Jim Leyland & Clint Hurdle Exclusive VIP Conversation Florida Sports Hall of Fame at LECOM Park!!!

What was your first year here in Braden, Jim? >> I came here in 1986 as a manager of the Pirates and believe me, this stadium would look nothing like this at the time. In fact, it was probably the worst stadium in Florida at the time. And your teams in a lot of cases would not even take infield practice or batting practice in some cases on the field because it was so rough. And now it's turned into one of the most beautiful stadiums in the country. and uh city of Bradington and the Pittsburgh Pirates has obviously done a wonderful job, but it was it was tough sledding back in those days. Well, it's been a relationship for over 50 years, I believe. Um and I love the fact that they they use the Lake Confield at Mckne Park still to keep, you know, to honor Bill McKnney and the whole group. But there's not a more, I don't think, authentic historic ambiance type stadium in in the in the Grapefruit League because the fans are still right on top of you here. And I think the views are outstanding. What they've done here at the boardwalk and the bleachers in left field again. How many times did you sit back there in that dugout and there was about room for like 12 people. Yeah, there was about room for 24. I I never I'll never forget my first year managing. I had been a minor league manager all my life. So coming to the big leagues, I wasn't really sure what to expect. When you're in the minor leagues, you only have 22 players on your team. I had to manage AAA. I had 22 players. So the first game I ever managed in this very ballpark was against my good friend Tony Larus in the Chicago White Sock and I was sitting on the bench I was managing and Bill Verden the quail one of the great center fielders of all time for the Pirates was one of my coaches. I asked him to come with me as a coach to help me out. So about the seventh inning we got a guy we were behind three to two and I got a guy on first base and I was mumbling to myself. I said, "You know, I'd really like to pinch run here, but I don't want to waste a player." And Bill Vernon looked at me. He said, "Jim, you got 60 guys sitting here. It's okay. Go right ahead and use it. You can do that." So, that was my first experience at at the old Mckcne Field. >> We were also reminiscing. You managed 22 years in the big leagues. >> I did. >> It's hard to manage 22 years in the big leagues unless you're really, really good at managing. And we talked about some of the events that happened for you. Detroit, Pittsburgh, Florida at the time, the highs and lows, maybe maybe a high and a low in each one of those respective places. >> Well, I'll start with Colorado, which Clinton didn't manage, which we both we both managed. We both managed Colorado as well as the Pirates. Uh, obviously Clinton did a little better job in Colorado than I did, but um, it it was very unique because I still had a chance in Colorado, even though I did not do a very good job there, I still had the chance to manage two Hall of Fame players, Larry Walker, who's a a baseball hall of famer, and Todd Helton, who I happen to go into the Hall of Fame with the same year. So, that was quite a thrill. Uh, you talk about a high and low, it it had to be the Florida Marlins. In 1997, uh, we won the World Series. I was there two years. And after we won the World Series, Mr. Heisinga decided to sell the team. And the very next year, we lost 104 games after winning the World Series. So, you talk about a high and low. That's a real high and low. And in Detroit, it was it was a great run in Detroit. Uh, you know, we got to the World Series twice. We did not win it. We won two American League pennants. And I guess the biggest disappointment was that we didn't get Mr. Illage. uh a world championship. That was very important. And then last but not least, and probably my most important because the Pirates gave me my first opportunity of anybody to manage in the big leagues. And the high and low of that was we won three straight division titles, but did not get by the Atlanta Braves. And that was a big disappointment because the city of Pittsburgh was really booing about Pirate Baseball. Clint experienced that experienced that in the 2010s when he took his team to the playoffs. And we know what that's all about in Pittsburgh. when you win. So, it was disappointing, but uh so many great memories. Uh in fact, you might not even know this. Clint and I actually coached together when I managed the Rockies. Clint was a coach. And did Clint Hurdle coach for you? I said, "No, he coached with me." I never had a coach who coached for me. I had coaches that coach with me. So, that's basically a little bit of my story. Well, now that you mentioned that, I actually took some notes and I'm going to share a couple facts about Jim Leland that you probably don't know. In 1998, the year he mentioned, Jim asked me to be a part of his staff as he came into Colorado and he put the trust and expressed his confidence in a hitting coach that only been there two years and actually took a hitting coach and he'd had for in Pittsburgh Mil and turned him in to a pitching coach to keep me on staff. I have no idea the thought process that may have gone into that. I figured I was probably on the way out. I can remember a phone call Jim gave to me that I want you to be here. We want you to be here. I can't tell you how much confidence that put in me as a young coach, 40 42 years old maybe at the time to be on Jim Leland's staff and to work with that group of guys. If I take the door there and exit, I don't know what happens the rest of my career. You don't know. So, personally, I've thanked him before, but I'm going to thank him again that he threw me a lifeline and it turned out to be a pretty valuable lifeline for myself in my professional career. Now, 1979, he has no idea where I'm going with this. Where were you in 1979? 