Jim Leyland, who was certain the call to Cooperstown wouldn’t come, had gone upstairs to lie down after leaving his living room in Thornburg, Pennsylvania.
He said, “They had told us it would be between 6:30 and 7:15, but I went up just to rest for a minute and kind of gather my thoughts because I thought it wouldn’t happen if I didn’t get it by a quarter to seven.”
The phone rang just as son Pat came upstairs. Two weeks shy of his 79th birthday, Leyland had been voted in by Hall chairman Jane Forbes Clark, who was on the line.
Leyland remarked, “There was a tear in my eye.”
Leyland, a fun and occasionally sour manager who won 1,769 regular-season games over 22 seasons and guided the Florida Marlins to a World Series championship in 1997 was selected Sunday with 15 out of 16 votes by the committee for managers, executives, and umpires in the modern era. The hall’s twenty-third manager is now him.
Sincere, vulgar, and a chronic cigarette smoker, Leyland personified the stereotypical prickly baseball grizzled old man with a rough yet sage voice. Although he is ranked second behind Joe McCarthy among managers who never played in the major leagues, he is ranked 18th overall in career manager wins. In addition, he tied Clark Griffith for the 10th most ejections in major league history with 73.
Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Larry Walker, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer were among the players for Leyland.
Leyland stated, “I believe that young people, young athletes, are looking for discipline.” Thus, even though players are excellent players, I believe that occasionally they experience insecurities just like the rest of us. And it seems to me that they’re constantly searching for that leadership. I made an effort to convey to them the difficulties of playing this game and what it meant to be a professional. Additionally, I complimented them on their excellence nearly every day.
Lou Piniella, a former player and manager, missed the mark by one vote once more, having received eleven in 2018. Bill White, the NL President, a former player, and broadcaster, was too shy.
Less than five votes were cast for general manager Hank Peters, umpires Ed Montague and Joe West, and managers Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson.
From 1986 until 2013, Leyland was the manager of Pittsburgh, Florida, Colorado, and Detroit. Along with players selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose voting will be revealed on January 23, he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 21.
Players who qualified for the BBWAA ballot for the first time in the current vote include Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, David Wright, José Bautista, and Matt Holliday. Holdovers Billy Wagner, who was 27 votes short this year, and Todd Helton, who was 11 votes short.
Leyland was raised in Perrysburg, an Ohio suburb of Toledo. From 1965 to 1970, he played third base and minor league catcher for the Tigers organization. He never made it above Double-A and ended his career with a.222 batting average, four home runs, and 102 RBIs.
“I understood how hard it was to play the game, being not a very good player myself,” he remarked.
After serving as a minor league coach for the Tigers, Leyland began managing Bristol of the Appalachian Rookie League in 1971. He left the Tigers after 11 seasons as a minor league manager to work as Tony La Russa’s third base coach with the Chicago White Sox from 1982 to 1985. He then started a major league managerial career, managing the Pirates from 1986 to 1996.
It was reported that the Pittsburgh Press published the headline “Jim Who?”
Indeed, Leyland replied, “It was ‘Jim Who?’ when I arrived and, you know, I’m still here.” “People know me a little better now than when I first came here, at least.”
In 1992, Pittsburgh came within one game of winning a World Series trip before Francisco Cabrera’s two-run single in Game 7 secured Atlanta’s NL pennant. After ace pitcher Doug Drabek and free agent player Bonds left, the Pirates collapsed, and Leyland left following Pittsburgh’s fourth consecutive losing season in 1996. He selected the Marlins over the White Sox, Red Sox, and Angels five days after his last game.
The following year, in the team’s fifth season, Florida emerged victorious, becoming the youngest expansion team to do so at the time. However, the Marlins let go of their veterans and lost to the Rockies 54-108 in 1998. Leyland then joined the Rockies. After one season, he resigned and went on to work as a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals, claiming he lacked the necessary passion.
Leyland then admitted, “I did a terrible job my last year of managing.” I was burnt out and I stunk. I honestly thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it again when I left. .. I’ve always been late to the competition, but in the last few years, something has been bothering me a little bit: I didn’t want my managerial career to end that way.
Before the 2006 season, he took over as Tigers manager from Alan Trammell, a position he held until 2013.
Leyland’s teams had six victories and a 1,769–1,728 record. In 2006, after losing a five-game World Series to St. Louis, he won the American League pennant. In 2012, San Francisco defeated him handily. Manager of the Year in 1990, 1992, and 2006, Leyland led the United States to their lone World Baseball Classic championship in 2017.
He is now surrounded by the elite.
It’s the last stop, according to Leyland. It doesn’t get any better than landing there in Cooperstown. That’s the ultimate. It’s not what I expected to happen. Most likely, not many do. However, it did, and I’m sure I’ll like it.