The Corridor of Fame Requires Jim Leyland

Jim Leyland is headed to Cooperstown. The 78-year-old former supervisor of the Pirates, Marlins, Rockies, and Tigers was the one candidate elected by the 2024 Modern Baseball Period Committee for Managers/Executives/Umpires, which met on Sunday on the Winter Conferences in Nashville to think about eight figures who made their biggest influence from 1980 to the current. In his first look on an Period Committee poll, the 78-year-old former skipper acquired 15 of 16 votes (93.8%) from a panel of Corridor of Famers, executives and media members/historians.

In a 22-year managerial profession with Pittsburgh (1986–96), Florida (197–98), Colorado (1999) and Detroit (2006–13), Leyland led his groups to the playoffs eight instances, profitable a World Collection with the Marlins in 1997, a pair of pennants with the Tigers in 2006 and ’12, and 6 division titles. He ranks 18th in profession common season wins (1,769) however was solely 41 video games above .500 for his profession, with a .506 profitable proportion; his file included some lean years with groups that had been torn down and weren’t prone to compete. When given the sources to take action by possession, he was fairly profitable, guiding seven groups to at the very least 90 wins. He was a three-time Supervisor of the Yr, profitable the NL award with the Pirates in 1990 and ’92 and with the Tigers in 2006.

Leyland was his period’s archetype of an old-school supervisor. Prematurely grey, he went from wanting historical at the beginning of his profession to truly being historical, at the very least in baseball phrases. Identified for sneaking cigarettes between innings, he reduce an indelible picture within the dugout and in entrance of a microphone, the place his dry wit made him a media favourite. Regardless of a gruff exterior and a knack for getting his cash’s value from umpires when the scenario merited it, he earned a fame as a gamers’ supervisor quite than an old-school hard-ass.

Jim Leyland, solely HOFer to argue with the umpire, cease and respect the nationwide anthem, and get again at it afterwards pic.twitter.com/yDFwTyfPZn

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) December 4, 2023

The Corridor-appointed 16-member Period Committee consisted of Corridor of Fame members Jeff Bagwell, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Bud Selig, Ted Simmons, Jim Thome, and Joe Torre; main league executives Sandy Alderson, Invoice DeWitt, Michael Hill, Ken Kendrick, Andy MacPhail and Phyllis Merhige; and media members/historians Sean Forman, Jack O’Connell, and Jesus Ortiz. Every member was allowed to vote for as much as three candidates, making potential a complete of 48 votes. To be elected, a candidate wanted 75% of the vote (12 out of 16). Solely two different candidates moreover Leyland acquired votes whose totals have been reported:

This was the second time in a row that the now-80-year-old Piniella fell one vote brief, which whatever the deserves and/or shortcomings of his case needs to be completely heartbreaking. He barely missed on the 2019 At present’s Recreation poll on which Lee Smith and Harold Baines have been elected. Whereas Piniella had extra wins and a better profitable proportion than Leyland (1,835 and .517, respectively) in his 23 seasons, most notably piloting the 2001 Mariners to a contemporary file with 116 wins, he was by no means in a position to lead a crew again to the World Collection after profitable in 1990 with the Reds. In my evaluation, I noticed that as the primary separator between him and Leyland; moreover, the place Leyland received 44 postseason video games in his eight playoff appearances (5 within the Wild Card period), Piniella received simply 23 video games in seven postseason appearances, six of which have been within the Wild Card period.

The endurance of each managers nonetheless put them forward of Johnson and Gaston, who had considerably shorter careers. Like Piniella, Johnson by no means returned to the World Collection after profitable his first title, with the Mets in 1986, whereas Gaston, the one one of many 4 managerial candidates to win a number of World Collection, and the primary Black supervisor to win a World Collection, managed fewer video games (1,731) than Leyland had wins.

To those eyes, the strongest candidate on the poll was the 89-year-old White, who had three careers of be aware. As a participant with the Giants, Cardinals, and Phillies from 1956 to ’69, he received seven consecutive Gold Gloves, made 5 All-Star groups, and helped St. Louis win the 1964 World Collection. Whereas with the Cardinals, he made a big influence by talking out in opposition to the Jim Crow legal guidelines that separated Black gamers from their teammates in segregated Florida throughout spring coaching, lengthy after the colour line had fallen. After retiring from taking part in, he spent 18 years (1971–88) calling Yankees video games alongside Phil Rizzuto and dealing for nationwide networks, changing into the primary full-time Black play-by-play broadcaster in any sport. He left broadcasting to spend 5 years (1989–94) as president of the Nationwide League, making him the primary Black particular person to imagine such a publish and the highest-ranking Black govt in any sport on the time. It provides as much as a singular and admirable profession as an envoy for the sport, the type that will enhance the Corridor along with his inclusion.

