Former Pirates, Marlins, Rockies, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the only person elected out of the eight nominees under consideration by the 16-person Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. Leyland received 15 of 16 votes, surpassing the 12-vote threshold with room to space.
Of the other seven nominees, Lou Piniella came closest with 11 votes, representing another tough near miss for Piniella after previously falling one vote shy on his previous appearance on the ballot in 2019. Former National League president Bill White received 10 votes, and the other five nominees (Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson, Ed Montague, Hank Peters, and Joe West) all received fewer than five votes.
Leyland managed 22 seasons in the majors, beginning his Cooperstown-worthy run with the Pirates in 1986. His 11 seasons in Pittsburgh was highlighted by three straight AL East titles for the Bucs from 1990-92, as well as the personal achievements of Manager Of The Year awards for Leyland in 1990 and 1992. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they couldn’t get over the hump and into the World Series, falling to the Reds in six games in the 1990 NLCS and then losing a pair of seven-game nailbiters to the Braves in both 1991 and 1992.
After Francisco Cabrera broke the Pirates’ hearts in Game 7, Pittsburgh didn’t have a winning record again until 2013. Leyland had long departed the team by that point, as he moved on following the 1996 season to become the Marlins’ new skipper.
This new job finally brought Leyland his long-desired World Series ring. The Marlins were the team delivering some October heartbreak this time, as the Fish triumphed over the Indians in seven games to bring the organization its first championship in only its fifth year of existence. Unfortunately for Leyland and the Marlins players and fans, the club went into fire sale mode immediately afterwards, resulting in Leyland’s resignation after a 108-loss season in 1998.
Leyland quickly caught on as Colorado’s manager for the 1999 season, but his frustration at working and trying to manage pitchers in the thin-air environment led to his resignation after just a single year. Leyland became a scout for the Cardinals, and it appeared as though his managerial career might’ve come to an end.
However, a major final act then developed in Detroit. Leyland was hired as the Tigers’ new manager prior to the 2006 season, just as the team was emerging from a rough rebuilding period. Undoubtedly hiring Leyland was itself a major reason why the Tigers finally got on track, and the results were immediately impressive — the 2006 Tigers reached the playoffs as a wild card team and then reached the World Series before falling to the Cardinals.
That was the first of seven .500 or better seasons Leyland would enjoy over his eight years managing in Motown. The Tigers made the postseason three more times, including a World Series appearance in 2012 that saw Detroit swept by the Giants. After another narrow six-game loss to the Red Sox in the 2013 ALCS, Leyland decided to retire from managing at the MLB level, though he did return to the dugout to guide the United States to victory in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Leyland’s career resume consists of a 1769-1728 record, eight playoff appearances, three league pennants, and that 1997 World Series championship. He ranks 18th on the all-time managerial wins list, and 17th on the all-time list of total games managed. He was also a three-time winner of the Manager Of The Year Award, as Leyland added the 2006 trophy to his two awards from his Pittsburgh days.
While the numbers paved Leyland’s path into the Hall of Fame, he is also a beloved figure around the sport, highly respected by peers, coaches, and the many players he managed over the years. Just about everyone who encountered Leyland seemed to immediately have an anecdote about the quick wit and big heart of the longtime baseball man, which was somewhat obscured by his hard-nosed reputation. “What others saw as a gruff, chain-smoking caricature of an old-school manager, those in baseball considered brilliant for how he connected with everyone from the superstar to the last man on the roster to the least-tenured coach on his staff,” the Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt and Cody Stavenhagen wrote in a chronicle of Leyland stories published today. (Stavenhagen and Rob Biertempfel had another collection of Leyland anecdotes three years ago, well worth a read for some more chuckles.)
The “veterans committee” is the catch-all name for an annual panel of rotating membership, organized by the Hall Of Fame every year to gauge the cases of players who weren’t elected or considered by the writers, or non-playing personnel who aren’t a part of the writers’ ballot. Candidates are considered from the “Contemporary Baseball” (1980-present) and “Classic Baseball” (1980 and earlier) time periods, and broken down into a three-year rotation…
- Classic Baseball, all candidates: 2024, 2027, 2030, etc.
