7th-inning Stretch

Tigers manager Jim Leyland takes a break at spring training to field some questions about his wife and kids, football, dining out — and, of course, baseball

By Lynn Henning

Jim Leyland stepped into the Tigers manager’s office two years ago when a team and a sport were in need of a makeover in Detroit. In one important way, his arrival was well-timed. It coincided with the evolution of a suddenly competitive team that had been years in development.
But make no mistake. Leyland’s influence has been everywhere as he heads into his third season as Tigers manager.
His intensity, as well as his dedication to details and to preparedness, helped turn a team accustomed to losing into a World Series participant in 2006.
The Tigers followed up with another winning season in 2007 and enter 2008 with new status and clout. Off-season trades for Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, Edgar Renteria, and Jacque Jones have made the Tigers among the favorites to play in another World Series.
Leyland, 63, grew up in Perrysburg, Ohio, and played in the Tigers farm system as a catcher before taking a minor-league managerial job in 1971.
He has been managing or coaching ever since, crafting a reputation for tough, energized, efficient baseball that has put him on the cusp of winning a second World Series, in yet another league, following his 1997 triumph with the Florida Marlins.
Leyland sat down with Hour Detroit for a brief visit during this year’s spring camp in Lakeland, Fla..

What do you enjoy most about managing?
I like the competition. When you’re not a very good player, when you couldn’t make it as a player, and now you’re up there in a little bit of control making decisions involving the best players in the world, you enjoy that. I like the competition.

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