Early Career
Jim Leyland began his baseball career with the Tigers when they signed him as a catcher on September 21, 1963. He spent seven seasons as a minor leaguer in the Tigers organization (1964–1970), but mainly served as a coach with the Montgomery Rebels in 1970 while playing in just two games for the team. Leyland, a career .222 hitter in the minor leagues, recently quipped that he "could've been inside the Duquesne Light Company, and it wouldn't have made a difference" in regard to the impact that lighting quality between minor and major league stadiums can have on a batter.
Leyland left the Tigers organization for the first time in 1982 when he became Tony La Russa's third base coach for four seasons (1982–85) with the Chicago White Sox, including the team's 1983 AL West division title, before being named the 33rd manager in Pittsburgh Pirates history on November 20, 1985.
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