(Nashville) Jim Leyland, who led the Florida Marlins to a World Series title in 1997 and won 1,769 games as manager, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday.
Now 78, Leyland received 15 of 16 Contemporary Era committee votes for managers, officers and officials. He becomes the 23rd manager in history to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Former player and manager Lou Piniella came up one vote short for a second time, after receiving 11 votes in 2018. Former player, media member and manager Bill White missed out by two votes.
Managers Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson, officials Joe West and Ed Montague and general manager Hank Peters all received fewer than five votes.
Leyland was a manager in Pittsburgh, Florida, Colorado and Detroit from 1986 to 2013.
Leyland grew up in Toledo, Ohio, a suburb of Perrysville. He was a catcher and third baseman in the Detroit Tigers organization from 1965 to 1970. He never rose above the AA level.
Leyland served as a minor league instructor in the Tigers organization and then began managing a team in Bristol in 1971. After 11 seasons as a minor league manager, he left the Tigers to become the instructor at Tony La Russa’s third cushion with the Chicago White Sox, from 1982 to 1985. He subsequently embarked on a managerial career in the Majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, from 1986 to 1996.
Honest, profane and constantly smoking a cigarette, Leyland embodied the image of the prickly baseball veteran with a gruff, but wise voice. During a career outside major markets, he grew angry at what he perceived as a lack of respect for his teams.
“It makes me vomit,” he said in 1997. “I can’t stand hearing about New York and Atlanta and Baltimore anymore. »
The Pirates came within one out of an appearance in the 1992 World Series before Francisco Cabrera hit a two-run single for the Atlanta Braves in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series.
The Pirates went downhill from there after the free agent departures of Barry Bonds and ace pitcher Doug Drabek. Leyland left after the fourth straight losing season, in 1996. Five days after his last game, he chose the Marlins over the White Sox, Red Sox and Angels.
The Marlins won the World Series the following year, in the fifth season in team history. It was then the youngest team in history to be crowned Major Baseball champion.
The Marlins, however, got rid of their veterans and went 54-108 in 1998. Leyland then took over as manager of the Rockies. He quit after one season, saying he lacked passion, and worked as a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I did a bad job my last year as manager,” Leyland said at the time. I wasn’t good because I was exhausted. When I left there, I honestly believed that I wouldn’t be able to do it again. I have always missed competition, but in recent years, I did not want my career as a manager to end like this. »
He replaced Alan Trammell as manager of the Tigers before the 2006 season and remained until 2013, winning two AL championships.
Leyland teams finished first six times and had a record of 1769-1728. He won the American title in 2006, losing in the World Series to the Cardinals, and in 2012, losing in the final to the San Francisco Giants.
Leyland was voted Manager of the Year in 1990, 1992 and 2006 and guided the United States to a World Baseball Classic championship in 2017, the Americans’ only title.
