Jim Leyland is a popular guy.
At least that’s what my Twitter account tells me.
The White Sox-related thread I assembled on Leyland after he was elected to the Hall of Fame on Dec. 3 has been seen over 35,000 times, which is a lot for me. Usually my stuff averages around 1,000 views.
Here are some nuggets – some cleaned up and expanded – from that thread as well as some new gems on Leyland and the Sox:
*THE BASICS: Leyland was hired by the White Sox on Oct. 13, 1981 and served as the team’s third base coach under manager Tony LaRussa from Opening Day 1982 to the season-finale in 1985. It was his first big league job. … He succeeded Bobby Winkles as Sox third base coach and was succeeded by Doug Rader in 1986.
*MINOR MATTERS: Leyland came to the Sox after 11 seasons as a minor league manager in the Detroit system. Among those “Tiger cubs” he skippered were Ron LeFlore (Class-A Clinton 1973), Bruce Kimm (Double-A Montgomery 1974 and Triple-A Evansville 1979), Lou Whitaker (Class-A Lakeland 1976), Kirk Gibson (Lakeland 1978 and Evansville 1979), Mark Fidrych (Lakeland 1978 and Evansville 1980 and 1981), Jerry Manuel (Evansville 1979), Jack Morris (Evansville 1979), Rick Leach (Evansville 1980 and 1981), Bernie Carbo (Evansville 1981) and Larry Rothschild (Evansville 1981).
Leyland was LeFlore’s first professional manager and his last third base coach for the Sox in 1982. LeFlore was assigned to Clinton after signing with the Tigers following his release from Jackson State Prison in Michigan.
*SERIOUS STUFF: In his first Sox spring training, Leyland’s team fell to Gordy Lund’s team 6-2 in an intrasquad game in Sarasota, Fla., on March 3, 1982. The game featured a LeFlore-to-Mike Squires-to-Pete Mackanin triple play.
Those intrasquad games were competitive among the Sox coaches, who managed in them, according to reports of the day.
Leyland managed the 1984 intrasquad game against fellow coach Chuck Brinkman. The stakes were a curb on Leyland’s smoking vs. limits on Brinkman’s love of “Dagwood” sandwiches.
Thanks to a home run from Art Howe, Leyland’s squad prevailed thus allowing him to maintain his preferred pace of puffing while Brinkman had to cut back on the cold cuts.
The veteran Howe, by the way, was in camp getting a look-see from the Sox. He didn’t make the team but he is part of an interesting roster of names who were with the Sox in spring training but never played for the club in the regular season. I’ve assembled quite the Twitter thread on this …
*THE START: The first home run handshake Leyland delivered as Sox third base coach was to Jim Morrison on Opening Day 1982 at Yankee Stadium. DON’T YOU LOVE THAT MADLY? … The first runner Leyland waved home as Sox third base coach was Tom Paciorek on a Harold Baines double in that same game.
*INNOVATOR: The 1985 Sox media guide credited Leyland as the driving force behind the club’s mini-camps of the 1980s. “Helped bring the mini-camp concept to the 1985 White Sox spring training camp, an approach he experienced in the Detroit Tigers system as a coach and advised Sox general manager Roland Hemond of its benefit,” the guide said.
*PROPHETIC: Sox media guides of Leyland’s era also cited him as “one of the top third base coaches in the American League” and “a likely manager of the future.” … The guides also said Leyland “works with White Sox outfielders on their defense.”
*SHOWDOWN: In his first season as a Sox coach, Leyland was reportedly part of a heated exchange with announcer Jimmy Piersall at a TV/radio studio.
On July 28, 1982, members of the Sox coaching staff — which included LaRussa — confronted Piersall for comments he made about Leyland’s coaching ability. According to Piersall, Leyland “went bananas” before leaving.
*MAN IN DEMAND: Following the 1982 season, Leyland was reported to be the favorite for the Texas Rangers’ managerial opening. Texas passed on Leyland and hired Doug Rader, who eventually succeeded Leyland as Sox third base coach in 1986.
This was one of at least three managerial jobs Leyland was linked to during his time with the Sox.
In addition to Texas, Leyland was a finalist for the Houston job that eventually went to Hal Lanier after the 1985 campaign. Leyland was a candidate for the Seattle post that Chuck Cottier got for the 1985 season. Leyland was also linked to the post in Oakland that Steve Boros got in 1982.
*SUBSTITUTE MANAGER: Leyland did get some managerial experience as a coach with the Sox.
He went 1-1 while subbing for the suspended LaRussa on Aug. 10 and Aug. 11, 1985 at Comiskey Park.
The Sox dropped Leyland’s debut in Milwaukee before getting him a win the next game. In the victory, Joel Davis earned the win and Joe De Sa hit his first career homer as the Sox prevailed 4-1.
LaRussa was suspended two games for bumping umpire Derryl Cousins during Tom Seaver’s 300th win in New York on Aug. 4.
*TWO FOR ONE: In the heart of his time with the Sox, Leyland pointed to a play in a May 15, 1983 game as his “single most thrilling moment,” according to a Tribune article of the day.
