There has been considerable speculation that Jim Leyland might wind up as the next White Sox manager. But Leyland, who was a Sox coach for four years under Tony La Russa, seemed to deny the possibility here Saturday night before Game 6 of the World Series. He said he isn’t going anywhere.
The precise quote:
“If I manage anywhere next year it will be the Florida Marlins.”
But there seems to be a complication. Several minutes earlier Leyland said his remaining with the Marlins depends on who buys the club from Wayne Huizenga.
“I don’t know who the new owner is going to be,” Leyland said. “But I don’t want to be sitting next to some actor or Bing Crosby’s son telling me how to manage the team.
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“Nowadays that can happen. Anybody with a lot of money could buy the team. And I don’t want to be anywhere where someone’s going to help me manage–not just here, anywhere.”
Leyland, generally regarded as the major leagues’ best manager, signed a five-year, $8.5 million contract with the Marlins last October that included an escape clause: He could go elsewhere if the team is sold.
Much of the conjecture has been that Leyland would remain with the Marlins if Huizenga sells to Don Smiley, the current club president. Smiley, who has formed a purchase group, has been Huizenga’s top aide for the last eight years and has been the Marlins’ president since February of 1994.
Leyland, 52, spent his first four years in the majors, from 1982-85, as the third base coach for the White Sox. He has managed National League teams for the last 12 years, 11 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He jumped to the Marlins last October, and is given much of the credit for their surprising success. No other expansion team has won a pennant and advanced to the World Series in only its fifth year of existence.
In anticipation of settling in South Florida for life, Leyland and his wife, Katie, sold their home in Pittsburgh and bought a home in Parkland, Fla., a short drive from the Marlins’ spring training base.
But the family, which includes two young sons, has since moved back to Pittsburgh. This has fueled speculation that Leyland isn’t happy here, and if given the opportunity, would move on. Chicago is almost always mentioned as a potential haven because the Sox have an opening and because of Leyland’s friendship with Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
On Saturday, Leyland reiterated that he enjoyed his four years in Chicago. He also said he enjoyed his 13 seasons in the Detroit organization as minor-league player, coach and manager, as well as his years in Pittsburgh.
A New York reporter asked, “Pittsburgh is a hometown but Miami is not a hometown?”
“No question about that,” Leyland replied.
“And you’re a hometown guy, isn’t that right?”
“No question about that.”
Leyland recalled his early days with the White Sox. He was hired on La Russa’s recommendation days before the 1981 World Series between the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.
“It was my first time in New York,” Leyland said. “I got a plane ticket (from Toledo) for $79. When I mentioned the cost of the ticket, everyone laughed. They asked me if I’d run from Toledo. They told me, `You’re in the big leagues now. You can spend a lot more than $79.’ That’s how they welcomed me.
“They were great years, the best years of my life.”
Leyland remembered Roland Hemond, then the Sox general manager, advising La Russa that he had someone else in mind for the third base coaching assignment.
“But Roland told Tony, `If you think he’s that good, hire him.’ “
So good has Leyland been that his Pittsburgh teams won three consecutive NL division titles. No. 4 was achieved this season with the Marlins, who lost Game 6 of the Series to the Cleveland Indians 4-1 Saturday night, but can still reward Leyland with his first world championship with a victory here Sunday.
Win or lose, Leyland, if he is available, could be in great demand.