1979, I was managing the Evansville triplets in the American Association. I can't tell you what I did last week. Jim can tell you. We're sitting over here. He's telling me game seven of the 2000. I'm like, what? What? But he was he was in Evansville. We were coming into Evansville. I had had a year in the big leagues in 1978. The Tigers had drafted a really good college player at 77. 78 he was in Lakeland. 79 they brought him to Evansville. I was a phenom that couldn't miss that had missed. I was back in TripleA in 79. We were coming. I had a manager that loved me so much. He made me come to the park at 1:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the afternoon whenever the other team got off the field for early work. And I can remember the first time walking into that stadium and I see this guy in the outfield. It look like Tarzan. Jimmy's hitting him balls. He's throwing the bases. He's sliding. He's working. Then he comes in to hit Jimmy throw. I must have spent 45 minutes with one player, one coach. And then my manager, Gordy McKenzie, was going to do the same thing with me. But I can remember Jim working with this guy in 1979. From that point on, it etched on me that guy's different. And what you don't know about Jim Leland is all those days in the minor leagues that he put in, the work before he even became a major league manager, the people he invested in, the people he cared about, the people he poured his heart out to, and you don't know if they're going to get to the big leagues. You have no clue. Well, I he may have known this guy was going to get to the big leagues. Kid's name was Kirk Gibson. >> Yeah, he turned out pretty good. He uh uh I was it's kind of a funny story that a lot of people would would not know this. I was Kurt Gibson's first manager when he signed out of Michigan State. He was a number one draft pick. But at the time they took out an insurance policy on Kurt Gibson and they let him go back to Michigan State to play his senior year of football and he was actually drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals, a very high pick who said he was the best receiver in the draft that year, but he chose baseball. So, I was Kurt Gibson's first manager. Lo and behold, several years later, as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, we made a trade for Kurt Gibson. And I eventually released him. I had to release Kurt Gibson. And I'll never forget somebody asking me, "Was it tough to manage or release a superstar like Kurt Gibson?" And I said, "No, it was not." And they were shocked when I gave that answer. And my reasoning was Kurt Gibson had been a World Series champion. He had been an MVP. It was tough to manage some uh release some kid 18 years old that you had to shatter his dream and tell him that he was never going to be a major league player. That was a tough guy to release. But releasing a guy that made all kinds of money that was an MVP and a superstar, it really wasn't that hard. We know Jim spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh. I spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh. There's a saying about the city that I really didn't understand when I first came in, but I was the best man at a friend's wedding, a Yzer's wedding, full-blown Yinszer wedding in Pittsburgh. When he asked me to be his best man, I was the hitting coach for the Rangers in 2010. The time of his wedding, I was the manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates. And for my buddy to have the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates as his best man kind of blew the top off things in a Yinger's mindset. But they had a saying that night. They said, "We are rough around the edges, but we're soft where it counts." Did you find that to be true when you were in Pittsburgh? >> Yeah, I found it to be true. It's a very passionate city. It's a well-kept secret. I don't know if any of you ever been there. Uh they used to talk about, you know, the coal and the industry there and the steel and everything, but it's really become a little bit more of a sophisticated town, but it's a small town. It's groups of ethnic people that are very friendly, very heartwarming people. It's a great place. And like I said, if you ever get a chance to visit there, believe me, it's worth it. And if you ever get a chance to go to a Pittsburgh Steeler game, go see the Steelers. Go see the Penguins. One of the perks sometimes of being a ma former major league manager in a city. We were there just three weeks ago and I asked for some tickets from a friend, you know, you hate to do it, but you kind of know you can. And the administrative assistant for the general manager said, "Yes, Clint, we've got tickets for you and Carla, your friend." Well, as we go in, we walk in the door and I see this grown man, one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen in my life up close. It was Mario Lemieux. I spent the night watching a hockey game with Mario Lemieux. Now, you just can't make those kind of things up. Those experiences don't happen very often. Were you ever caught off guard? I did. I had I had a man crush the whole night. It was just this guy's 60 years old. He's cut. He's ripped. I just tried to keep my wife away from him. Keep his attention on the game. Did you ever run into somebody that you maybe looked at and go, "Wow, special." >> It's funny that that you say that because my time in Pittsburgh was a lot of the time that Mariel Lemieux was there and when the Penins are really good and when they were winning Stanley Cups with Yagger Yagger and Tom Baraso and Paul Coffee and all that group. So, that was a thrill to me. But it it's funny because I was at the Pittsburgh Pirates game this year and somebody came down. I was sitting way down at the end of the stadium in a box because I still work for the Tigers and I was sitting in a box down there and somebody came