On Sunday, former manager Jim Leyland was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, culminating a remarkable forty-year career.
Like one’s father, Leyland instilled terror in the minds of majority of his players by maintaining a stern and direct style of leadership.
While there are many colorful stories about Leyland, former first baseman Sean Casey of the Detroit Tigers shared one particularly funny one back in 2017, emphasizing the manager’s “dad energy.” Warning: there will be cigarettes involved.
Casey was too scared to tell Leyland he needed to leave the ballgame after a pitch hit him in the elbow and made his arm go numb, but he had to face the music after the trainer rejected him. Sadly, Casey made the grave mistake of interrupting Leyland in the middle of puffing.
“Go get some ice on it, and never, ever bother me again when I’m smoking a heater,” Casey stated on the “Rich Eisen Show.”
Cleverly, Casey claimed he never again stopped Leyland from killing a dart in the tunnels beneath the stadium.
Despite his stern management style, Leyland ultimately won the respect and admiration of his players. But that’s not all that contributed to his success. Few people could match Leyland’s instinct for baseball; he knew just which buttons to push, when to push them, and how hard.
Over his 22-year MLB career, Leyland won 1,769 games over stints with the Detroit Tigers (2006-2013), Florida Marlins (1997-1998), Colorado Rockies (1999), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1986-1996). Leyland, who won the Manager of the Year Award three times, guided three different teams to the World Series, taking home the championship with the Marlins in 1997.
