COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Jim Leyland’s family and friends, who know all too well how emotional he is, aren’t sure how Leyland will handle his speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Before the ceremony in Cooperstown, his daughter gave him a gift.
Kellie Leyland gave her father a white handkerchief to carry in his suit pocket. But when he opens it during his speech, there is a little message for him inside.
“There’s no crying in baseball.”
Leyland, 79, nearly cried as he told the story.
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Leyland will join Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer onstage at Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony (1:30 p.m. ET, MLB Network) and may be the star of the show.
Home run champion Barry Bonds, who has never attended a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, comes to Cooperstown to pay tribute to Leyland.
Gary Sheffield, who won a World Series championship with Leyland in Florida, arrived in town Saturday to be with Leyland and also attend his first dedication ceremony.
“If you take all the great managers of my generation into account,” said Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, “I think Jim is the best of all of us. You couldn’t top Jim in management.”
Go ahead, try to find any random manager, coach or player and they will all share with you their respect and admiration for that man.
Leyland was the one who reprimanded Bonds on the field during spring training with the Pirates, where he told Bonds that if he didn’t abide by Leyland’s rules, he could leave immediately.
Bonds remained.
And forever earned his respect.
“You know, the one thing I learned very quickly about Jim is that he established that ‘I’m the leader here, and everything I say and do is a reflection of me,'” Sheffield said. “And all the coaches were a reflection of him.
“So, when he was in a team meeting, he was taking everybody down, he would leave the room after he was done cursing everybody out. And the coaches would say, ‘Stay here, he’s not done yet.’ And he would come back at the right time, finish it, and leave. We started to stand up, and no, no, no, Jim would come back. He wasn’t done yet. He did that about three times.
“Then you see him 10 minutes later and he talks to me like it never happened. That’s what made him so special.
“I just have so much respect for him. He would take you down if he had to take you down, but he would also treat guys the way you should be treated.”
Leyland, one of four Hall of Fame managers who never played in the major leagues, led his teams to eight postseason berths, three pennants and a World Series championship. He won 1,769 games in 22 seasons and 44 postseason games, which tied him for 10th all-time.
And he won the Manager of the Year award three times.
Leyland got his chance in 1982. La Russa, then the new manager of the Chicago White Sox who had coached against Leyland in the minors since 1979, offered Leyland a job as his third-base coach. Leyland remained on La Russa’s coaching staff for four seasons, interviewing for several managerial positions, including with the Houston Astros, but did not get one. He received a call in 1985 from the Pirates with GM Syd Thrift asking permission to interview him for their managerial position.
“I actually thought one of my brothers was joking,” Leyland said, “because they always came at me for being a bridesmaid and never getting the job. So when he said, ‘This is Syd Thrift,’ I said, ‘Yeah, and I’m Casey Stengel.'”
Leyland, convinced that this was no joke and that the Pirates were serious about him being a manager, took his first job in the big leagues and never looked back. After 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, Leyland joined the Florida Marlins and led them to the 1997 World Series title. He left for Colorado in 1999 but abruptly quit after the season, completely frustrated with trying to win at the mile-high altitude.
“That was really hard for him,” La Russa said. “It took so much out of him. I didn’t know if he was going to make it again.”
La Russa convinced Leyland to join him at the St. Louis Cardinals as a scout, which lasted until 2006 when general manager Dave Dombrowski — who was the Marlins’ GM when Leyland was there — needed another manager, this time at the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers’ postseason drought ended in Leyland’s first season, and the team won the American League pennant. Leyland led the Tigers to three more playoff appearances and another pennant in 2012. He retired after the 2013 season.
“Jim was just the total package that you want in a manager,” Dombrowski said. “His knowledge of the game, his understanding of player communication and the front office, and a real people person. He understood every aspect of the game: development, winning, player growth, manager. He was so genuine and spoke from his heart. He was so respected, loved his guys. He had an unusual way of asking players to play the game the right way.
“He could be rough and tough on a man, but at the same time they knew he loved them.”
And they loved him too.
Leyland was an old-school manager, but he was also happy with the new analyses… but he didn’t brag about it.
“I think that’s sometimes overemphasized, to be honest,” Leyland said. “Most people call it analytics. I call it information. When I was a manager, we had all the information that was available. Today, there’s more of it.
“Some of it is very good. And some of it is probably reading material, to be honest.
“You can plan a match, but you can’t script the game.”
The most difficult challenge for Leyland was playing games against La Russa, his best friend in baseball.
They came from different backgrounds, La Russa was a bonus baby, played in the major leagues and became a lawyer, and Leyland, who never went to college, never played above Class AA either.
“I think it actually helped me in my coaching career that I wasn’t a good player,” Leyland said, “because I realised how difficult it was to play the game.”
Leyland and La Russa met two or three times a week, exchanging ideas and asking each other for criticism of their managerial decisions. Sometimes they would talk baseball until 2 a.m., whether it was the middle of a season or on Christmas Day.
“Tony has meant everything to me,” Leyland said. “He’s even helping me with my Hall of Fame speech now.”
Leyland practiced his speech for La Russa, who gave him pointers, told him what to leave out, what to add, and even made notes about his delivery.
“Wait until you hear it,” La Russa said. “It’s brilliant. You’re going to love his speech.”
And you know, there might be a few tears rolling down those cheeks. But Leyland isn’t going to apologize.
He’s been emotional his whole life and now that the entire baseball world is celebrating his success, he’d be shocked if he didn’t shed a few tears.
“I’ll tell you this,” Leyland said. “I’ve watched most of the speeches that have been given here. And I’m not the only one who’s going to shed a tear in Cooperstown, I can tell you that. I’ve seen some pretty big players get a little emotional.
“(Hall of Fame third baseman) George Brett gave me some great advice. He said, ‘Hey, if you don’t get emotional about something like this, you’re probably not human.’
“I don’t want to make a fool of myself, but I’m not going to be ashamed either.”
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