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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jim Leyland buttoned up his forever jersey on Monday, the one with “Hall of Fame” in script across the front. He sat on a ballroom dais at the Winter Meetings, flanked by Hall officials as his wife, Katie, beamed with pride from a few feet away. So did former rivals and colleagues like Tony La Russa and Joe Torre.

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Leyland, 78, was one of them now: a certified Hall of Famer, elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee on Sunday night. A phone call from the Hall’s chairman, Jane Forbes Clark, welcomed him to Cooperstown.

“My wife said, who is that? I said, ‘It’s Jake from State Farm,’” Leyland said, his deadpan wit still sharp. “Anyway, I had 294 texts last night, from friends and people all over the world, really. … I can’t tell you how fortunate a ride it’s been.”

As joyous as the occasion was for Leyland, it was striking to see the other, empty side of the dais. That’s where Lou Piniella should have been.

At MLB’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, attention has shifted to the Hall of Fame's newest electee. Jim Leyland addressed the media Monday, reflecting on his life in baseball and looking ahead to July’s Induction Ceremony.

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— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) December 5, 2023

Candidates needed 12 votes from the 16 committee members, made up of seven Hall of Famers, six executives and three historians. Leyland, who took three teams to the postseason in 22 years as a manager, got 15 votes. Piniella, who took three teams to the postseason in 23 years as a manager, got 11.

One vote short, same as it was for Piniella the last time he was considered, in December 2018.

“You were just hoping both guys would make it,” said La Russa, a Hall of Famer who did not vote in this election. “I don’t know how to explain it. … We were convinced that if Jim got in, it would be along with Lou.”

Voters on the era committees are not allowed to publicly share their ballots. They weighed eight candidates but were limited to three selections; the math alone makes election difficult. Besides Piniella, only one candidate besides Leyland had more than five votes: Bill White, a former All-Star player and National League president, who had 10.

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It’s a bittersweet process, tinged with melancholy when voters miss the chance to give flowers to the living. Buck O’Neil and Ron Santo are among those who were passed over while alive but elected posthumously.

Piniella, 80, has struggled with prostate cancer and strokes in recent years. In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times and the New York Daily News on Sunday night, he said he was honored to have been on the ballot:

“Although I did not get inducted this year, I am very proud of my 40-plus years of MLB service and have accomplished more than I could ever have dreamed of. For those who did not know, I have been battling cancer for the past few years and recently received some positive news. Although I did not make the Hall of Fame, I am so grateful to God for everything He has blessed me with, and I will be celebrating with my family and friends. Thank you again for considering me and God bless.”

Piniella ranks 17th on the career list for victories as a manager, with 1,835. Everyone above him is in the Hall except Bruce Bochy, who is active; Dusty Baker and Terry Francona, who retired this season; and Gene Mauch, who never won a pennant.

Piniella won just one pennant, in 1990, when his Cincinnati Reds swept La Russa’s Oakland Athletics in the World Series. He had more victories than Leyland (1,835 to 1,769) and a better winning percentage (.517 to .506), but Leyland won three pennants, winning a championship with the Marlins in 1997 and losing two World Series with Detroit.

While Piniella was considered mostly for his managing career, voters could also weigh the totality of his impact. And that was profound: the American League Rookie of the Year for Kansas City in 1969, Piniella hit .291 over 18 seasons, mostly with the Yankees, with whom he later served as a coach, manager and general manager.

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“Initially you thought he was going to be a hitting guy — he slept, drank and lived hitting all the time,” said Willie Randolph, a teammate on two Yankee title teams in the 1970s. “But towards the end, when he was more of a part-time guy, you saw how he dissected the game — smart, intuitive, instinctive, an old-school kind of approach. I could see, because he loved to teach and loved the game, that he was going to transfer that to the next level as a manager.

“And the beauty of Lou is that he’s worn so many hats: player, player-coach, coach, then he went into the front office for a little while, then he went into managing. I’ve been in the trenches with him and I’ve gone against him and there’s nobody more competitive and nobody who’s done more to impact the game than Lou Piniella.”

Piniella had the fire of George Steinbrenner and the cunning of Billy Martin, without the demons of either. As manager of the Yankees, Reds, Mariners, Devil Rays and Cubs, he was a true character, unafraid to draw his lineup from a hat, brawl with a player or flip over a food spread.

New-age nurturer he was not.

“We lost a tough game one night, and, oh, he was steaming,” said John McLaren, who coached for Piniella with Cincinnati, Seattle and Tampa Bay. “He goes out to the clubhouse and sees the spread out there, and there was a little warmer underneath each pan. And Lou drop-kicks that table, the food goes all over the floor and that little burner falls on the floor. Henry (Genzale, the Mariners’ clubhouse manager) comes running out because of the fire on the floor, and the only thing he can grab is a gallon of milk – so he starts putting this fire out with a gallon of milk. You talk about stink!”

Luckily for the fire marshal, Piniella mostly won with Seattle, a franchise that was mired in obscurity before he arrived in 1993. The Mariners, who managed one winning record in 16 seasons before Piniella, had seven in his decade with the team.

“Lou is a legend, certainly in Seattle, and he’s made his mark throughout the game,” Scott Servais, the current Mariners manager, said on Monday. “Really disappointed he comes up just short again. He’s certainly very deserving of the Hall of Fame, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed he eventually gets in.”

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Piniella, who cannot be considered again until December 2026, inherited a 98-loss Mariners team with a talented core (Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez) but no winning pedigree. Piniella had that, and demanded that players match his toughness and intensity.

“A lot of guys found out it’s tough to play for Lou,” said Bret Boone, who played for Piniella in 1993 and again in 2001 and 2002. “But I’ll tell you, when he respects you, he will go to a wall for you. And he’s always been that way.”

Boone helped Piniella through the All-Star festivities in Seattle this summer, showing his former manager around the hotel, guiding him gently to a suite for the game. MLB was honoring the 2001 team that tied an AL record for victories with 116, and the event was a warm homecoming.

“I hadn’t seen or talked to Lou in years, and obviously he’s aged, like we all do, right?” said Jamie Moyer, the former pitcher, who is 60. “He came down and we had a little area where we could hang out and eat, and just talking to him, boy, the juices started flowing again. All of a sudden he was talking about the really good years that we had. Like: ‘I kept telling those guys, we need one more hitter …’”

The Mariners lost three times in the AL Championship Series under Piniella, and perhaps with another pennant he might have been sitting beside Leyland here on Monday. In any case, he seems at peace, with a kind of sensitivity and perspective that old friends cherish.

McLaren said he treasures a voicemail Piniella left him recently, after McLaren had checked in on Piniella’s health. Piniella thanked McLaren, told him how special their time together had been and said that he loved him. One part of the message seems especially poignant now.

“We had so much fun,” Piniella told McLaren. “And we didn’t accomplish everything we wanted to — but we accomplished a lot.”

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(Top photo: Focus on Sport / Getty Images)

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