DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers honored Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland by retiring his No. 10, placing his name and number in white on a brick wall beside World Series winner Sparky Anderson.
“It’s hard to believe when I see my name with the Tiger greats on that wall,” Leyland said Saturday night during a pregame ceremony before Detroit played the Kansas City Royals.
Leyland arrived for the presentation in a white Corvette, waving to fans from the right foul pole to Detroit’s dugout along the third base line.
Last December, two weeks shy of his 79th birthday, Leyland was voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame and was inducted last month as the 23rd manager.
Over 22 seasons, Leyland won 1,769 regular-season games, including a 700-597 record from 2006-13 with the Tigers. He led Detroit to the World Series in 2006, his first season, and again in 2012 when the team won its second of four consecutive AL Central championships.
He began his managerial career in 1971 with the Appalachian League’s Bristol Tigers.
“Jim Leyland came to the Tigers at the perfect time,” said Todd Jones, the Tigers’ career saves leader and Leyland’s closer in 2006. “The city was on the rise, culturally and economically, and the team mirrored that because Mr. (Mike) Ilitch invested in Pudge Rodriguez and then Magglio Ordonez. He hired Leyland, who brought it all together for a group that hadn’t won much.”
“He was the calming presence we needed in that locker room,” Jones added.
Early in the 2006 season, Leyland delivered a loud tirade after a home game loss, before a road trip, which reporters outside the clubhouse could hear.
“Guys were disrespecting other coaches, and he wouldn’t tolerate it,” Jones recalled. “He said, ‘You guys have the money and fame, but I have the lineup card, and you’ll never play if you disrespect my coaches or the game again.’”
Leyland, a three-time Manager of the Year, also led Pittsburgh, Florida, and Colorado, guiding the Marlins to a World Series win in 1997. He managed the U.S. team to their only World Baseball Classic title in 2017.
The Tigers have retired other numbers including No. 1 (Lou Whitaker), No. 2 (Charle Gehringer), No. 3 (Alan Trammell), No. 5 (Hank Greenberg), No. 6 (Al Kaline), No. 11 (Anderson), No. 16 (Hal Newhouser), No. 23 (Willie Horton), and No. 47 (Jack Morris). Jackie Robinson’s No. 42, retired across the major leagues in 1997, is also displayed beyond the right-field seats in Comerica Park.