In the seventh inning of the Sox 7-3 win at Yankee Stadium, Leyland waved home two runners on Greg Walker’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
The fact that the slow-footed Marc “The Booter” Hill scored from second behind Squires added to the play’s “wow” factor.
“…Greg Walker hit a fly ball out there to ‘Death Valley,’ ” Leyland said in the Tribune. “(Center fielder) Jerry Mumphrey went out there 440 feet … I just kept waving both runners around and Marc scored.”
*THE MAN CAN COACH: A game in Texas on Sept. 7, 1985 provided some insight on the attention Leyland paid to his job.
In the second inning, Leyland sent Fisk, a 37-year old at the time, home on a single to left where Gary Ward, who led the AL with 23 outfield assists in 1983, was waiting.
Fisk scored without a throw.
“I was sending him all the way with two outs,” Leyland said in the next day’s Tribune. “Ward couldn’t get the ball out of his mitt and that’s why he didn’t throw it. But I sent Fisk for one (reason) because the grass is slow in the outfield and that ball hugged the ground and wasn’t lined out there.”
Said LaRussa: “That’s why he’s the best third base coach in the league. He has good instincts. All you’ve got to do is give him the opportunity and he knows when to send him home.”
*THE END: The last home run handshake Leyland made as Sox coach was with Ron Kittle on Oct. 6, 1985 at Comiskey Park … The last player Leyland waved home as Sox third base coach was Kittle with the eventual winning run on a Tim Hulett single in a 3-2 win over Seattle in the 1985 finale. It was Leyland’s last game with the Sox.
*TOP PIRATE: Leyland was named the 33rd manager in Pittsburgh Pirates history on Nov. 20, 1985. He succeeded Chuck Tanner, who managed the Sox from 1970 to 1975.
“He will have big shoes to fill,” LaRussa told legendary Chicago Tribune baseball writer Jerome Holtzman. “Chuck Tanner is a tough act to follow. But Jim Leyland is ready. And I’ll say something else: Give him a few years and he’ll be the best manager in the big leagues.”
Better than you, Holtzman asked TLR.
“Yes,” LaRussa answered.
In his fifth season with the Pirates Leyland proved LaRussa right by winning the National League’s Manager of the Year Award.
The American League winner that year was? … the White Sox Jeff Torborg.
*HELLO, OLD FRIEND: The White Sox were the opponent in Leyland’s first game as Pirates manager.
On March 8, 1986, the Sox tipped the Bucs 3-2 in Leyland’s Grapefruit League debut as a manager in Bradenton, Fla.
The starting pitcher for Leyland in that one was Jose DeLeon. Rule V pickup Bobby Bonilla, who was traded to the Bucs on July 23 for DeLeon, a 19-game loser in 1985, was not in the lineup for the Sox that day.
Among those in the order for the Sox that day were Ozzie Guillen, Kittle, Harold Baines, Kenny Williams and Daryl Boston.
Among those in the lineup for the Pirates that day were former and future Sox players Steve Kemp, Tony Pena and Billy Almon but also a scrawny hot prospect who was playing his first game in Pittsburgh threads named … Barry Bonds (0-for-2).
*NO SOX: Leyland never faced the Sox in the regular season while managing the Pirates from 1986 to 1996. Leyland also never faced the Sox in the regular season when he managed Florida (1997-1998) and Colorado (1999)
*PARTY POOPERS: The Sox spoiled both Leyland’s Detroit debut and his regular-season Detroit departure.
The reigning World Series champion Sox downed Detroit 5-3 in the 2006 Comerica Park opener — Leyland’s home debut as Tigers’ manager — behind a two-run go-ahead home run from Joe Crede in the sixth inning.
In Leyland’s regular season finale in Detroit, the Sox parlayed a two-run Conor Gillaspie triple into a 6-3 win on Sept. 22, 2013.
*ROUGH START VS. SOX: Leyland lost his first five games as a manager to the Sox, including his managerial debut at NCP/USCF/Guaranteed Rate Field on June 6, 2006 when Alex Cintron’s three-run homer in the eighth doomed Detroit to a 4-3 loss.
*VS. THE SOX: The Sox were 70-79 against Leyland’s Tigers. The Sox were above .500 vs. Leyland’s Tigers from 2006 to 2008, went .500 in 2009 and then were under .500 from 2010 to 2013.
*THE THUMB: Leyland was ejected 73 times in his career. None were with the White Sox. However, he was tossed when facing the Sox four times, including his final ejection of Sept. 9, 2013.
Leyland’s ejections vs. the Sox were Sept. 29, 2007 in Chicago (call at second base), July 25, 2011 in Chicago (balls and strikes), July 11, 2013 in Detroit (brushback) and Sept. 9, 2013 in Chicago (non-HBP call).
Umps ejecting Leyland in those games were Doug Eddings, Jim Wolf, Chad Fairchild and Brian Gorman.
*Sources: SoxNerd files, Chicago Tribune archive, baseball reference.com, retrosheet.org