Storybook return: Leyland enjoys being back with the Tigers

DETROIT — Overcome with joy and a million thoughts, Jim Leyland cried and choked up when the Detroit Tigers clinched a spot in the playoffs last weekend for the first time in 19 years.

The sight might have been startling to some, with the crotchety manager showing his emotional side in front of reporters and TV cameras. But if you know Leyland's story, it makes sense.

"I was here 40-some years ago, and I never thought I'd get a chance to manage this organization," he said. "In my own private moment, I'll appreciate that greatly."

The Tigers signed Leyland as a minor leaguer in 1963 and made him a manager in their farm system in 1971.

His roots go so deep that in Lakeland, Fla., where the Tigers have spring training and a minor-league team, a photo of Ty Cobb still has a gouge on it from Leyland's spike-throwing tirade after a Florida State League game almost three decades ago.

Despite a track record of success over 11 seasons developing their prospects, the Tigers passed Leyland over when they hired Sparky Anderson in 1979 and didn't promote him to Anderson's coaching staff.

Leyland left the franchise a few years later to coach third base for Tony La Russa and the Chicago White Sox. Pittsburgh gave him a shot to manage in the majors in 1986, and it turned out to be a great move for the Pirates. Leyland led them to three straight division titles in the early 1990s and was a two-time NL Manager of the Year.

He went on to become a champion with the Florida Marlins in 1997 but left the dugout two years later in Colorado as a burned-out manager following one season with the Rockies.

When the fire came back in recent years, Leyland and his family knew he had to find a place to manage again. He was a Pittsburgh-based scout for La Russa and the St. Louis Cardinals, but that wasn't enough to satisfy his competitive cravings or to erase the bad memories he had from Colorado.

"He was getting real antsy the past three or four years at home," said his son, Patrick. "Then last year, it was really eating him up that he wasn't managing."

Leyland's storybook return to the franchise he called his own for 18 years began when Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski called him nearly a year ago after firing Alan Trammell, hoping they could reunite for another run toward a championship.