Jul 20, 2024 By John Sacco 5 min read

By John Sacco

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The secret to Jim Leyland’s success as a big-league manager wasn’t what he knew about the game of baseball — that knowledge was obvious — but what he understands about people.

He stayed present. He was involved. He was there every day for any of his players, coaches and teams.

Leyland put on his spikes, each day, and he worked hard to speak, for at least a moment or two, to each of his players. He often put a hand on their back or their shoulder to be in touch. He asked them how their families were and how they were doing personally.

He is beloved in Pittsburgh and Detroit.

“I doubt that anyone has been welcomed like I was in Pittsburgh,” Leyland said. “To have that relationship — to touch a lot of hands, sign a lot of autographs and hopefully touch a lot of hearts – like I had.

“I don’t think anybody will ever have what I have in Pittsburgh. If somebody asked me to write a book about how I feel about Pittsburgh, I couldn’t ever adequately explain it.”

Leyland will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, N.Y.

He will be inducted with Todd Helton, former Colorado Rockies first baseman, Adrian Beltre, third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers, and Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Maurer.

It is the final step for Leyland in a career odyssey for a man who never thought he’d be a major league manager or lead a team to a World Series championship, which he did with the Florida Marlins in 1987.

Pirates general manager Syd Thrift hired him from the Chicago White Sox where he was Tony LaRussa’s third base coach.

While speaking at the Marlins’ World Series championship parade, Leyland bared his soul and inspired with an emotional message.

“This is every little boy’s dream,” Leyland explained. “I think you have that dream for a period of time in your life. All of the sudden you get that opportunity and sign your first pro contract. For a temporary period, you turn into a man.

“In 1997, after you achieved that (championship), it’s like the Lion King – the full circle of life. And you turn once again into that little boy.”

Jim who?

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Thrift gave him his first managerial opportunity in 1985.

Jim who? That was the headline in one Pittsburgh newspaper the day after Leyland was hired by the Pirates. He was a non-descript third base coach for the Chicago White Sox.

Everyone knows “Jim who” now.

In five years in Pittsburgh, he turned a franchise, which nearly went extinct in 1985, into a National League East Division champion three straight seasons.

While his Pirates never made it to the World Series, Leyland made his mark by doing whatever he could to make the Pirates better and create excitement for the organization and team.

“Everybody likes Skip,” said former Pirates Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek. “He allowed you to be yourself and have fun. In return, he drew a line. He let everyone know where the line was. If you crossed it, you were in is backyard.

“If he’d get mad at you, and he had his blowups but next day he circled around the infield and outfield, talking to as many guys as he could. Guys respected he’d let you be yourself. But everyone knew he was in charge.”

Leyland left Pittsburgh after the 1996 season, tired of losing and the Pirates ownership’s lack of interest in procuring the type of players the franchise allowed to walk away as free agents or trade away after the three-year run from 1990 through 1992.

It was a tough separation.

“Nobody has done more for the Pittsburgh Pirates than Jim Leyland other than Steve Blass,” said longtime Pirates play-by-play man Lanny Frattare. “He stood on corners actually trying to sell the Pirates and (game) tickets. He is one of the most blunt, straightforward and candid people in the world.

“Everyone needs a friend like Jim. I am thrilled for him.”

Top credentials

Leyland, 78, won 1,769 games in 22 seasons managing the Pirates (1986-96), Marlins (1997-98), Colorado Rockies (1999) and Detroit Tigers (2006-13).

Leyland’s Marlins won the World Series in 1997, defeating Cleveland in seven games. He was a three-time Manager of the Year (1990, 1992 and 2006) and managed the U.S. to the 2017 World Baseball Classic title, the only time the U.S. won that championship.

He is the only manager to defeat the New York Yankees in three consecutive postseason matchups (2006, ’11 and ’12).

Leyland returned to managing with the Detroit Tigers and almost immediately turned the team into a winner and consistent ALCS and World Series contender.

He was brought to Detroit by general manager David Dombrowski. The two worked together with the White Sox and Dombrowski brought Leyland to Florida.

Leyland’s Tigers won two American League championships but lost both years in the World Series, first falling to St. Louis and then to San Francisco.

In his career, his teams made the playoffs eight times and won three league pennants.

Leyland managed three of the greatest players in the history of the game in outfielder Barry Bonds in Pittsburgh and first baseman Miguel Cabrera and pitcher Justin Verlander in Detroit, both future first ballot Hall of Famers.

He grew up in Perrysburg, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo and lived in the Pittsburgh area full-time ever since becoming Pirates manager after the 1985 season. Leyland’s wife, Katie, is a native of Greensburg, and both of their now-grown children were born and raised in Western Pennsylvania.

Perhaps Rich Donnelly, Leyland’s longtime assistant, explained it best some years ago: “In the clubhouse, he was like one of the guys. But when it came time, he was the boss. That was the genius of Jim Leyland.”