Leyland's 'legacy of leadership' celebrated with No. 10 retirement

DETROIT -- Jim Leyland loves to tell the story of how he would drive around his hometown of Perrysburg, Ohio, in the summer in his old Studebaker with the windows rolled up to make his friends and neighbors think he had air conditioning.

So imagine how a young Leyland, Double-A catcher, would’ve felt about rolling into work in a Corvette convertible, as the Tigers provided for his ride from the right-field corner along Comerica Park’s warning track to Detroit’s dugout for his ceremony prior to Saturday's 6-5 walk-off win over the Royals in 11 innings.

“I had a tough time figuring out how to get out of it,” Leyland joked later. “I actually practiced four times underneath the tunnel, and the [driver] said I finally got it. It’s a pretty fancy car, but I’m going to have arthritis by tomorrow.”

The Tigers rolled out the blue carpet and then some to celebrate Leyland, the former Detroit Minor League catcher, who became just the second manager in franchise history to have his number retired. The pregame festivities, coming on the heels of Leyland’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame 13 days ago, provided a chance for Tigers fans to celebrate Leyland on his home turf.

“Tonight, we're not just retiring a number. We're enshrining a legacy of leadership and heart,” Tigers broadcaster and ceremony emcee Dan Dickerson proclaimed.

It’s a different honor, Leyland said, than the Hall of Fame, which honored his entire career across four Major League clubs. This was about his eight years managing in Detroit, which included three American League Central titles, two World Series appearances and an AL Manager of the Year Award.

Leyland managed two AL MVPs in Detroit (Justin Verlander and two-time winner Miguel Cabrera) and two AL Cy Young winners (Verlander and Max Scherzer). All three players are likely to eventually join Leyland in the Hall of Fame.

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“This is the highest honor you can get from an individual team. That’s the absolute ultimate,” Leyland said. “I never expected it to happen. In fact, when they told me that they were going to have a day for me, they didn’t tell me at that time that they were retiring my number. They probably had to think about it.”

The Tigers brought back players from across Leyland’s Detroit tenure to the celebration, from former closer Todd Jones to third baseman Brandon Inge from his AL pennant team in 2006 to outfielder Andy Dirks and a well-dressed Cabrera from his pennant team in 2012.

It was Cabrera’s first public appearance at Comerica Park since his retirement at the end of last season, and it brought a big ovation from fans, many of whom were adorned in ballcaps, sunglasses and fake mustaches from the “Jim Leyland Starter Kit” that the Tigers gave away at the gates entering the park.

“If they had a good time with it, then I had a good time with it,” Leyland said.

Video tributes included Verlander, Alex Avila, Sean Casey, Austin Jackson, Hall of Famer Pudge Rodriguez -- and Jim’s son, Patrick, who was managing the White Sox Single-A affiliate in Kannapolis, N.C., on Saturday.

The level of respect for Leyland around the game is strong enough that Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez stopped in center field in the middle of his pregame warmups to join fans in applauding Leyland when he stepped to the podium.

“Today was tougher to control my emotions than it was in Cooperstown,” Leyland said, “because it’s family. In Cooperstown, you have so many fans that were there for other Hall of Famers getting in. It’s not like one team honoring you. Like I said about the Pittsburgh fans in my speech, it never felt like manager and fans here, it felt like manager and friends.”

The Tigers gifted Leyland a crystal No. 10 and a portrait of his managerial tenure before longtime pitching coach Jeff Jones and longtime clubhouse manager Jim Schmakel unveiled his No. 10 along the right-field brick wall.

With the ceremony complete, Leyland jogged to the dugout -- his pace off the field faster than some of his mid-game pitching changes -- and leaned over the dugout railing to hug manager A.J. Hinch and talk to the players. Hinch caught Leyland’s ceremonial first pitch.

“I wanted to thank them,” Leyland said, “because they didn’t really have to come out there like they did. I wanted to thank A.J. and his players, and his coaches, for letting me be just a tiny part of what’s going on. Obviously, this is not my show anymore; I’m way in the background. That meant a lot to me that they came out.

“And I did also tell them, ‘How about going out and winning the [darn] game?”