- Contemporary Baseball, players: 2025, 2028, 2031, etc.
- Contemporary Baseball, managers/executives/umpires: 2026, 2029, 2032, etc.
Leyland will be inducted into Cooperstown on July 13. He’ll be joined by any players elected via the writers’ ballot, and those results will be announced on January 23.
This year’s 16-person Contemporary Baseball committee was comprised of HOF members Jeff Bagwell, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Bud Selig, Ted Simmons, Jim Thome, and Joe Torre; MLB owners and executives Sandy Alderson, Bill DeWitt, Michael Hill, Ken Kendrick, Andy MacPhail, and Phyllis Merhige; media members/historians Sean Forman, Jack O’Connell and Jesus Ortiz.
Tobacco Companies throughout the South are celebrating…
Smoke ’em if you got ’em! Grats Jim!
Absolutely well deserved. Thank you, Jimmy!
He deserved it. Good choice .
Outstanding. Well done.
Sweet Lou next.
He deserves it, but I don’t know how someone can justify voting for Leyland and not for Lou Piniella.
Piniella and Leyland both have one World Series title, but that is beside the point. Piniella has more career wins than Leyland. This is not the Postseason HOF. This is the MLB HOF.
I would take Piniella’s and Davey Johnsons records over Leyland’s Every Day!
Always loved this guy! Good for him!
Forgot to mention he also managed the Rockies. Congrats, he was also known fr being crude and walking around the clubhouse nude. That said his record was good.
Forgot to mention he also managed the Rockies. Congrats, he was also known fr being crude
and walking around the clubhouse nude. That said his record was good.
He also managed the Rockies. Good manager, but he seemed gross and crude.
He also managed the Rockies. Good manager, but he seemed gross and crude. He was known for walking in clubhouse nude.
He was too old to go diving into lockers.
Congrats, coach. Thanks for 1997
If Jim Leyland can make the Hallof Fame for Baseball, Don Coryell should make the Pro Football Hall of Fame
I would have assumed Don Coryell was already in the football HOF. His wide open passing schemes revolutionized football. The NFL HOF has always been a joke to me and moreso if “Air Coryell” isn’t already there.
It’s 2nd down and a 1/2 yard to go. Announcer……Wondering what Dan Fouts and Air Coryell are going to do….”Fouts drops back, it’s a pass to Winslow” lol
Another fun football fact: Most people don’t know the “West Coast offense” was invested in Cincinnati when Bill Walsh was the Bengals OC under Paul Brown.
I don’t understand why he isn’t.
Don Coryell just got inducted to the Pro Football HOF this year…
You’re right. I just googled it. Coryell has a legitimate claim to greatest passing game coordinator of all time. Surprising that he took so long to get in.
@Lets Go
I forgot
It took them long enough
He was one of the Best
Coryell’s style changed the game of football.
Congratulations Jim Leyland!! Well deserved.
Time to get Dick Allen in the HOF next year.
Hitflew. That should have happened years ago and I’m a small HOF guy. Dick Allen is better than at least a third of the people in the Hall…at least.
Allen makes it when the league decides to open the gates (further) to good, but not great MLB players.
Some will say a GG (8 time) winner, who put up similiar numbers to Allen offensively should be there also (Evans) with Allen a liability anywhere defensively when he played, then.. Both to me were good players, not great.
HOF should be for the great ones.
Hard to believe someone with a 156 OPS+ is not considered a great one.
Pujols was 145.
He deserves it.
Sucks that Pinella’s call might come when he’s no longer here..
Hall has no respect until Bonds and Clemens are elected…
Bonds and Clemens?
Funny.
You should look up the word enshrined.
Bonds and Clemens don’t deserve to be enshrined anywhere that is an honor.
Look up the word baseball and greatest.
If David Ortiz and Pudge Rodriguez can get in, there is no reason to exclude Bonds or Clemens.
“Hall has no respect”..If you put Bonds & Clemens in the MLB HOF you’d also have to elect Anthony Bosch of Biogenesis, since he was the most preeminent and prolific PED, HGH & steriods dealer in MLB history. He, along with Bonds/Clemens totally revolutionized the concept of cheating and PEDS in sports.
Pete Rose, sure. Bonds and Clemens, no.
I think none of the 2017 Astros should make the HOF. They were worse at cheating because they actually got caught.
Bonds and Clemens never got caught. They had the Balco guy saying they did but I wouldn’t trust him to tell me what day of the week it is.
It’s very likely they did the juice, but they never failed a drug test. I know Bonds’ hat size went from 7 to 65 so that’s a good indicator.
So nobody in 2017,2018 that played in mlb should be in because every team did that. Astros were just better and that’s why they’re still winning
But the Astros were really bad at cheating because they actually got caught. Not that the league did anything to any of the players.
Bonds admitted using the “cream and the clear”
Lou is 2 years older and I believe Leyland first managed in ’72. Lou debuted in like ’64, ROY in ’69.
Jim Leyland would have multiple rings if the PED swing had ever swung in his favor. He coached Bonds pre Biogenisis and its hard to imagine a peak, young Bonds on roids because dang, just dang that guy broke baseball his whole career. Unanimously forgiven juice boy Big Poppi grand slammed the Tigers out of the playoffs. And Nelson Cruz took down Leyland twice. And no one has ever accused Cabrera of juicing because his career arc and aging followed the expected natural progression.
I bet Joe Torre was the one who didn’t give Lou the vote, still salty over 1995.
Torre wasn’t with the Yankees in ’95. Showalter was manager.
Disappointing to see Lou Pinella not in there.
Well deserved!
That’s upsetting about Piniella. I thought Davey Johnson was deserving too.
Absolutely deserving, but there’s no world where Piniella isn’t equally deserving. As far as I’m concerned Gaston and Johnson should be in too, but Lou’s resume isn’t debatable.
Probably throwing a base around the house….lol
Good choice.
The only good thing Joe west ever did was be in the movie the Naked Gun.
Really?…The Naked Gun movies are priceless, but I don’t seem to remember Joe West in them?..Maybe it was before Joe West started getting so much press and I overlooked him.
He got ejected when Enrico Pallazzo became the ump at home during the Angels/Mariners game attended by the Queen of England and they were arguing his calls. But sadly the 7th inning stretch took place thus awaking the sleeper cell Reggie Jackson to attempt to assassinate the queen of England.
Can less than five votes please disqualify Joe West from appearing on the ballot again like it does for players?
Like it or not, Joe West will someday be in Major League Baseball’s HOF. The guy umpired more games than anyone in history and like it or not that puts you in the HOF. Personally I didn’t used to like the idea of an umpire being the star, but Joe began to grow on me over the years. I have ZERO problem with Joe West being in the MLB HOF.
Why should longevity have anything to do with it for umpires? Why should they not be judged on the quality (or in West’s case, lack of) of their work? Julio Franco isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Neither is Jesse Orossco.
“Why should longevity” Longevity is a major criteria for practically everything from union vesting, job applications to HOF consideration. Show me a HOFER that didn’t have longevity. Argubly, longevity is the single most important factor for HOF consideration.
There are dozens of players in the Hall who didn’t play a full career. Ralph Kiner, Kirby Puckett, Sandy Koufax all were retired by age 35. Kiner was done by 32. Koufax at 30. DiMaggio played only 13 seasons. Even with the war service, he was done by 36.
Longevity the most important factor? Hardly. Excellence is the most important. Otherwise, why would those guys be in the Hall?
People don’t go to games and pay for tickets to see umpires.
Zero problem with bad umpires who try to upstage the guys actually playing? What kind of fan are you? Not a baseball fan, probably.
“People don’t go to games..to see umpires”…People don’t pay to go to games to see broadcasters, owners or team executives either, but they’re extremely important and there are plenty of both in the HOF.
Yes, ones who have good reputations built through years of excellence. Joe West doesn’t have that.
