To Jim Leyland, Don Kelly was a manager’s dream.
So, of course, the Hall of Famer was watching Kelly’s debut in his dream job as Pittsburgh Pirates manager Friday night, rooting for his protégé to get his first victory, a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park.
“Donnie, obviously, he’d been waiting for this moment for quite a while,” Leyland told TribLive by phone. “He finally got the opportunity. This story’s got a great flavor to it, him being a hometown guy. The whole story is wonderful, but that wears off, and he’s got to go work.”
Leyland describes Kelly as the perfect player because he was easy to manage. It was not so much for his ability but rather the way the Mt. Lebanon and Point Park alum carried himself when playing for Leyland with the Detroit Tigers. He exuded positivity, prepared diligently and came to the ballpark ready to play, regardless of whether he was in the starting lineup. Kelly could play every position on the field — and did so for the Tigers in one season — and Leyland is convinced Kelly has the right temperament and knowledge to be a manager.
Perhaps most important, Leyland considers Kelly an excellent people person who can relate on many levels.
“That’s what you’re doing,” Leyland said. “Most people think you’re managing games, but what you’re really managing is people.”
That could be a key difference between Kelly and Derek Shelton, who was fired Thursday amid a 12-26 start and a seven-game losing streak. Where Shelton had run out of answers, Kelly reminded Pirates players to rediscover their love for the game by talking to them about showing up with the same enthusiasm as they did in Little League but with the intent to get better every day in an effort to win.
Leyland also served as a mentor to Shelton, meeting with him monthly for breakfast to talk about baseball and warned that there are times Kelly might remind people of his predecessor.
“He’s not going to do a lot of stuff different than Shelton,” Leyland said. “I hate when they come in and say, ‘We’re going to focus on fundamentals.’ The other manager did fundamentals. Every manager in baseball does the same thing. Every manager works on fundamentals. … Obviously, these guys are talented. They’re in the majors. You’ve got to find out what makes each guy tick. It’s not the same for every guy. It could be different. What are the things he likes? What are the things he needs to improve upon? Donnie cares about the player. He’ll figure it out.”
Kelly can attest to how masterful Leyland was at managing people. He spoke before Saturday’s game about following along from the dugout about his decisions during the game. Where Kelly reminisced in his introductory news conference about trick-or-treating at Leyland’s house — and even cracked a joke about the old skipper not handing out heaters — he spoke with reverence when discussing what he learned from Leyland.
“So the one thing with Jim is that he cares about people,” Kelly said. “He cares about his staff. He cared about his players. The way he went about it every day, it was relentless that he wanted to win. And I think that seeing the way that he carried himself, he was consistent in his decisions, he was consistent in how he treated people.”
Kelly brought up the “Barry Bonds moment,” when Leyland infamously chewed out the 1990 NL MVP at spring training. It became a seminal moment for Leyland, establishing who was in charge by standing up to a superstar.
“Why did he do that? He didn’t do that for Jim Leyland. Ultimately, he did that for Barry Bonds,” Kelly said. “And I think Barry, if he were here, he would tell you that he respected that, and that’s why Jim did that. I learned a lot from Jim. There’s a long list. But I think, at the end of the day, his care for his staff and his care for the players and how that played out wasn’t always nice, I guess. He would get after you. He never told you want you wanted to hear. He told you what you needed to hear.”
That prompted a follow-up question: Can Don Kelly, universally regarded as one of the nicest guys in baseball, be that guy for the Pirates?
“Absolutely,” Kelly said. “I think that that’s when the players know you care about them and they know that at the bottom line you care about the team, you care about winning. That’s what we tie back to.”
Leyland suggested that it would be helpful for Kelly to have a veteran baseball mind as his bench coach, “somebody who’s been around a block, seen a lot of games, been in the fire before.” Leyland would be a perfect fit but made it clear he has no interest in the job.
“No, I work for the Tigers. I’m 80 years old,” Leyland said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Even so, Kelly knows he has a lifeline to Leyland and called him a “tremendous resource.” They spoke several times between Thursday afternoon, when Kelly was named the Pirates’ new manager, and first pitch Friday some 30 hours later. Kelly said he couldn’t share some of the things that Leyland told him, but Leyland shared advice he would offer Kelly: The most important thing is to show your players what you know and don’t tell them what you know.
Featured Local Businesses
“One thing Donnie’s got going for him is he’s got nine years in the major leagues,” Leyland said. “He’s going to have to lose a player’s respect. Those of us who didn’t play in the majors had to earn the player’s respect. He’s going to get instant respect.”
Kelly already earned the respect of someone who has a plaque in Cooperstown.
“Just be Donnie Kelly. Don’t try to be anyone else,” Leyland said. “That’s enough.”