Leyland's wisdom, WS win with Marlins highlights Hall election

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Before every game of the 1997 postseason, Marlins manager Jim Leyland would speak to his team and offer words of encouragement. When it came time for Game 7 of the World Series against Cleveland, Leyland turned to one of the greats in sport history for inspiration.

"I can remember talking to them about Muhammad Ali, how he wasn't just satisfied getting to the championship fight, he trained to win that fight," Leyland told MLB.com in 2022. "He wanted to be the guy that won it, because sometimes you get to the World Series, they think, 'Oh, we got here,' and they take a deep breath. But you forget that you've really got to get after it to win it.

"I'd been at three, and we lost two and won one. So I wanted to remind them of how much he trained, and his thought process, and how prepared he was going into the championship fight. He wasn't there just to fight the championship fight. He was there to win it. My point was, 'We're not here just to play in the World Series. We're here to win it.'"

Leyland, whose Marlins would capture their first World Series championship in a 3-2 walk-off victory in 11 innings, was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee on Sunday night. Candidates for the “Contemporary Era” are defined as those whose greatest impact came from 1980 to the present. Leyland was named on 15 of 16 ballots.

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Leyland became the first manager elected to the Hall since December 2013, when Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre were all unanimously chosen. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held on July 21, 2024, in Cooperstown, N.Y.

After 11 seasons inside the dugout for the Pirates from 1986-96, Leyland reunited with general manager Dave Dombrowski in South Florida ahead of '97. Expectations were high in the organization's fifth year of existence because the Marlins had added veterans like Bobby Bonilla and Moises Alou to complement homegrown players Charles Johnson and Edgar Renteria. Robb Nen, Jeff Conine and Gary Sheffield had been around since the inaugural season. Kevin Brown, Al Leiter and Alex Fernandez had signed free agent deals to fortify the rotation.

The Marlins' Spring Training success carried over into the regular season, when they captured the National League Wild Card with a 92-70 record. In the postseason, they upset San Francisco, Atlanta and Cleveland, which fielded a roster including Hall of Famer Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Sandy Alomar and Omar Vizquel.

Leyland returned in 1998, but the rebuilding Marlins went 54-108 to finish last in the division. He then left for stints in Colorado ('99) and Detroit (2006-13) to cap a 22-year MLB managerial career. Leyland tallied the 18th-highest win total (1,769) in history, eight postseason appearances, three league pennants and three Manager of the Year honors.

"My tenure with the Marlins everybody knows was not very long," Leyland said on Monday at the Winter Meetings. "It was very exciting. We went there in '97 -- I managed once again for Dave Dombrowski. They went out and got a few players that winter, obviously. That team came together very quick, and that team went on to win a World Series. I think the most unbelievable thing about that team was -- you folks can check it because I'm not exactly sure if I'm totally right, but I think I'm close -- we were 26-5 in Spring Training, and I hate to say this, but I was almost hoping we'd lose a couple games because this is crazy.

"We'd be behind three runs in the ninth inning, and some kid from A-ball would come up and pinch-hit and hit a grand slam home run, and we'd win the game. Fortunately, we got out of the chute well, and we ended well, so it was obviously a great experience, and everybody knows the sale of the team and all that. And that's all part of it. That's fine. Winning the World Series, there's no greater experience than that."