I’m a Bucco fan and I like Leyland but Danny Murtaugh is the former Buc skipper most deserving. Not 1 but 2 WS ( arguably biggest upsets ever) which is more than Bobby Cox. Higher winning % than Torre and LaRussa. Fielded the 1st all-Minority lineup in history.
21-Murtaugh was hurt by the lack of wins being only 1115 but the 540 win % was fairly good.
You and I are biased observers but he was as much of the two WS wins as any of the players and you correctly point out how big of upsets both were.
WS flags fly forever and those of us who remember Danny appreciated him as a fine manager and great guy.
That being said Leyland was a fine manager too.He was a great communicator and well respected so congratulations to him on a wonderful achievement especially getting 15 of 16 votes.
All 14 of the voters are white and old. No wonder Cito didn’t get in
When did being racist against white people become acceptable?
First you say that Joe West should be in the Hall of Fame, now you think “racism against white people” is some sort of wider societal problem. Somehow I’m not surprised.
Rolls eyes. Must be exhausting looking for racism everywhere and just dreaming it up.
Steve-Not all racists are white.
Some are liberal.
They only vote in whites? If so this should be looked into at the very least.
White and old seems like it shouldn’t be a problem for minorities though. Just seen a ad how great a old white guy is for blacks. Can’t get a Oscar’s nomination without a certain amount of minorities or people of color whatever the proper term is. Old white’s I have encountered seem pretty decent. Maybe it’s just these 14.
No, because he wasn’t eligible this year. I am sure he is happy for Leyland though. I believe Jim managed Lou during his minor league career.
Congratulations to the guy who put Barry Bonds in his place
For any who’ve ever seen the video – this alone was HOF worthy (kidding, but he handled a few stars who were petulant on good days, a=holes on the bad ones). I don’t think I’d really ever considered him HOF-material, because I’m biased being from Pittsburgh and just figured no one else really thought he was as great as he was. His overall W-L record is somewhat skewed by him staying around when both the Pirates and Marlins blew up their teams. Congrats to him, he’s now in the MLB Hall of Fame and the Phillip Morris HOF.
A well deserved honor. Congrats Jim Leyland.
Sad that a run of the mill manager like Jim Leyland gets put into the HOF despite any evidence he had any skill at managing while some of the best players of all-time cannot get in. It is a slap in the face to players like Kenny Lofton or Dick Allen, not to mention the greatest players of all-time that aren’t in the HOF.
Agree Pittsburgh Miami Detroit are known for their winning. Especially in the last 40 years. Anyone could win managing in those cities.
Had you been around Pittsburgh in the mid-1980s, you’d probably have a different opinion of him in terms of mediocrity as a manager. It wasn’t so much about his in-game moves as it was coaxing the very best out of players who shouldn’t have been able to achieve what they did.
Making Bob Walk into a winning pitcher, turning Jim Gott from a waiver claim into a top-notch closer, making Neal Heaton an All-Star, helping Zane Smith find another gear, unlocking the potential of John Smiley and Doug Drabek (who won a Cy Young in 1990) – his accomplishment with mediocre pitchers in Pittsburgh alone is impressive.
I don’t disagree on Lofton and Allen, but this wasn’t an either-or situation, voters didn’t pick Leyland over any great player, just other great managers. Many great players and managers are on the outside looking in because of personality flaws for better or for worse, and Leyland was about as likable as they come.
He should thank the Livan Hernandez strike zone in his speech.
Antonio Alfonseca rates this comment 11 out of 10.
The walking embodiment of an old school baseball guy.
Congrats
cleveland fans -opinion on Hank Peters?
cleveland exec under a constant losing team.
Deserved, but Bill White should be going in too.
Kenny Lofton not being in the HOF is ridiculous. Very similar numbers to Tim Raines.
