SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Grizzled, gravel-voiced manager Jim Leyland was under the gun all season, the target of criticism from impatient fans and local media wondering why the favoured Detroit Tigers were not living up to expectations.
Leyland, a gray-haired baseball lifer who gave up an unpromising career as a weak-hitting catcher at 25 and took up managing two years later, explained it was a long season.
'That's just the way this works,' Leyland, 67, told reporters about giving players a chance to rise to their level.
That was just what his Tigers did while winning eight of their last 10 regular season games to overtake the Chicago White Sox after trailing by three games with 15 to play.
Now with his Tigers one of two teams left standing and a World Series trophy to battle over against the San Francisco Giants, no one could quibble with the manager in Motown.
'It's been terrific,' Leyland said as his players worked out at Comerica Park while waiting for the National League winner after the Tigers completed a sweep of the top-seeded New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
'Everywhere you go, people are pumped up. They're selling all kinds of Tigers stuff all over town. Where I live ... everybody's got Tigers gear on, everybody's in good spirits.'
Leyland loved baseball but as a catcher in Detroit's minor league system he lasted just seven seasons, getting as far as Double-A Montgomery before trading his glove for a lineup card.
The son of a glass factory worker from Ohio, Leyland worked his way up the ladder, spending 10 years managing Detroit farm clubs before getting hired in 1982 to coach for White Sox manager Tony La Russa, the start of a close friendship.
BUILDS TRUST
Leyland got his first crack at major league managing in 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He stayed 11 seasons there, and with a young Barry Bonds leading the offense, took them to the National League Championship Series three years in a row and won Manager of the Year honours in 1990 and 1992.
Leyland left Pittsburgh for Florida in 1997 and promptly won the World Series with the Marlins before leaving after the next season when ownership dismantled the team to keep payroll down.
After a disappointing year with the Colorado Rockies, he walked away.
Leyland, whose father was one of 16 kids, his wife part of a family of 11 and himself one of seven children, said he wanted to spend more time with family.
Seven years later, Leyland got the itch and in 2006 returned to his first professional team, taking over a Tigers club that had finished fourth with a 71-91 record in 2005.
Leyland managed them to a 95-67 mark, a trip to the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals and a third Manager of the Year award.
Emotional despite his gruff appearance, Leyland builds trust with his players and develops a bond of mutual respect that has won him loyalty throughout his managerial stops.
After taking the Tigers to the league championship last year, he now has the chance to become the only active major league manager with two World Series rings in the best-of-seven Fall Classic starting on Wednesday in San Francisco.
'We're one big happy family here,' he told a roaring Comerica Park crowd last week after finishing the sweep of the Yankees, his eyes welling with tears. 'I'm just glad to be part of it.' (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)
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