Pittsburgh Pirates: Jim Leyland Voted Into Baseball Hall of Fame

In a move that is well deserved, former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Jim Leyland has been voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame

Even though they have been one of the worst organizations in baseball for the better part of 30 years, there are still few teams in baseball with a more storied history than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now, another member of the Pirate family is headed to Cooperstown.

On Sunday, former Pirate manager Jim Leyland was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

News broke of Leyland's selection as part of the opening night of MLB's Winter Meetings in Nashville on Sunday night. Leyland was elected by the Hall of Fame's Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee.

This is a well deserved honor for Leyland. Leyland was one of the best managers in baseball from the late 1980s, all the way through the 2010s. He is also one of the greatest managers in Pirate history, and will join Fred Clarke as former Pirate managers who are in the Hall of Fame.

In his managerial career, Leyland managed the Pirates, Miami (then Florida) Marlins, Colorado Rockies, and Detroit Tigers. He owned an overall 1769-1728 record in his career, including being 44-40 in the postseason.

Leyland managed the Marlins to the World Series in 1997. That season, Leyland won the lone World Series of his managerial career. He would return to the Fall Classic with the Tigers in 2006 and 2012 but would fall to the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, respectively.

With the Pirates, Leyland went 851-863, but his record does not tell the entire story. He took over the Pirates when the organization was in a terrible spot ahead of the 1986 season. In 1987, just his second year on the job, he got the Pirates to 80-82, before going 86-78 in 1988. Following an injury riddled 1989 season, Leyland guided the Pirates to three straight NL East pennants from 1990-1992 which was one of the best three year stretches in franchise history.

Congratulations to Jim Leyland! This is a well deserved trip to Cooperstown that he is about to take!