Slanted Sabr Rant: Did Jim Leyland really deserve Jim Leyland Day ?

This past Saturday the Detroit Tigers welcomed back former manager Jim Leyland for a special day in which the Tigers called “Jim Leyland Day”. Leyland threw out the first pitch and the Tigers held an on field ceremony before the game in which club General Manager Dave Dombrowski gave a speech about Leyland and his time with the Tigers. Also during the ceremony, current Tiger players Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander were at Leyland’s side and have been very vocal about what Jim Leyland gave to the Detroit Tigers.

Driving home from work today I turned into my local sports radio station and callers were actually calling and complaining that the Tigers took the time to have a Jim Leyland day. A day for a Manager who never brought the city a World Series victory. A day for a manager who is just over the .500 win / loss mark for his career. A day for a Manager who many fans could not wait until he was out the door. I guess I should not be surprised that Detroit fans , fickle as they always will be, were mad that the Tigers took the time to honor Jim Leyland.

Personally speaking, I was never a big Jim Leyland guy. As a fan of advanced metrics and just basically understanding that the game has changed so much even over the past 5-10 years I could clearly tell that Leyland was outdated and losing his place in the modern game of baseball. With that being said however, I still have the utmost respect for what he did for the Tigers and what his place should be in Tigers history. Some of my worst memories as a Baseball fan and a fan of the Tigers took place in the years before Leyland took over the team. Horrid was an understatement when describing the Detroit Tigers prior to 2006.

Its amazing to me that Tiger fans are so quick to forget the garbage that the team spewed out prior to Leyland taking over as manager in 2006. For a brief example, from 2000 through 2005, the Tigers amassed a grand total of 585 losses and never finished a season with more than 79 wins. During Leyland’s time (2006-2013) with the Tigers he was 700 and 597. Leyland also led the Tigers to the World Series twice.

So why the venom towards Leyland? Lets do a quick history lesson here, In 1984 the Tigers won the World Series. Sparky Anderson was the manager of the Tigers, and many fan favorites were on the ’84 team including Tiger hero Alan Trammell. Sparky was beloved in this town and still is even after death. Sparky and Tigers Owner Mike Illitch never got along ,  they were like oil and water, there were many incidents that led to Illitch having the cold shoulder towards Sparky but the two that stand out the most were Anderson’s refusal to manage scab/replacement players during  the 1995 season. Another sticking point many believe led to the bad feelings between the two, is the refusal from Illitch to retire former Tiger, Alan Trammell’s number.

I could probably spend a whole day writing deeper into the roots of their relationship, but nothing proved it more than when Anderson went into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Cincinnati Red even though he spent nearly double the amount of years in Detroit that he did in Cincinnati. The Detroit Tigers never held a “Sparky Anderson” day while Anderson was alive, and it was not until after his death that they attempted to right their wrong and give him a very lame, low publicized day. That still rubs many people wrong to this day, so for Jim Leyland to get a “Day” even though he never brought a ring to the city may get under the skin of some people.

Look, Leyland is what he is. He was a very loyal manager, the type of manager that fringe players such as Don Kelly and Ryan Raburn loved to play for because Jim gave them chance after chance , after chance, after chance. Jim was loyal, almost to a fault. Many fans can never forgive him for that reason, I don’t have as much of a problem with that, however I think Leyland was very stubborn at times with his whack line ups and random days off. In the eyes of the fans, who expected him to win every day, when they saw Brandon Inge, Ryan Raburn and Don Kelly in the same line up, all they could do was beg for Jim’s head. I understand that days off and rest are an important part of the baseball season, but there were many September games over the past six years when I looked at a Leyland line up and just kinda said to myself, you have got to be bleeping me.

Looking back over the Leyland years, I don’t blame him solely for not leading the Tigers to a title. I mean he can only do so much. He was not the one serving up grand slams and home runs to David Ortiz and Shane Victorino last year. He was not the one making $25 million a year and hitting .150 in the playoffs. He was not the reason that Miguel Cabrera was hobbled by the time the playoffs came around last year. He was not the reason Fernando Rodney and the bullpen could not field their positions in the World Series against the Cardinals. Leyland got the Tigers to the big dance twice, and to me that still counts way more than any negatives he may have left in his trail.

The most positive thing that I will take away and remember about Jim Leyland was how much he cared about the fans on a daily basis, multiple times he would be on the verge of tears when talking about the people of Detroit and how he failed to deliver a World Series title to them. I’ll never doubt that Leyland cared, in fact he obviously cared more than any manager or coach I can ever remember in any sport. If you asked him today I would almost guarantee that if he could change one thing about his career it would be to lead Detroit to a World Series title. He LOVED Detroit and he LOVED the fans, that is pretty rare nowadays. So even if you don’t think he deserved his own “Day”, the Tigers gave it to him and we should all respect him for what he gave to Detroit.

The truth is, we will never see another manager like Jim Leyland again, so pay your respects, much like he paid his to this city for so long.