Leyland wants the team to be prepared to win

[RockSports17]

Tony La Russa, the dean of major league managers, learned late Tuesday afternoon that his friend Jim Leyland had become the Tigers' manager.

Speaking from his St. Louis office after the Cardinals won a playoff game over San Diego, La Russa said of Leyland: "He is the best manager I have ever been around."

Not long after La Russa spoke, the passion for managing was flowing out of Leyland. He spoke from a dais at Comerica Park with the backing of a three-year contract and a beaming president and general manager, Dave Dombrowski, to his immediate right.

Leyland made clear right away he is from the John Wooden school: Concentrate on the steps that lead to victory.

"I never talk about winning to my team," he said. "What I demand of my team is to be prepared to win. I am going to be very demanding. There will be a lot of preparation.

"Will we make errors? Yes. But in general we will play the game right, we will act right, we will respect the game, and we will respect each other. Those are no-brainers. Those things are not optional."

A lack of that kind of respect might have helped do in Leyland's predecessor, Alan Trammell. He was fired after the Tigers collapsed down the stretch and finished 71-91. But Leyland has no plans to be a dictator. He is known more as a one-on-one motivator.

"I'm not a hard-nose," he said. "I love the players. But it's my responsibility as the manager to get the most out of each individual player and mold that into a collective effort.

"I treat every single player the same, but I treat every single player different. I will respect each player. They will all get the respect that they deserve and have earned. But everything has to be done within the parameters of the team concept."

Leyland, who has managed three major league teams, said he didn't know much about the Tigers players, and he didn't mention any of them by name or make any other individual references to them.

This season's Tigers were faulted for lacking clubhouse chemistry, even though no scientist has ever showed what value chemistry has in baseball. Leyland got a new view of chemistry when he spent the last six years working as a scout for La Russa's Cardinals.

"One of the reasons they're so successful. ... I've never been big on clubhouse atmosphere; I don't think it's mandatory for winning, but it's a bonus. ... I've never seen a better clubhouse than the Cardinals' over the last several years," he said. He said the key to such a clubhouse represents one of his major responsibilities on the Tigers -- to get the veterans to buy into the manager's program. "If they don't," said Leyland, "I'll probably be fired."

There you have the vintage candor that keeps players on Leyland's side. He can upbraid with a smile.

"What sets him apart is his personality -- the best I've seen in managing," La Russa said. "He can get on a player, make his point, and the next day there are no grudges."

Leyland, now 60 and silver-haired, has had all sorts of teams. He took over a last-place club in Pittsburgh, raised it into a three-time division champion, then saw it ravaged by the free-agent departure of such players as Barry Bonds. He took over the Florida Marlins in 1997 and managed them to that season's World Series title. Dombrowski was the GM.

The next year, the team was stripped to save payroll.

"Good pressure is going into spring training with a team that is supposed to win," Leyland said. "Bad pressure is when you go into spring training with a team that you think might not win."

Leyland is the first manager the Tigers have hired since Sparky Anderson who previously managed a major league club to a first-place finish. Unlike Anderson at his introductory news conference, Leyland didn't promise a championship.

"I have no idea how many games this team can win," he said. "We will be prepared to win as many as we possibly can. I can assure you of that."

Leyland has a quarter-century of managing experience built of 11 years in the Tigers' farm system and 14 years in the majors. Tuesday, he spoke as a manager for the first time in six years. His last stop was a one-year disappointment at Colorado. He felt so burned out he walked away after the 1999 season with two years left on his contract.

Dombrowski wanted to make sure Leyland's pre-Colorado fire was back. He saw it Monday and Tuesday. At Tuesday's news conference, everyone heard it from Leyland.

"I'm accepting this job as if it's my first major league managerial job," he said. "I did not do that in Colorado. I wish I would have. It won't happen again."

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Leyland sounding pretty good. Actions prove louder than words.

[awefullspellare]

Yea no doubt, but if he works on some of the areas he mentioned, I really think that helps teams alot.

[RockSports17]

If he creates the mindset of winning, that'll boost the morale fo the team. I don't remember where I read it, but I remember seeing Maroth was excited about a guy like Leyland coming into manage. So just his name and past has players excited already.