It charges as at the very least considerably stunning that neither umpire acquired vital assist, however then West, specifically, has all the time been a polarizing determine. He holds information for longevity that might not be damaged, with 44 years and 5,460 video games umpired, however he typically positioned himself on the focus, and never in flattering methods. 3 times he was suspended, the primary of which was for shoving Torre when he was managing the Braves in 1983. That’s believed to be the primary in-season suspension of an umpire in main league historical past.

In a Zoom name with media members after the announcement of his election, Leyland described himself as “simply thrilled, excited, shocked, flattered. All these phrases come into play whenever you’re interested by this.”

Leyland is the primary supervisor elected to the Corridor of Fame since Torre, Tony La Russa, and Bobby Cox have been elected by way of the 2014 Enlargement Period Committee poll. He’s simply the fourth Corridor of Fame supervisor who by no means performed within the majors, after Joe McCarthy, Frank Selee, and Earl Weaver.

“I used to be only a minor league supervisor, and I by no means actually thought I used to be ever gonna get that chance afterward in my profession,” Leyland stated by way of Zoom. “After I received to Triple-A, I believed I may need an opportunity to teach sometime within the large leagues, however not handle. However yeah, it was ‘Jim Who?’ [newspaper headline] once I received right here, and, you recognize, I’m nonetheless right here. So at the very least folks know me slightly higher than they did once I first received right here.”

A minor league catcher within the Tigers chain, Leyland first made the massive leagues because the third base coach of the White Sox beneath La Russa in 1982. He succeeded Chuck Tanner because the Pirates supervisor in 1986, and whereas he misplaced 98 video games in his first season, he led the crew to 3 straight NL East titles from 1990–92. After enduring some lean years in Pittsburgh following the free agent departures of Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Doug Drabek and different key gamers, he took over the Marlins, a 1993 enlargement crew whose normal supervisor, Dave Dombrowski, had served because the assistant GM of the White Sox throughout Leyland’s time there. Dombrowski jump-started the Marlins by loading up on established stars similar to Bonilla, Moises Alou, Kevin Brown, Gary Sheffield, and Devon White, and in Leyland’s first 12 months, they received 92 video games, the NL Wild Card, and an exhilarating seven-game World Collection in opposition to Cleveland. The champagne had barely dried earlier than all of these stars have been traded. After the crew bottomed out to 54-108 in 1998, Leyland resigned with three years remaining on his contract.

The Marlins let Leyland out of his contract to handle the Rockies in 1999, however he stop after one season, admitting his coronary heart wasn’t in it. “I wasn’t a 9-8 supervisor, I wasn’t a 12-9 or an 11-10 supervisor,” Leyland instructed ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian. “It was like slow-pitch softball. I’d have a look at the frustration on our pitchers’ faces, and it annoyed me a lot. I believed, ‘I can’t undergo this once more.’

After six years away from the dugout, throughout which he scouted for La Russa’s Cardinals, he reunited with Dombrowski in Detroit, the place the Tigers had posted 12 straight sub-.500 seasons. Spurred by the arrivals of rookie Justin Verlander and 41-year-old All-Star Kenny Rogers, the crew rocketed from 71 wins to 95 in his first season, profitable the AL pennant earlier than shedding to La Russa’s Cardinals within the World Collection.

The Tigers didn’t return to the playoffs for 4 extra years, however they received the AL Central and at the very least reached the ALCS in every of Leyland’s final three seasons, together with one other 95-win one in 2011. The subsequent 12 months, they received one other pennant however have been swept by the Giants within the World Collection.

I’ll admit to having a very tender spot for Leyland primarily based on a second from my very own profession. In 2011 the Tigers beat the Yankees within the Division Collection, profitable Recreation 5 within the Bronx thanks partially to light-hitting utilityman Don Kelly’s first-inning house run off Iván Nova. Afterwards, I requested a query (or quite, supplied a “speak about” immediate — this was my first 12 months with a credential) about what went into his resolution to play Kelly. It left Leyland slightly watery-eyed:

Leyland’s election might be the primary of a number of amongst managers beneath this format. The subsequent time this slate comes round within the cycle three years from now, Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy, Terry Francona, Joe Maddon, and Mike Scioscia may all be eligible, as long as they’re not within the dugout (candidates 65 years or older are eligible six months following retirement). That’s a very achieved group, with all of them profitable at the very least one World Collection and all however Scioscia profitable a number of pennants; the primary three from that group have at the very least three. With the Rangers’ World Collection win, Bochy now has 4 titles, and Francona, who simply retired from the Guardians, has two.

For now, the highlight belongs to Leyland, who can be inducted together with any honorees from the BBWAA poll on July 21, 2024. As he stated on Sunday, “It doesn’t get any higher than that. I imply, that’s the final word.”