Jim Leyland is one of the most highly regarded managers in baseball. He has a losing career record (1,125 wins and 1,158 losses over 15 seasons), but considering that he spent 11 years with the penny-pinching Pittsburgh Pirates and later watched helplessly as the Florida Marlins sold off their stars after the '97 World Series, it's amazing that he's so close to .500. (And if his Detroit Tigers keep winning at their current pace and go deep into the playoffs, Leyland could conceivably cross that threshold this season.)
Gwen Knapp has an article in today's San Francisco Chronicle on Leyland, prompted by the Tigers' surprising turnaround under his leadership. Knapp cites three hallmarks of Leyland's style that have contributed to his success that struck me as more broadly applicable:
1) He Cares About His Team And They Know It
Tigers coach and former Pirate Andy Van Slyke notes that, "For a long time when I was in St. Louis, I felt like a performance car with no fuel in my tank, and when I came to Pittsburgh, Jim Leyland became my fuel...I felt like my career was more important to him than [it was to me.] I think a lot of managers will say that, but the players will tell you that's not the case."2) He Does It His Way
Mario Impemba, a Detroit broadcaster, believes Leyland "ignores stodgy baseball rules in ways that enliven the Tigers," according to Knapp, and as a result, Impemba says, Leyland "presents a challenge to the manager on the other side because he's unorthodox...They can't know what to expect."3) He's Focused on the Process
Van Slyke again: "The great thing about playing for Jim Leyland is that he doesn't care about winning and losing...I'm not saying he accepts losing. But his emphasis has always been on effort and preparation, and if you have that, you can go to bed at night."
(Of course, my admiration for Leyland's success shouldn't obscure the fact that his '97 Marlins were the beneficiaries of a deeply screwed-up playoff format that sent the division-winning Giants to Miami for the first two games in the series. But that's my problem, not his.)
tag: jim leyland
