Jim Leyland elected to Hall of Fame

Longtime major league manager Jim Leyland has been elected to the Hall of Fame, it was announced today. Leyland was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee.

Leyland spend 22 years as a manager, 11 of them with the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he led the team to three straight division titles from 1990-92, but couldn’t advance from the NLCS. Leyland left the Pirates to join the Florida Marlins in 1997, where he helmed the Marlins first World Series championship team. He stuck around for a year after Wayne Huizenga performed a sell off that stripped the team of its talent, overseeing a 54-108 campaign, then spent a year as manager over the Colorado Rockies before retiring. Leyland came out of retirement to manage the Detroit Tigers in 2006, and managed the Tigers for eight seasons, including a pair of World Series appearances.

To be elected, a candidate had to receive votes from at least 12 of the 16 committee members. Leyland received 15 votes. Lou Piniella received 11 votes, falling one short, while Bill White received 10 votes.

The other candidates were Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson, Ed Montague, Hank Peters, and Joe West. The each received fewer than five votes.