Longtime Manager Jim Leyland Elected To Baseball Hall Of Fame

Leyland earned the nod from the Hall’s Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee, which met Sunday to consider executives, managers and umpires whose primary contributions to the sport have taken place since 1980.

Fellow managers Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson and Lou Piniella, along with executives Hank Peters and Bill White and umpires Ed Montague and Joe West, were up for consideration as well.Leyland earned 15 of 16 votes, the only candidate to receive 75% of the votes from the 16-member panel. Piniella received 11 votes and White finished with 10 votes. The other candidates each received less than five votes.

Leyland spent 22 seasons as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers from 1986 to 2013. In 1997, he led the expansion Marlins to their first World Series title in just the club’s fifth season. Three times named Manager of the Year (1990, 1992 and 2006), Leyland won two American League pennants in Detroit and guided Team U.S. to the 2017 World Baseball Classic championship over Puerto Rico.

Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Bud Selig, Ted Simmons, Jim Thome and Joe Torre were among the 16 members of the committee voting on the eight candidates. Executives Sandy Alderson, Bill DeWitt, Michael Hill, Ken Kendrick, Andy MacPhail and Phyllis Merhige and media members/historians Sean Forman, Jack O’Connell and Jesus Ortiz rounded out the panel.Leyland will be joined by any candidates who receive 75% of the vote in the Baseball Writers' Association of America election, the results of which will be announced Jan. 23 on MLB Network. Twelve newcomers, a list highlighted by Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, will join the ballot alongside 14 returning candidates.

Todd Helton, who appears on his sixth ballot this year, was the top vote-getter among those not elected in 2023, falling 12 votes shy. Other candidates who received at least 30% of the vote in last year's election include Billy Wagner, who was 27 shy of enshrinement, Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez.