COOPERSTOWN, New York — Jim LeylandLeiland’s family and friends are well aware of how emotional he can be, so they’re not sure how he’ll make it through his Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech on Sunday.
Prior to the ceremony in Cooperstown, his daughter sat him down and presented him with a gift.
Kelly Leyland gave her father a white handkerchief to put in his suit pocket, but when he opened it during his speech, it revealed a little message for him.
“You can’t cry in baseball”
Leyland, 79, was close to tears as he told the story.
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Leyland joins in Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton Joe Mauer takes to the stage Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony It airs Sunday (1:30 p.m. ET, MLB Network) and could be the star of the show.
Home Run King Barry BondsHe has never attended a Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but he plans to be in Cooperstown to pay tribute to Leyland.
Gary Sheffield, who won a World Series with Leyland in Florida, was in town Saturday to spend time with Leyland and also attend his first induction ceremony.
“When I compare the great managers of my generation, I think Jim is the best of all of us. There’s no one better than Jim,” Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa said.
Now, go and find any manager, any coach, any player and they will all share the same respect and admiration for him.
It was Leyland who reprimanded Bonds. On the field at the Pirates’ spring training, Bonds was told he could leave immediately if he did not follow Leyland’s rules.
Bones stayed.
And forever earned his respect.
“What I learned quickly about Jim was that he established a mindset of, ‘I’m the leader here and everything I say and do is a reflection of me,’” Sheffield said, “and all of the coaches were a reflection of him.
“So whenever we had a team meeting, he’d berate everybody, yell at everybody, and then he’d leave the room, and the coaches would say, ‘Stay here, we’re not done yet.’ And right on cue, he’d come back, finish, and leave again. And we’d get up, and no, no, Jim’s back again. It’s not done yet. He’d do that like three times.
“Then I see him 10 minutes later and he’s talking to me like nothing happened. That’s what made him so special.
“I have a lot of respect for him. He’s tough when he needs to be, but at the same time he treats people the way they should be treated.”
One of four Hall of Fame managers who never played in the major leagues, Leyland led his teams to eight postseason appearances, three championships and a World Series victory. He won 1,769 games in 22 seasons and had 44 postseason wins, which is tied for 10th all-time.
And he won the Manager of the Year award three times.
Leyland’s chance came in 1982, when La Russa, then the new manager of the Chicago White Sox and a player he had played against in the minor leagues since 1979, offered Leyland the third base coaching job. Leyland spent four seasons on La Russa’s coaching staff and interviewed for several managerial positions, including with the Houston Astros, but was unsuccessful. In 1985, he got a call from Pirates general manager Sid Thrift asking permission to interview for the managerial position.
“I actually thought one of my brothers was joking,” Leyland says, “because they were always complaining that I was a bridesmaid and I didn’t get the job. So when he said, ‘This is Sid Thrift,’ I said, ‘Yes, I’m Casey Stengel.'”
Once Leyland was convinced it wasn’t a prank call and that the Pirates were serious about him taking the job, he took his first major league job and never looked back. After 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, Leyland joined the Florida Marlins and led them to a World Series victory in 1997. He moved to Colorado in 1999, but grew tired of trying to win at a mile-high altitude and abruptly left after the season.
“It was very hard for him,” La Russa said. “He was very tired. I didn’t know if he was going to be able to do it again.”
La Russa convinced Leyland to join the St. Louis Cardinals as a scout. The deal lasted until 2006, when general manager Dave Dombrowski (who had been the Marlins’ general manager during Leyland’s tenure) needed a manager for the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers’ postseason drought ended in Leyland’s first year, and the team won the American League pennant. Leyland led the Tigers to the playoffs three times, winning again in 2012. He retired after the 2013 season.
“Jim was truly everything you want in a coach,” Dombrowski said. “He had the knowledge of the game, the understanding of communication between players and the front office, and he was a very sociable guy. He understood every aspect of the game: development, winning, player development, coaching. He was very genuine and spoke from the heart. He was very well respected and loved his players. He had an uncommon way of being able to demand that his players play the game the right way.”
“He’s tough and strict with the men, but at the same time, they know he loves them.”
And they loved him too.
Leyland was an old-fashioned manager, but he welcomed new types of analysis… but he didn’t brag about it.
“To be honest, I think it gets overemphasized sometimes,” Leyland said. “Most people call it analysis. I call it information. When I was in management, we had all the information available. Now we have even more information.”
“Some of it is very good, some of it makes for good reading, to be honest.
“You can plan a match, but you can’t write a match script.”
In fact, Leyland’s toughest challenge was playing against La Russa, his closest friend in baseball.
The two came from different backgrounds — La Russa was the youngest, played in the major leagues and became a lawyer — and Leyland, who never went to college or played above Class AA.
“I think not being a good player actually helped me in my managerial career,” Leyland said, “because it showed me how difficult it was to get games.”
Leyland and La Russa met two or three times a week to bounce ideas off each other and critique managerial decisions, and sometimes stayed up until 2 a.m. talking baseball, whether it was during the middle of the season or on Christmas Day.
“Tony meant everything to me,” Leyland said, “and he still helps me with my Hall of Fame speeches.”
Ms. Leyland practiced her speech in front of Mr. La Russa, who gave her advice, telling her what to cut and what to add, and even giving her notes on how to deliver the speech.
“Listen to him,” La Russa said, “it’s great. You’ll love his speech.”
And the tears may run down your cheeks, but Leyland has no intention of apologizing.
He’s been an emotional man his whole life, and now with the entire baseball world celebrating his success, it would be surprising if he didn’t shed a tear.
“I’ll say this,” Leyland said, “I’ve seen most of the speeches that have been given here, and I’m certainly not the only one in Cooperstown shedding tears. I’ve seen some pretty big-name 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 these things, you might not be human.’
“I don’t want to be embarrassed, but I’m not going to be embarrassed.”
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