Both were very, very good players that were perennial all stars, excellent lead off hitters but Raines is in my on the fence HOF list, if Lofton got in he’d be on the same list for me. Neither have 3000 hits and are almost .300 hitters. I feel the same way about Jim Rice (less than 500 hrs) and a few others mainly pitchers. Now, there is one guy in my opinion that deserves a spot in the HOF and that is Dale Murphy. I was also glad to see McGriff make it recently. Lastly, MLB knew about Bonds, Sosa and McGwire and others for a while and loved it when they were helping bring the game back post strike with home run races and packing stadiums. But then the MLB turned their backs in them once the heat was on. All were HOF or borderline HOF before the juice. Let them in and note it on a sign somewhere. We all know steroids can’t help you hit a baseball you have to have that ability. They just help a hitter go from warning track power to 3rd row power. Too bad Steve Jeltz never took juice. That warning track power could have helped him cash in.
Agree with all except that I didn’t know the Marlins had fans.
Lofton is in my hof. Any other hof doesn’t matter to me.
Watching Kenny Lofton play his butt off for 84 games on a really bad Pirates team in 2003 earned my respect for him; I had always thought he was a top-notch player. I could understand the case for putting him in, but could also understand those who consider him borderline.
All 3 belong in. Hopefully Bill and Lou get in someday
The 1997 NL post season was fixed and no one will ever convince me otherwise.
Jim Leyland had some great teams and blundered his way through.Ive never seen anyone mismanage a bullpen as bad as him.
Who cares that he was a terrible manager? What seems to matter is that he *felt* like a great manager.
One of my favorite characters. Great baseball mind. Congrats
Congrats to Jim! Still my favorite Marlins manager ever!
Due to him, us Marlins fans can remember the lines from the two broadcasts we know…the national one with Bob Costas, and the local one with Joe Angel.
“…liner off Nagy’s glove…into centerfield…and the Florida Marlins have won the World Series!”
“…a liner over second base…into center…it’s a hit…it’s over…in the bottom of the eleventh, the Marlins are in the win column…the World Champion Marlins…and the dream is no longer a dream, it is now reality…the Marlins are World Champions!”
To Jim Leyland…a big Bobby Bonilla-sized bearhug from all of us Marlins fans. Well deserved.
Next up…Dave Dombrowski.
@MarlinsFanBase
Absolutely, brother! One hundred percent. Remember it like it was yesterday. And I agree with you about Dombrowski. Best GM we ever had. Made a lot of great moves to build that team.
@MARLIN POWER 18
Yep, the memories of Dombrowski building that team from Day 1 in the pre-inaugural season drafts and signings, then the expansion draft, and then all the way through the final masterpiece of the 97 champs, who owned Atlanta that year.
I remember even the quiet deals like drafting Jeff Conine and Trevor Hoffman in the Expansion Draft. Or when he traded Chris Carpenter to the Rangers for Kurt Miller and a throw-in infielder converting to pitcher named Rob Nen. When he surprised everyone when he took Hoffman and put him in a package to acquire Gary Sheffield in their inaugural season, so they could build around him. So many memories of how he built that team.
And let’s not forget that, while Dombrowski wasn’t here for the final result, he built the foundation for the 2003 team as well. Man, I would love if he could ever come back.
The only regret that I think Dave may regret of his transactions with the Marlins is the one he didn’t make because he got too greedy. Remember the Bryan Harvey to the Braves trade discussions. If he didn’t get greedy there, we would’ve had Chipper Jones! But it wasn’t meant to be.
@MarlinsFanBase
You and me both. But I try to be optimistic about the future. If Bruce Sherman is serious about building a winner, and Bendix and his crew are up to the task, then perhaps better days are ahead. We’ll have to wait and see.
Incidentally, I still have autographed balls and jerseys from Jeff Conine (Mr. Marlin), Brett Barberie, and Greg Colbrunn from those early days. A lot of great memories, without a doubt.
Well earned.
“All I want to say to Bonds is ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good night,’” Leyland once told Donnelly. “What the hell else am I going to tell him? I can’t tell him anything about hitting. The only thing I know about hitting is that I couldn’t.”
Agreed with bill White. Solid MLB career, decent enough job with MLB leadership and can never forget had to tolerate the always unintolerable Rhizzuto, who never ceased spewing nonsense with the YES network for years.
One of the best to do it. Definitely deserving.
Congratulations!
