Posted: Dec 04, 2023
Former Clinton Manager Jim Leyland Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
CLINTON, Iowa - Former Clinton manager, Jim Leyland was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee on Sunday. Jim Leyland managed the Clinton Pilots, a minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, from 1971-72 and 1975. Leyland is the first member of any Clinton team to enter Cooperstown.
In an article from the Clinton Herald, Leyland credited Clinton as a stepping stone to his hall of fame career before his visit Ashford Field back in 2014.
"Clinton is one of the stepping stones of my career, and I don't ever want to forget that," Leyland said. "It'll be great to see the ballpark and the people again. Clinton was a quaint little city."
Leyland made his way to Clinton at 27 years old after managing the Bristol Tigers in the Appalachian League in 1971. He would finish end his time as a minor league manager in 1981 with the triple-A Evansville Triplets.
During his time in Clinton, he would take the Pilots to the playoffs in 1973 with a 73-51 record to take first place in the North Division. Leyland finished his three seasons in the River City with a 189-189 record and coached a handful of minor leaguers who eventually made their way to the bigs including 1984 World Series champion Dave Rozema and 1976 American League All-Star Ron LeFlore.
Leyland got his call to the show in 1986 as the manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After 11 seasons in Steel City he managed the Florida Marlins and helped MLB's newest expansion team win the World Series in 1997. Former Clinton Giants Dennis Cook and Pat Rapp were on the Marlins that season as well. He spent another year with Florida before managing the Colorado Rockies in 1999 and taking some time off.
Leyland returned to the MLB in 2006 to manage the Detroit Tigers after spending the start of his managing career moving up and down the ranks of Detroits minor league system. During his eight seasons with the Tigers he led the team to three AL Championships while obtaining the Manager of the Year Award in three separate seasons.
Jim Leyland was known best for getting to know players on a personal level and walking the field before every game checking in with each member of his troupe. In a recent interview with MLB Network during the 2023 Winter Meetings in Nashville, TN he shared some of that wisdom.
"If you mislead a player, you lose them forever. If you tell them the truth, you lose them for about 24 hours."