Tigers hire Jim Leyland as manager
DETROIT (AP) – Jim Leyland’s baseball career has come full circle. The Detroit Tigers hired Leyland on Tuesday as their manager to replace Alan Trammell, fired a day earlier after three seasons.
The 60-year-old Leyland started his baseball career as a catcher in the low minors for the Tigers. He guided the Florida Marlins to the 1997 World Series championship, but has not managed since 1999 with Colorado.
“That passion that Jim Leyland has had throughout his career is back within him to manage,” Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said. “The decision to name one of the top managers in the game of baseball in recent time, to bring him back to this organization, is a very big day for our franchise.”
In an interview with The Associated Press earlier Tuesday, Trammell said he thought Leyland was a good choice to replace him.
“He has ties with the Tigers. He was there when I signed,” Trammell said. “Whether I’m there or not, I’ll always be a Tiger, and I’ll always root for the Tigers, because I’m a part of their history, and I’m proud of that.”
As a three-sport prep star in Perrysburg, Ohio, Leyland grew up in the middle of Detroit-Cleveland territory. His first 18 years in professional baseball were in the Tigers’ farm system – six as a player, one as a coach and 11 as a manager.
“I was a Tigers fan growing up because I was a little closer, 90 miles west of Cleveland and 50 or 60 south of Detroit,” Leyland said in 1997.
He was beaten out for Philadelphia’s managerial job by Charlie Manuel last winter. He has said he wanted to manage again close to his Pittsburgh home, which is about a five-hour drive from Detroit.
Leyland was a two-time NL Manager of the Year with Pittsburgh, where he won three division titles on teams that featured Barry Bonds.
Leyland signed his first pro contract and began a winding road in the Tigers’ system as a catcher with no pop in his bat. He didn’t bat higher than .243 and never hit more than one home run in a season.
At 27, when it was clear he was not going to make it as a player, Leyland began his managing career at Bristol of the Appalachian League in 1971. He also managed other minor league clubs for the Tigers, taking teams into the postseason six times.
After coaching third base with the Chicago White Sox, Leyland finally got a chance to manage in the majors in 1986, but he ran into some of the economic realties of the game.
Leyland asked out of his contract in Pittsburgh so he could go to a contender and he landed in Florida. The Marlins came through on their pledge to spend money – for one season – and Leyland helped them win a championship. Then, their owner decided the title cost too much and ordered the payroll cut.
The dismantling that ensued left Leyland with a cast of kids, and in 1998 the Marlins finished 52 games out of first place at 54-108.
“We had an embarrassing record, and when you come off a World Series and go through that, it’s not the easiest thing,” Leyland has said.
Leyland was then let out of his contract to manage elsewhere and was hired by the Rockies.
Leyland resigned after only one season in Colorado, and a 72-90 record, saying he shouldn’t have taken the job and wanted to spend more time with his family. He left with $4 million and two years left on his contract.
“To do this job right, the fire has to burn 12, 14 hours a day,” Leyland said during the 1999 season. “I’m a maniac during the game, and that fire burns like it always has, but I think to do the job right, you’ve got to work at it 12 hours a day, and I’m not sure I’m doing very good at that right now.”
He turned down other opportunities after leading Colorado, saying he wouldn’t manage again, before interviewing last winter in Philadelphia.
While Leyland was out of the dugout, he enjoyed watching San Francisco’s Felipe Alou and former Marlins manager Jack McKeon have success.
“It just goes to show they don’t forget,” Leyland has said.
Many have forgotten what it’s like to see the Tigers be successful, and those younger than 30 probably weren’t old enough to remember them as winners.
The Tigers have won four championships in nine World Series appearances, but haven’t had won a division title since 1987 or a World Series since 1984. They finished this season 71-91, their 12th straight losing season.
The Tigers were 186-300 in three years under Trammell. As a 20-year standout in the field and at the plate for them, he was a six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner.
Dombrowski offered Trammell an opportunity to stay with the Tigers as one of his special assistants, but the MVP of the 1984 World Series said he is not sure he’ll accept it because he’d like to be manager or a coach in the major leagues.
“I told him I’d need to take some time to make some decisions, and he was fine with that,” Trammell said Tuesday. “I’d like to stay on the field if I can. I’ve heard from a lot of people in baseball wishing me the best, but I don’t have any offers yet.”