You mean Joe West didn’t get in? Haha
Watched Joe his entire career. He was young once, but he was never any good.
Joe West is not welcome in Philadelphia for many reasons. He’s HOF nothing.
Yay! Him and Bochy both were saddled with crappy/poor ownership. Nice to see the acknowledgement.
You are about as deserving as a MLBTR HoFer as West is a MLB HoFer.
Never claimed I was. Did you have something intelligent to say or are you just another troll?
Lou not being in the HoF is a mistake. Great manager and nobody ever threw a better tantrum. Ever. Keep doing those Shag commercials Lou.
I like Nick Cage to play him in the bio pic.
Can’t believe it’s taken this long for Jim Leyland to get in, but I shouldn’t expect much from the baseball Hall of Fame.
It’s nice that they mentioned his WBC title, now Noah Syndergaard can shut the f..k up.
No one makes the HOF for playing the WBC, and yeah that’s true, also no one makes the HOF for simply playing in MLB you have to be the best among the best, and typically those that get to represent a national team should be the best among the players from that country, and certainly Noah isn’t one of the best in the US…
Congratulations to Leyland.
PD: Would’ve liked to see Pinella there too
Al East?
Jim Leyland was a bum and no manager in baseball history wasted more talent than Jimmy did with the Tigers. SMH
He wasn’t even the worst Tiger manager, by a mile. I can think of 1t least 5 Tiger skippers a lot worse than Leyland, who with Sparky are probably the 1-2 best in Tiger history. That WOAT belongs to Ralph Houk. Talk about abusing ML talent and grinding it into the ground. I could have won the WS with the talent Houk had with the Yankees.
No, Leyland had more talent than any other Tigers manager and he squandered it… because he’s a bum.
So, according to this writer the Pirates were an Amercian League Team in the 90’s. These writers are garbage & they get paid for this garbage!!!. The writers of some of these comments are better writers.
He wasn’t one of the best 3 managers on the ballot. Congrats to Leyland, shame on the voters.
What a joke! Lou Piniella, Dave Johnson,etc. all deserve it more than Leyland. Look into how he and LaRussa tried to attack Jimmy Piersall because they didn’t like his criticism when they were with the White Sox.
What hat will “Ol Smokey” wear into the HOF? He coached the longest with the Bucs and Tigers, but his only WS was with the Marlins. He was signed and played in the Tiger organization and got his start and ended his managing career with them. He still lives in the Pittsburgh area, but grew up close to Toledo (Mud Hen Country) where he started as a manager.
I’m going to guess he’s going to wear the Old English D into the HOF.
Lol cowboy Joe west.
Maybe Joe west and Eric Greg can go in as the the worst umpires ever until Angel Hernandez is up for the Hof then they got three of the worst
My all-time horrible umpire crew: Tim McClelland, C.B. Bucknor, Angel Hernandez & Joe West.
Congrats to Jim Leyland on your well deserved election to Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
I remember the camera work when Leyland’s Tigers clinched the American League Pennant in Detroit.
I remember watching Leyland being interviewed after the game on TV and a big burly guy and his wife went right up to Leyland during a TV interview and the guy says
“I could just kiss you” and then that dude kisses Leyland right in the cheek with his wife laughing and Leyland surprised and laughing.
The announcer (Joe Buck)says ” A lot of Tigers fans want to kiss you right now”.
Classic moment!
That is what happens when your last place Tigers team for 15 years wins the American League pennant LOL!
Footnote:
The Pres of Baseball OPs and GM who hired Leyland
both in Florida and Detroit was Dave Dombrowski who is pretty good at picking winning Managers.
My favorite Leyland memory was when my kids and I attended a non-descript, Thursday, getaway matinee game at Yankee Stadium. Bonderman vs Randy Johnson (guess who won?)
Tigers are sent down in top of 7th and Leyland comes and starts screaming at the home plate empire. Really animated. Kate Smith breaks into “God Bless America” during the stretch. Leyland and the umpire take off their hats and face centerfield. As soon as the song ends, Leyland puts his hat back on and resumes jawing with the ump. I think he ran him.