Here's why Jim Leyland's Hall of Fame plaque won't include a Tigers logo

Detroit — Jim Leyland didn't want to make the choice.

And the National Baseball Hall of Fame isn't making him choose.

The Hall of Fame announced Friday that when Leyland is inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, his plaque will not feature any team logo. Leyland was torn between two teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates, who gave him his start as a major-league manager, and the Detroit Tigers, with whom he began his career as a minor-league player and coach, and ended his career with eight seasons as their major-league manager.

"I will always appreciate the teams that gave me the opportunity to be their major-league manager," Leyland said in a statement, through the Hall of Fame, on Friday. "We had some great moments with every one of those ballclubs, and I'm proud that they all will be mentioned on my Hall of Fame plaque.

"I want to make sure I show each of those teams respect, and this does that."

Inductees get input into which logo appears on the plaque, but the Hall of Fame has the final decision.

Leyland, 79, was elected in December to the Hall of Fame by a veterans committee, and will be inducted Sunday, July 21, in Cooperstown, New York, along with Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer, who were elected by the baseball writers, in voting results announced last month. Beltre's plaque will feature the Texas Rangers logo, while Helton and Mauer played entire careers with one team, the Colorado Rockies and Minnesota Twins, respectively.

Leyland managed the Pirates from 1986-96, leading them to three straight division championships, before leaving to manage the Florida Marlins, with whom he won the 1997 World Series.

He left in 1999 to manage with the Colorado Rockies, and stayed there just one year.

MORE: 'Jim's got the fire back': Leyland's renaissance in Detroit sent him to the Hall of Fame

He was hired by the Tigers before the 2006 season, and led the 2006 team to the World Series, just three years after the team lost 119 games. He won three American League Central titles with the Tigers, and also led them to the World Series in 2012. Detroit lost the World Series to St. Louis in 2006 and San Francisco in 2012.

Still, Leyland oversaw arguably the greatest stretch of sustained success in Tigers history.

For his career, Leyland was 1,769-1,728, a record that is close to .500, the result of significant fire sales in both Pittsburgh and Florida. He also managed the United States to the World Baseball Classic title in 2017.

Leyland visited the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown earlier this week, and saw the empty spot on the wall where his plaque will go after the ceremony this summer. Leyland signed the spot on the wall.

“I managed against a lot of these guys, and I managed some of them,” Leyland told MLB.com after his tour of the Hall of Fame. “It’s just a thrill to see this. I’ve seen some of the plaques before, but I never really took a detailed tour of it. It’s so exciting. It’s just hard to believe that you’re going to have a plaque here with these people. It’s pretty emotional, to be honest with you."

There are dozens of Baseball Hall of Famers with no logo on their plaques, most recently Fred McGriff, who was inducted in 2023. Others include manager and Leyland's great friend, Tony La Russa.

Leyland is the first Tigers manager to go into the Hall of Fame since Sparky Anderson, who went in with a Cincinnati Reds logo in 2000. Anderson started his major-league managerial career with the Reds and won two World Series titles, before moving to the Tigers, with whom he spent more years but won one World Series championship.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984