Former Miami Marlins manager receives a prestigious honor

The Miami Marlins are getting calls about some players, and are busy working on what moves to make during the Winter Meetings. There were unrelated great news for the team. The manager of the 1997 World Series winning Miami Marlins (actually Florida Marlins) Jim Leyland, has been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Let's look back at his historic career as we celebrate his achievement.

Former Miami Marlins manager Jim Leyland has been elected into the Hall of Fame.

Jim Leyland had a historic managerial career, and has received 15 out of the 16 votes from the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. Leyland started his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986. After a couple seasons of rebuilding, the team finally took off in the 1990 season. The Bucs won 95, 98 and 96 games in the 1990-1992 seasons, winning the NL East in each season.

They lost in the NLCS each of the seasons however. They lost 4-2 to the Cincinnati Reds in 1990, and then two 4-3 thrillers to the Atlanta Braves in 1991 and 1992. He also collected NL Manager of the Year awards in both 1990 and 1992. This was the last time that Pittsburgh won their division and made it to the NLCS. He was gone after the 1996 season, and moved on to the then Florida Marlins for the 1997 season.

That was a great season, and at the time a record for the fastest time that a team has won the World Series since a team's foundation. The then Florida Marlins finished the season with a 92-70 record and made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The Fish then went on a memorable run, that culminated in a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians in the World Series.

After the team's embarrassing sell-off led by owner Wayne Huizenga after the season, Jim Leyland quit after the disastrous subsequent 1998 season. After a short stint with the Colorado Rockies in 1999, Leyland took a break from managing. He finally returned to managing with the Detroit Tigers in 2006, and stayed as the manager through the 2013 season. During that time, he won two pennants with the team in 2006 and 2012, but couldn't win another World Series.

Jim Leyland is a deserving Hall of Famer and I congratulate him on this amazing achievement!