them, talking to them, and keeping one ear open and one eye open. I listened to those guys a lot and they were a big influence on me,” the veteran manager said.
Leyland noted that just getting on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era Committee ballot was a big thrill for him. He acknowledged that there are few sure things in life and didn’t really think he was going to be elected when all the votes were counted.
“I was given an itinerary on how things were going to go on the day of the vote. If I was elected, I was told I was going to get a call from the Hall of Fame between 6:30 and 7:15 p.m. When I didn’t get the call by ten minutes to seven, I thought it wasn’t going to happen. Then the phone rang,” he said with a smile. “I was shocked, surprised. I really didn’t know how this was all going to play out.”
The popular baseball manager reflected on how difficult it is for anyone in the game to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: “This is not an easy place to get in. It’s not an easy place for a superstar player or a broadcaster to enter. To end up here at the end of a career is very special, but it’s very tough to get here.”
From 1986-96, Leyland was at the helm of the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he helped rebuild the franchise, guiding players like Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, Doug Drabek and Jay Bell. The team won three straight NL East Division titles (1990–92) and appeared in three straight National League Championship Series, but ended up losing the NLCS all three times. They were defeated by the Cincinnati Reds in six games in 1990, and by the Atlanta Braves in 1991 and 1992. Both series against the Braves went seven games.
Following his 1996 season with the Pirates, Leyland got an intriguing offer from the Florida (now Miami) Marlins to manage their talent-laden major league team. That Marlins featured outfielders Gary Sheffield and Moises Alou; infielders Edgar Renteria, Craig Counsell and Bonilla; and pitchers Al Leiter, Liván Hernández and Kevin Brown. Still, it was something of a risk for Leyland because the franchise was only five years old. And, though they had some big stars, the Marlins players had to gel as a team.
But the now-seasoned manager accepted the offer, having built a reputation for developing a camaraderie among his players on the Pirates teams he piloted. The skipper treated each of his players as equals, noting that the players on the bench were just as important to the team as its everyday stars. And Leyland took the Marlins to the World Series.
The Marlins, who won 92 regular-season games in 1997, captured the NL wild card, and then went on to win the NLDS 3 games to 0 against the Giants, and the NLCS 4 games to 2 over the Braves. Then they defeated the Cleveland Indians in the Fall Classic in a thrilling seven-game series. The Marlins became the first wild card team to win it all.
Leyland stayed with the Marlins for another season, even though he was upset that team owner Wayne Huizenga dismantled the team in the offseason in what became known as the “fire sale.” The 1998 Marlins, a shadow of their 1997 incarnation, only won 54 games and finished fifth in the National League East.
The new Hall of Fame manager resigned from the Marlins after the 1998 campaign and took a job with the Colorado Rockies for 1999. He won his 1,000th game as a manager on April 15, 1999, but his tenure with the team was rocky. Leyland said he was always a pitcher’s manager, and he did not like managing in Coors Field, known as a hitters’ ballpark. He called going to Denver “a bad decision for me.” He left the team after the 1999 season. The Rockies finished last in the NL West that year, with only 72 wins.
As a change of pace, Leyland became a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals for the next six years.
After the 2005 season, the Detroit Tigers, who had put together a streak of 12 straight losing campaigns, came knocking on Leyland’s door. The Tigers had originally signed Leyland to a professional baseball contract as a catcher in 1963, but he never made it to the major leagues as a player. Now he would become the skipper of the Detroit Tigers.
“You could say it took me a long time to get to the majors in the Tigers organization,” he quipped.
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Leyland managed the Tigers from 2006-2013. His lineup cards in Detroit showcased players like Placido Polanco, Curtis Granderson, Magglio Ordóñez, Ivan Rodriguez, Justin Verlander, and eventually, Miguel Cabrera.
Under Leyland’s tutelage, the 2006 Tigers won 95 games and entered the postseason as a wild card team. They defeated the Yankees 3 games to 1 in the ALDS, and then swept the Oakland A’s in the ALCS and won the American League pennant. The 2006 Tigers faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, but lost in five games.
Leyland was named Manager of the Year three times (1990 and 1992, both with the Pirates; and 2006 with the Tigers).
He stayed with the Tigers through 2013, and then retired. But he came out of retirement in 2017 to manage Team USA in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and the team won the WBC title.