and got me and they said, "Come on, I want to take you down to this box. I want you to meet somebody." And I went down and it was Sydney Crosby wanted to meet me. And I was so flattered and so touched I couldn't believe it. I was kind of starruck. A little embarrassed to be honest with I'm 80 years old and here I'm looking at this guy kind of starruck. But that was one of the big thrills for me and a big surprise. I got the opportunity to meet Sydney Crosby. I knew Mario very well and some of the Penguin players in those days. I knew those guys real good because that was the same time I was there. But uh to meet Sydney Crosby was a big thrill for me. Well, they're passionate fans in Pittsburgh, passionate fans everywhere. But I will share this with you. See if you agree with me on this. The most miserable city in the United States of America on a Monday morning after a football team's loss is in Pittsburgh. Yeah, there's no question about that. It's definitely Steeler country. But at one time, the old owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney, old Art Rooney, was actually a baseball fan. He liked baseball better than football in his early days. And then, of course, he became the owner of the Steelers. And the Rooney still run the operation for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Art Rooney originally was a big baseball guy. Ginger's up, so I'm going to I'm going to tighten this up. I've got two more just spots I'd like to make. I think they're important to mention. Ejections. >> Yeah, there we go. >> You've seen him. I mean, all you got to do is YouTube Jimmy Leland ejections. And there there there's a bunch. 73 of them to be exact. >> Tied for 10th all time with Clark Griffith. I didn't know Clark Griffith was a red ass. I had >> I knew you were. >> I had no idea. But I But I don't really think 74 is that much for 22 years. I don't really think it's all that bad, but I did have my moments. I will promise you that. >> Well, now to put it in context. 22 years 74. Right. Then there's a guy down here tied for 14th with Bill Riggney and Lou Panella. >> Now, we know about Sweet Lou, don't we? Have you ever seen Sweet Lou throw down? Well, the other kid's name is Clint Hurdle. 64 lifetime ejections in only 17 years. You were a bad boy. So, if we prorrate those out, well, I wasn't good enough to manage any longer, but I might have gotten more than you if I'd have managed about five more years. My last point, I don't know if anybody here, if you know Katie, you know more about Jim than most because Katie has been to Jim what Carla has been to me throughout my life. You run into somebody at some time that just changes everything. Whatever you were doing, you don't do it the same way. You know, you may do your job, but a lot of things in life change. Katie changed things for Jim. Katie has changed things for a lot of people. My wife Carlos changed things for me. She's changed things for a lot of people. Let me tell you something Jim did for my wife and I through a random act of kindness. We have a daughter named Madison. Madison is now 23 years old. Madison was born with a birth defect. Prader Willie syndrome. Doesn't go away. She's 23. Most of her 12. Um will always be 12. Jim had gotten to know Madison. Katie had gotten to know Madison. Jim wrote our daughter Madison a congratulations graduation card the year she graduated in 2020 and sent her a check just like a fine uncle, rich uncle would would do. And it took us almost 6 months to get Maddie to cash the check. I said, "Girl, you that much money, you just can't you can't just hold on to that. You got to go get something." >> Yeah. But out of the this is there's a guy here that you don't know. And I'm just I'm just asking you if you get a chance tomorrow night, make sure you applaud all of them because there's a side to all these Hall of Famers that you haven't seen. You've seen the side that's getting honored, but there's another side to him that's pretty special and significant. This man has made a difference in my life. He's made a difference in the lives of a lot of other people. I want to thank him personally, but then I want you to tell one more story on the way out. You can take it wherever you want to go. I love your stories. >> Well, I uh I was sitting in my office when I first got the Pittsburgh Pirates job and this happened very often. It was in Pittsburgh and I'd be sitting there by myself early afternoon getting ready for the game. The manager always gets there before everybody else and I would look up. I wouldn't hear anybody come in and I wouldn't see anybody come in. I was focused on what I'm doing. And I looked up and there was old Art Rooney Senior, the owner of the Steelers, sitting in a chair, not saying a thing. And I looked up, he said, "Don't worry, kid. You're going to be okay." And I I was totally shocked. And I I'm thinking like, "What's he talking about?" He said, "Listen, I hired a coach that won one game his first year and lost 13 straight. And he's on his way to winning his fourth Super Bowl, Chuck Null. And I'll never forget the confidence that he gave me. Somebody of that magnitude taking the time to come in and really talk to a minor league manager that just became a major league manager. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. And I want to thank each and everybody. I want to thank Clint obviously. I want to thank everybody that came out here tonight. Uh first of all for having us. I want to thank everybody for this wonderful honor. And I hope I get a chance to maybe spend a little more time with each and every one of you tomorrow night to say hello. But thank you so much for your time and coming out here tonight. Thank you so much. >> Oh, thank you both. That was wonderful. >> One more round of applause for all of our inductees. Look forward to celebrating you tomorrow night. And um now we can get back to the music. Thank you.