Hall of Famer Leyland an inspiration for career Minor League players

Jim Leyland used to spend offseasons scribbling out batting orders. So when he was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last December, it figured he would put the same meticulous effort into his speech.

He studied video of past Hall of Fame speeches. He pondered how to balance a long list of thank-yous with a treasure trove of stories. But one point stuck.

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“The thing that I’m probably happiest about,” Leyland said, “is that it’s a good message to all the guys that maybe weren’t big league players, that are in the Minor Leagues now, that there is a chance. I was one of those guys. I never thought I’d ever get a chance. ...

“I’m going to send that message in Cooperstown: Don’t give up if you love the game the way that I did.”

Leyland’s 60 years in baseball, including 22 years as a Major League manager, are a testament to opportunity.

While Leyland managed many former All-Americans, he liked to joke, he was all-Northern Lakes League. Born in Toledo, Ohio, he was the catcher at Perrysburg High School and signed with the Tigers soon after graduation in 1963. After hitting .222 over parts of seven Minor League seasons as a backup catcher, the writing was on the wall.

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Leyland spent a decade managing in the Tigers’ farm system. He was tough, but loyal. He picked up Kirk Gibson from the airport after the future All-Star signed, then laid down the rules while driving him to Lakeland, Fla. But he also worked with Gibson every day on fundamentals to help translate his athleticism to the diamond. Leyland formed such a bond with Mark Fidrych at Triple-A Evansville that The Bird brought him to Tiger Stadium for his comeback in 1980. Leyland returned to Perrysburg for offseason jobs, from a glass plant to the post office, to help keep the dream alive.

Passed over for a coaching spot on Sparky Anderson’s staff in Detroit, Leyland finally got his big-league call-up when former Triple-A manager Tony La Russa invited him to become his third-base coach with the White Sox in 1982.

“I had 18 straight years in the Minors before I got a day in the big leagues,” Leyland said. “When a guy does that, he loves the game.”

Leyland earned his reputation as an aggressive coach: “Find me a third-base coach who never gets a runner thrown out,” he liked to say, “and I’ll show you a bad third-base coach.”

But he also earned his reputation for the details, from working with baserunners to learning outfield arms. He also coached outfielders.

Leyland did not wait as long for a managerial opportunity. After interviewing with the Astros and losing out to Hal Lanier, he got a call from the Pirates, who needed someone to manage a club that lost 104 games in 1985 and replace beloved manager Chuck Tanner.

“I actually thought it was one of my brothers, kidding around,” Leyland said of his call from the Bucs. “They always kidded me about always being a bridesmaid. He said, ‘This is [Pirates GM] Syd Thrift,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, this is Casey Stengel, too.’”

It was a perfect match. The blue-collar background that pushed Leyland through the Minors connected with Pittsburgh. The Pirates won three consecutive division titles from 1990-92. Former first-round pick Barry Bonds became a two-time MVP under Leyland, who famously chewed Bonds out during Spring Training in 1991 for yelling at coach Bill Virdon.

Leyland wanted Bonds treated like the rest of the team. He always downplayed the incident, but it earned him respect that carried through his career.

After 11 years, 851 wins and three playoff runs in Pittsburgh, Leyland became the man who could lead the Marlins in their quest to win now. He arrived in Florida with a near-opposite challenge, taking a collection of veterans and turning them into a team. It wasn’t a direct route, but he led the Marlins to MLB’s first World Series title from a Wild Card berth.

Leyland tried to re-create the magic with the Rockies, who were looking to make a jump behind fellow Hall of Fame inductee Todd Helton, Hall of Famer Larry Walker, Vinny Castilla and Dante Bichette. But between the on-field challenge of handling a pitching staff in Coors Field and the off-field challenge of having a family in Pittsburgh, he quickly realized it was a mistake, and walked away after one season in 1999.

Leyland took a special assistant role scouting for La Russa’s Cardinals and seemed happy being away from the dugout. But when Dave Dombrowski, his old Marlins boss, offered the opportunity to manage the Tigers, he couldn’t pass up the chance to bring things full circle.

Like the ’97 Marlins, the Tigers spent big in free agency with Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez. Like Leyland’s Pirates, the Tigers had young talent. Leyland meshed the two and built a window of contention that lasted nearly a decade, including World Series appearances in 2006 and 2012, three straight AL Central titles and six winning seasons.

Leyland won in three markets that hadn’t regularly won. He brought winning baseball to two Rust Belt cities that hadn’t seen sustained success in years. He helped end the Mets’ domination of the NL East in Pittsburgh, denied the Braves a third straight World Series berth in Florida and eliminated the Yankees from the postseason three times with Detroit.

With as many stars as Leyland managed, from Bonds and Bobby Bonilla in Pittsburgh to Gary Sheffield in Florida to Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera in Detroit, Leyland also extracted every drop of production from role players. Craig Counsell became a hero in Florida, launching a 16-year playing career. Don Kelly became a legend in Detroit, homering at Yankee Stadium during a winner-take-all Game 5 in the 2011 Division Series.

“He had this wonderful way of being really hard on you,” Counsell said, “but you always knew that he loved you.”

Leyland got the most out of a roster because he knew what it was like to struggle. Even bringing extra players from the Minor Leagues for Spring Training games was important to him, because he never forgot what it meant to him as a player to cross the street from Tigertown and spend a day in the big leagues.

Just as impressive was the influence Leyland -- even later in his career -- had on young players. He was Bonds’ first manager, and they remain close to this day. He lobbied for Verlander and Joel Zumaya to be part of his first roster in Detroit, and he helped push Verlander to new heights by getting him to learn how to navigate a lineup. He took a young star in Cabrera and helped him become an all-time great by challenging him to bring the same intensity to every at-bat. Give me talent, he’d say, you take experience, and he’ll win.

"He let me fail. He pushed me, demanding me to be better and keep putting me in situations that today would seem extreme,” Max Scherzer said. “Yet I look back on him, and I'm so thankful for it that I got the chance to be able to pitch in some of those situations. And I got better for it.”

Leyland loved his players, and the players loved him back. In his first year in Detroit, he teared up watching his players celebrate Kenny Rogers’ 200th career win. Seven years later, Leyland cried as Torii Hunter lifted him out of his chair and carried him into the clubhouse so he could celebrate the Tigers’ third straight division title with them.

“He's a leader of men,” Verlander said. “He knows how to be your friend and also knows how to keep a boundary and make sure that you know he's the boss. …

“I can't call any other manager Skipper anymore. He's the only one.”

Leyland retired after leading the Tigers to the ALCS in 2013, having amassed 1,769 career wins, 44 postseason victories and three Manager of the Year awards. But he had one more project, this time a star-studded team ready to win. He returned at age 72 to lead Team USA to its first World Baseball Classic title in 2017.

Not bad for an old Minor League backup catcher who grew up driving around in a Studebaker with the windows rolled up in the summer to make people think he had air conditioning.