Jim Leyland's First Day On The Job

By: Jeff Riger

Detroit skipper Jim Leyland talks to the media everyday, and every day is different.

Some days the manager is short, perturbed and ornery and media sessions are short while other times Leyland will spend damn near an hour with the press, breaking down different aspects of the game. Of course there are also the days where Leyland will lose it on a member of the media, which makes for a fun time as well.

On Monday the Tigers started a 4 game series with the Yankees which meant more local media showing up before the game, along with national TV people from ESPN and some former players as well. Yesterday, Leyland ran through the gamut. From the amazing come-from-behind win on Sunday afternoon against the Indians to the Curtis Granderson-Austin Jackson trade, the skipper talked about it all while lying on his office couch.

Leyland even chatted about home field advantage, which he doesn't seem to believe in. A reporter asked him if Comerica Park, with the constant sellouts and the team's recent fantastic record there has turned into a place where opponents fear playing. "Well, I question very much whether the New York Yankees are intimidated coming in here," Leyland said. The manager went on saying "I find it hard to believe that Derek Jeter is too worried about coming in Detroit to play tonight."

All in all it was just a typical day in Leyland's office but there was one thing that was different...

The skipper told stories.

Now don't get me wrong, Leyland will not hesitate to tell stories if they help him get his point across but usually they tend to be off limits for the media to portray to the fans. On Monday Leyland referred to the Tigers as "3 stars surrounded by good players." The 3 stars of course are Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Justin Verlander. One media member inquired about Austin Jackson and wanted to know how far off the centerfielder was from making the jump from a good player to a star? It was a legit question considering Jackson is hitting over .320 for the season with a .400 plus on base percentage in just his third year in the league.

Leyland agreed that Jackson is having a great season and even went as far to admit that he believes he will be a star rather soon. The manager told all listening about his belief that every player that makes it to the Big Leagues at one point or another wonders if he belongs there? Can he play day in and day out against the best in the game? Leyland even believes Barry Bonds had his doubts about playing at the Major League level even though he would never admit it to anybody.

A media member then asked Leyland if he ever wondered if he had what it took to make it in the Majors as a skipper? "Yeah I didn't know if I was good enough to manage or not" said the veteran leader. Leyland went on saying "you got some pretty good managers sitting in the other dugout and you're some backup catcher in double A and all of a sudden you're managing against them. Yeah I didn't know if I was good enough or not. I did know one thing...I knew if I got good enough players that I would do ok."

Leyland was then asked if he remembered the difference from his first day coaching and his first day managing?

"I do" said Leyland. "My first day coaching in the Big Leagues I was a wreck. It was against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium on Easter Sunday and I went to Carnegie Hall on Saturday night and heard some lady sing "New York, New York" in French. I went to St. Patricks Cathedral on Easter Sunday morning and we swept the Yankees in a double header. I coached third that day and I have never been called so many bad names in all my life. It was unbelievable! I thought nobody knew me, but these Yankee fans, "you Minor League, no good" it was unbelievable and we swept the Yankees a double header and we went to Boston and swept the Red Sox.

"That was my first 5 games and we went home and swept Baltimore. That was my first 8 games in the Big Leagues; I thought to myself this (expletive) is easy. My first day managing in the Big Leagues was against Doc Gooden and the New York Mets and I was a wreck," said Leyland.

The year was 1986 and Leyland lost that game along with the one after before winning 6 in a row to start his managerial career. The Pirates finished the year 64 and 98.

Since that day in 86' Leyland has gone on to win almost 1,700 major league games and has more victories than any active manager in the game today.

So that was Jim Leyland on Monday.

Can't wait to hear the skipper on Tuesday, not sure what he will talk about but more than likely it will find its way to the airwaves at 97.1 The Ticket.