The former World Championship manager was elected to the Hall of Fame by the contemporary era committee for managers, executives, and umpires. He becomes the 23rd manager in the hall.
After making his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986, Leyland led the Florida Marlins to a World Series title in 1997 and won two pennants with the Detroit Tigers (2006, 2012). He also skippered the Colorado Rockies for one season (1999). Overall, he had a record of 1,769-1,728. While he stands at 18th on the all-time list, his teams’ winning percentage was just .506; his only winning record with a franchise came with the Tigers. In my uniformed opinion, that shouldn’t merit HoF status but what do I know?
By contrast, Lou Pinella (who was also a very good player although I know that doesn’t count here), was 1,835-1,713 in 23 seasons, the first two-plus were under the contentious ownership of George Steinbrenner. He then moved to Cincinnati under the even more contentious Marge Schott. Pinella fell short by one vote. (Just for fun I look up the members of the “Hall of Fame Board-appointed electorate charged with the review of the Contemporary Baseball Era Managers/Executives/Umpires Ballot was comprised of Hall of Fame members Jeff Bagwell, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Bud Selig, Ted Simmons, Jim Thome and Joe Torre; major league executives Sandy Alderson, Bill DeWitt, Michael Hill, Ken Kendrick, Andy MacPhail and Phyllis Merhige; and veteran media members/historians Sean Forman, Jack O’Connell and Jesus Ortiz. Hall of Fame Chairman of the Board Jane Forbes Clark served as the non-voting chairman of the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee,” as per the Hall’s website.)
Leyland was a main subject in The Slide: Leyland, Bonds, and the Star-Crossed Pittsburgh Pirates, by Richard Peterson and Stephen Peterson, released in 2017.
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