Don Kelly stood on the field during batting practice Saturday afternoon at PNC Park wearing a wide smile and a black T-shirt celebrating Jim Leyland’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Just the thought of Leyland being enshrined among the game’s greats Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, N.Y., gave the Pittsburgh Pirates bench coach goosebumps, and Kelly showed the raised hairs on his right forearm to provide proof.
“To grow up here idolizing Jim and the Pirates, the heroes from my childhood, and to have the opportunity to play for Jim was such a blessing,” said Kelly, a Mt. Lebanon and Point Park alum who played for Leyland with the Detroit Tigers from 2009-13.
“I get chills thinking about it. To know him and how much he’s meant to the game of baseball and for baseball to honor him and give that back to him, he’s more than deserving. It was humbling being a kid from Pittsburgh who got to play for him and now to see him get his rightful place in the Hall is really awesome.”
Pirates bench coach Don Kelly on Jim Leyland’s HOF induction: “I get chills thinking about it. … He’s more than deserving. It was humbling being a kid from Pittsburgh who got to play for him and now to see him get his rightful place in the Hall is really awesome.” pic.twitter.com/2eCeZDckOq
— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) July 20, 2024
Leyland was the Pirates’ skipper from 1986-96, the first of four stops in a 22-year managerial career that includes 1,769 wins, three National League East Division titles, the 1997 World Series championship with the Florida Marlins, American League pennants with the Tigers in 2006 and ’12 and leading USA to a World Baseball Classic title in ’17.
Despite working as a special assistant for Detroit, Leyland has served as a mentor for Pirates manager Derek Shelton by meeting with him for breakfast at Chartiers Country Club and sharing his observations and thoughts on the game.
“This is a weekend we should celebrate the history of the game and the best players. Cooperstown is — I’m very biased — the most special museum that we have. If you spend any time around guys that sign their initials with HOF at the end of it, it’s a very treasured place,” Shelton said. “We’re highlighting one of the best managers in the history of the game.”
Leyland had a powerful impact on his players, especially those with the Pirates, and many involved with the franchise were eagerly anticipating hearing his acceptance speech when Leyland becomes the 24th manager in major-league history enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
“That’s the most important part of it. Obviously, you’re there to win games — that’s your job as a major-league manager — but you’re establishing a relationship that lasts a lifetime,” Leyland told Sean Casey in an MLB Network interview. “It lasts more than in the dugout or in the clubhouse. You know that they would be there for you, and they know that I would be there for them. I think that’s what you try to establish.”
"You're establishing a relationship that lasts a lifetime. You know that they would be there for you, and they know that I would be there for them."
For Hall of Famer Jim Leyland, the duties of an MLB manager go beyond the game of baseball.@TheMayorsOffice | @baseballhallpic.twitter.com/JOTq6yoEaP
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 20, 2024
Kelly spoke of his reverence for Leyland before Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, pinpointing how much he cares for his players and his ability to connect and motivate them to reach their potential.
“From a managerial standpoint, how consistent he was in how he treated people and how he managed the game, everything that went into that consistency of who he was and what he believed in and how he got the most out of guys is what led to him being in the Hall of Fame,” Kelly said.
“From a guy like me who was the 26th guy to a guy like Barry Bonds, who is arguably the best player in the history of the game, he was able to connect with that wide of range of players and be able to motivate them and get the best out of them and put them in a position on the field to be successful. He didn’t treat anybody differently, whether it was a player or clubhouse guy or front office guy or the owner. He was respectful of everybody, cared about everybody and that came through in how he managed and how he treated people.”
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Pirates third base coach Mike Rabelo, who also played for Leyland with the Tigers in 2006-07, called him “one of the most inspirational people in my playing and coaching career.” They connected because, like Rabelo, Leyland was a catcher who had toiled in the minors.
Of course, sometimes that mentoring came with some sarcasm.
“He always used to tell me, ‘Hey, you’re in there tomorrow. Don’t get me fired.’ He had a way of having people relax,” Rabelo said, with a laugh. “He’d say, ‘Hey Rabelo, do you want to coach?’ I’d go, ‘Yeah, I’d love to manage.’ And he’d say, ‘Well, if you keep playing the way you’re playing, you’ll be coaching very soon.’ ”
What Rabelo appreciated then and now is how Leyland reminded him to keep a complicated game as simple as possible by separating the statistics and analytical metrics with a basic mathematical solution.
“I vividly remember him telling me, ‘Listen, never forget: One plus one is two,’ ” Rabelo said. “At the time, I didn’t really know what he was saying. But it was to keep it very simple: ‘Throw the ball, catch the ball, hit the ball.’ That’s coming out of the mouth of a Hall of Fame manager. … Players love playing for him. People love being around him. People love Jim Leyland stories. People love Jim Leyland.”
Former Pirates first baseman Kevin Young, who played for Leyland from 1992-95, called him a “tremendous man and representation of the game itself” and found it honorable to be coached by the Hall of Fame manager so early in his 12-year major-league career.
Now a Pirates color analyst on SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcasts, Young shared his recollections of playing for Leyland less than an hour before first pitch Saturday. Young recalled watching Leyland walk through the outfield during batting practice to stay in touch and cultivate relationships with the Pirates’ reserves. Young believes such tactics helped build trust and the foundation for a winning ballclub.
“The impact that he had on me as a young player in the city of Pittsburgh was tremendous,” Young said. “I’m so proud to see that happen and looking forward to seeing his name called and for him to step up there and give his acceptance speech. I can see his tears now — I know they’re coming — but I’m going to shed some tears with him. I almost 100% guarantee that tears will flow. The question is, are they going to come in the first 30 or the first 60 seconds?
“Jim Leyland cares about the game of baseball, he cares about the people who play it and he respects it all the same. And that’s all going to come out in his speech. You’re going to get an appreciation of seeing the humility. That’s the thing I learned from him, more than anything. When you care about something, it’s OK to show emotion about it. That’s what I love about him the most: He’s real.”
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.