Former Tigers Manager And All Time Cig Smoker Jim Leyland Is Officially A Hall Of Famer

Bob Nightingale originally tweeted this, so I had to double-check to make sure that it was legitimate, but it was true. Jim Leyland is headed to Cooperstown. It’s interesting how the perspective regarding Major League managers has changed over the last 20 years. The influx of analytics has definitely allowed Managers to be criticized more often than they used to be. Near the end of his tenure, Leyland made some very questionable decisions (see Game Two of the 2013 ALCS), but as a whole, he absolutely deserves to be a Hall of Fame manager.

Leyland managed four teams in the big leagues, including winning a world championship with the Marlins in 1997. But he’ll most famously known for his time with the Tigers. His 2006 season in Detroit was transcendent. It was the first time the Tigers had been to the postseason in 19 years. He took home American League Manager of the Year and was the toast of the town. I always liked the guy. I still do. I know that there were a fair amount of Leyland haters near the end of his time, but I feel like his tenure in Detroit has aged pretty well. The alternative was Brad Ausmus, and we saw how that worked out.

Even beyond the wins and losses, Jim Leyland should be in the Hall of Fame largely because of recognizability alone. When you think of a baseball manager, Jim Leyland is one of the first that comes to mind. J.K. Simmons, who played the Detroit Tigers manager in the Sam Raimi film "For the Love of the Game," admitted that he based his performance on Jim Leyland. Keep in mind Leland had not even managed the Tigers at that point. He was just that iconic as a baseball manager. 

One of the Hall of Fame's main roles is to preserve the game's history. Jim Leyland is a part of that history, and I would argue he's one of the last of his kind. He was one of those go-with-your-gut, old-fashioned managers who wasn't afraid to rip into players and shit on umpires. And the man fucking loved his cigarettes. He could rip darts with the best of them. Perhaps he'll light one up on his way to the podium during his Cooperstown induction.